The Leaning Edge welcomes Eric Shumaker Senior Project Mgr at George W. Auch Company to talk about how Auch uses Lean as a practice for Pre-Construction and Construction.

Eric's career in the construction industry has spanned nearly 25 years; he has been with the George W. Auch Company since 1996. His experience is diverse, having worked for architectural, engineering, subcontractor and construction management firms. Eric has an in-depth knowledge of building systems, working in occupied healthcare facilities, field administration, document control, planning & scheduling, and budget management; specializing in the construction of health care facilities and large complex-multi phased projects.

In addition to his responsibilities as Senior Project Manager,  Eric is also heavily engaged with the Safety Program at AUCH and is a Board Member of the AGC-MI Safety, Health & Environmental Committee.  He has a Bachelor of Science Degree, Architecture - Lawrence Technological University and a Master's Degree, Construction Management - Eastern Michigan University.

Lean in Construction

Ø  Pre-Construction 

o   Benefit bringing Construction Manager on board early in process to assist with Planning

o   Pull Planning - Collaborative Effort of all Team Members to establish time lines for project deliverables

o   Set Based Design – Keep design options and requirements flexible – ex: Delay purchase of Medical Equipment so the best technology is available when new facilities open

Ø  Construction

o   Look Ahead Schedules – 12 week (Global), 2-4 week (day – day; results in effective planning, material deliveries, manpower, inspections

o   Root Cause Analysis/ 5 Why’s – Incident investigation uncover and prevent potential major incidents