Improved Resource Availability in the Offshore Industry by applying Lean Construction Concepts

(1)

Improved Resource Availability in the Offshore

Industry by applying Lean Construction Concepts

(2)

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

Faculty Management & Organization

Improved Resource Availability in the Offshore

Industry by applying Lean Construction Concepts

-- Confidential --

Master Thesis by Ing. Lard Plekkenpol Student number: 1059173

Date: 12 March 2007

Faculty: Management and Organization Study: Technology Management Specialization: Discrete Technology 1e Mentor RuG: Drs. J. Veldman

2e Mentor RuG: Prof. Dr. Ir. G.J.C. Gaalman Company: AJS vof Amsterdam

Department: Business Information Mentor: Ir. N.A. Oskam

Function: Business Information Manager

(3)

Preface

From September 2006 until the end of March 2007, I have worked on my master thesis at AJS vof in Amsterdam. This thesis is a finalization of my master study Technology Management at the University of Groningen.

During the last seven months several people supported me, therefore I would like to thank them. First of all, my mentor at AJS Ir. N.A. Oskam, for giving me the opportunity to write this thesis at AJS. I am thankful for the time and effort he invested in me and in this thesis. He was very supportive and added a lot of useful information to this thesis. He is a great mentor, as well thesis related as on a personal level. I have learned a lot about how to manage company issues and how to cope with people inside the company. My thanks also go to the people of AJS, who provided me with useful information and feedback when needed.

Second, my sincere gratitude goes to Drs. J. Veldman, my mentor of the university of Groningen. He was always available to provide me with constructive critics. His critical view on the situation and experience on scientific research were very useful to me. Without his advice and support, this thesis never had become reality.

Finally, I would like to thank my parents, they made it possible for me to explore myself and take up a second study. Special thanks goes to my girlfriend Alette, for her patience and support during this last and final phase of my study.

(4)

How to make the short term plan more stable, through a reduction of the “Availability of Resources” category in the Change Requests.

Management Summary

The objective of this research is to optimize the performance of the offshore construction phase. The offshore construction phase is the part of the primary process of the ISC-AJS in which the maintenance, modifications or capital projects are delivered offshore.

Interviews are held and change request data is analyzed to determine problems during the offshore construction phase. A change request (CR) is raised if, due to any reason, the frozen month plan has to be changed. CRs indicate where problems occur. The data analysis showed the main disturbances at the offshore construction phase are caused by the availability of resources. When availability of resources is mentioned, it concerns the people needed for the offshore jobs. To improve the offshore construction phase the resource availability and resource usage is tried to improve. The improvement starts at the construction of the short term plan (STP). For this reason the main objective of this thesis is:

The construction of the STP is compared with the last planner model. This lean construction-planning model indicates the last person who plans the job and adjusts the construction-planning to what “should” be done along with what “can” be done into what “will” be done. This should be the integrated planner (IP).

Changes to the STP are seen as waste, because it provides rework to the planning. The most CRs are written on the availability of resources. The functional planner (FP) and the IP plan jobs without knowing how many people are already scheduled by other FPs and IPs. They do not take the number of resources available into account. After the STP becomes final and frozen, the resource planner (RP) discovers problems related to the number of resources. The IP needs more insight in the availability of resources.

Lean construction theory indicates different types of waste. The waste occurring during the construction of the STP and related to the availability of resources at the offshore construction phase are; defects, delays, over production, maintaining excess inventory and unnecessary movement of people.

The waste related to the availability of resources and the stability of the STP arises at the level of the FP and IP. Here jobs are planned into the STP without knowing for sure the required

resources are available.

Recommendations to make the STP more stable and reduce the CRs on availability of resources are divided in recommendations to the actors in the process and to the STP construction process. The most important are:

Combine the functional planner and the integrated planer to an asset planner; Locate the resource planner in front of the asset planner;

Early commitment of the resources;

Pull resources through the planning process instead of push; Improve communication between FP and RP;

Provide FP with a computer tool in Primavera concerning the available resources;

(5)

List of Abbreviations

Abbrev. Name Description

AJS Amec, Jacobs, Stork AJS is a stand-alone joint venture company with stake holdings held by Amec Oil & Gas, Jacobs Engineering B.V. and, Stork Industry Services B.V. CP Capital Projects Delivery work stream within AJS.

CR Change Request Electronic form to request a change on the short term plan.

CTR Cost Time Resource Number to indicate the cost and time of a particular work.

DOV-model

Diagnose Ontwerp Verandering- model

Model to analyze the problem situation.

E&M Engineering and Management The collective of the maintenance and modification works streams of the ONEgas/AJS ISC.

FAP Functional Activity Plan Functional plan for different work streams. FP Functional Planner Planner responsible for functional activity plan. FSU Flight Scheduling Unit Department outside AJS, responsible for the

scheduling of the helicopter flights. FTL Field Team Leader Team leader of the offshore resources. HMI/OIM Hoofd Mijnbouw Installatie,

Offshore Installation Manager

Person responsible for the operation of the platform, chief of the platform.

IAP Integrated Activity Planner Planner responsible for STP.

IE Implenentation Engineer Work preparator at the capital projects work stream.

IP Integrated Planner Planner responsible for STP.

ISC Integrated Service Contract The type of contract used between the parties ONEgas and AJS.

KPI Key Performance Indicator Chosen factors that directly and indirectly influence the effectiveness of a product or process.

LCI Lean Construction Institute A non-profit corporation. It does research to develop knowledge regarding project based

production management in the design, engineering, and construction of capital facilities.

LPDS Lean Project Delivery System System that applies principles pioneered in manufacturing to construction. LPDS tools facilitate planning and control, maximizing value and minimizing waste throughout the construction process.

LPS Last Planner System Proved effective tool for improving the

(8)

MMM Mini Minor Mod It is a maintenance job that is not ‘like for like’. MTIAP Medium Term Integrated

Activity Plan

ONEgas Implementation plan of the functional requirements, used to establish prioritization of key resources (beds, vessels etc.) and make decisions on the impact of change.

NAM Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij

A Dutch organization producing oil and gas.

ONEgas ONEgas, a combined business unit of Shell

Exploration and Production and the Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM), exploits 52

offshore production facilities in the southern North Sea and two land locations; Bacton in the United Kingdom and Den Helder in the Netherlands which are both gas plants.

PIR Problem Improvement Report Notification needed for raising new work.

POB People on Board Maximum people allowed on an asset due to safety reasons.

RP Resource Planner Planner who plans the names of the resources to the STP.

SAP Systeme, Anwendungen, Produkte in der

Datenverarbeitung

Systems Applications and Products. It is the name for both the online financial and administrative software and for the company that developed it. SAP is composed of several modules.

SLA Service Level Agreement The Service Level Agreement is a summary list of annually agreed

maintenance and modification activities for the ONEgas assets

together with the approved budget for these activities.

STP Short Term Plan Offshore execution plan which is frozen for the next month.

T&E Tools and Equipment Tools and equipment rented for offshore jobs.

WO Work Order The work order is a way to control and document

the maintenance activities.

WP Work Preparator Responsible for the construction of the work preparation work pack.

(9)

1 Introduction of the Integrated Services Contract A.J.S.

1.1 Introduction to the company A.J.S. vof

In a major move to improve the efficiency of their operations, Shell UK Exploration & Production Ltd. and their Dutch partner company NAM (Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij) combined their assets in the Southern North Sea under a single management and operational structure called ONEgas. ONEgas is the operational name of the combined Shell Expro and NAM Southern North Sea offshore business.

ONEgas needed a company with experience of offshore asset support to take responsibility for raising the long-term performance of fifty offshore gas production platforms (assets) and two gas plants under a single Integrated Service Contract (ISC).

AJS is a Joint Venture organization, set up by Amec Upstream Oil and Gas, Jacobs Engineering Netherlands B.V. and Stork Industry Services Netherlands B.V. AJS has been awarded the ONEgas ISC in August 2003 and has a minimum period of seven years. ONEgas is the only client of AJS.

AJS is working from different locations: Assen, Amsterdam, Den Helder, Bacton and Great Yarmouth.

The ISC is a contract where personnel of both ONEgas and AJS work in integrated teams to deliver common business targets. The ISC includes the following activities: management; work preparation; maintenance; planning; coordination; administration; engineering; modification; operational support and sub-contractor management. The main scope of work is maintenance jobs. The maintenance of the assets and gas plants varies from painting jobs to changing high pressure piping installations. Briefly said, all the maintenance necessary to keep the assets and gas plants operational.

Capital or mid-size projects are not automatically part of the scope, but Shell Expro and NAM can contract out these projects to AJS on an individual basis. This means AJS is executing the ISC for all the Shell offshore production facilities in the Dutch and UK sectors of the Southern North Sea.

The three parties, Amec, Jacobs and Stork signed a legal joint venture agreement to work together, but have not created a new separate company with its own people. All people working within the AJS framework will remain employed through one of the parent companies.

The work includes fifty offshore assets and two gas plants, one in Bacton (UK) and one in Den Helder (see appendix 8.1). The contract is seen as a breakthrough in the oil and gas industry because it is the first time an ISC has operated ‘cross border’. ONEgas and AJS work as one team and share common goals and objectives.

(10)

1.2 Organization of AJS

AJS is a delivery focused matrix organization supported by functional disciplines (see Figure 1-1 and appendix 8.2). There are three main delivery streams: Maintenance, Modifications (E&M) and Capital Projects (CP).

Maintenance consists of routine preventive, corrective and extra ordinary maintenance activities. It varies from painting the bulwarks to replacing pipes. The maintenance is prepared onshore and carried out by operations and maintenance teams working offshore and on the two gas plants. Maintenance are always “like for like” projects. This means the existing situation will not change due to the maintenance. In case a maintenance job involves new materials or it changes the existing situation, it becomes a modification job. An example of a modification project is, when a certain pump breaks down and is replaced by the latest version of that kind of pump. Probably it will not fit exactly, so a few modifications will be necessary and changes are made to the existing situation.

CPs are large projects which contain new construction activities. Often with very high costs. For example, the construction of a new helicopter landing platform.

Each of the three delivery streams are supported by functional groups that provide dedicated expertise and support in their respective disciplines and all of the business support services needed to operate. The delivery streams are responsible for the activities that will be executed and are responsible during the execution. The functional streams are responsible for the people who execute the activities and how they execute the activities. A simplified organization chart is illustrated in Figure 1-1. The complete organization chart of AJS is illustrated in appendix 8.2.

(11)

1.3 Acceptance of work

For a better understanding of the organization it is useful to create more insight in how new work is brought into the organization and how it is divided along the delivery streams at AJS.

Raising new work can be initiated by anyone who thinks the work is necessary. This could be onshore or offshore. To initiate work, a SAP notification or a PIR (Problem Improvement Report) is needed. This could be due to writing to the E&M delivery engineer responsible for the asset, which the work is involved. SAP (Systeme, Anwendungen, Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung) is the name for the online management system.

After the notification of the work, a decision is made about the type of work. If the work is clearly a maintenance, modification, CP or support services job, it is directly sent to the delivery team leads of the particular work stream. Support Services is the ad hoc provision of services such as scaffolders, riggers etc. for Well Services, Drilling and Operations Support staff called off on an ad hoc basis and not for work listed either in the team fee or on the SLA (Service Level Agreement ). If there is any doubt, the initiated work is served to a decision panel.

The ‘work type decision panel’ makes a separation between Maintenance, Mini Minor Mod (MMM), CP and Support Services. After the separation decision, the work is divided into the work streams. The indicated work stream is responsible to execute the job. MMM is a maintenance job which is not ‘like for like’.

Notifications for new work are raised when the decision is made about the work streams. The originator of the work or the AJS/E&M delivery engineer is responsible for the quality of the notification.

After the notifications, a PIR has to be made. Once this is done RAM (workspace for the project) could be carried out on the network and getting the new work into the SLA.

At the time the work is scheduled into the SLA, budget approval has to be arranged by the delivery team leaders. Once the budget is approved, the work orders (WO) are released in SAP. It is important to ensure the work is done in priority order and feeding back to the work originators. There are three types of maintenance; preventive maintenance, corrective maintenance and extra ordinary maintenance. Extra ordinary maintenance is maintenance outside the maintenance reference plan for that year. All the preventive maintenance is stored into the reference plan. Out of the reference plan, a task list is created. This is the actual list of tasks that will be executed. The task list is placed into the SLA. For corrective maintenance, a notification will be made in SAP. This could be done, by anyone who notified maintenance is needed. Every project and all its contents are stored in SAP. The notifications are also put into the SLA.

For Modifications, there is a negotiation between ONEgas and AJS about the budget for a certain job. When they agree about the budget, an ‘in and out’ meeting is held. Here they make a

decision about which modification project goes into the SLA and which project goes out of the SLA, because the SLA contains a maximum amount of hours work that can carried out.

(12)

1.4 Phases in the execution of the work

The three delivery streams have their own work processes to execute their work. The work process at Modifications and CP are the same. The process at Maintenance differs from the other delivery streams. To create insight in these work processes they are discussed below. Further, the volume of work is given.

1.4.1 Phases at the Modifications and Capital Projects work process

Figure 1-2: Phases at the Modifications and Capital Projects work process

The Modification and CP process consists of eight phases: 1. PIR stage;

2. Work initiation stage; 3. Feasibility study; 4. Conceptual design;

5. Detailed design and Procurement; 6. Construction and Pre-commissioning; 7. Commissioning and Start-up;

8. Close-out.

The objectives in the PIR stage are to identify problems or improvements, documented in a report including technical concerns or temporary equipment requests. After the report is raised,

registered, assessed and approved the next stage can be initiated.

The work initiation stage provides data and supports documentation for asset owners to assess viability and selection of PIRs. A definition of the functional requirements is given and a study is initiated if required at this stage.

The feasibility study provides additional information and propose solutions for the asset owner to assess viability of PIR selection.

In the conceptual design phase further definition and evaluation of proposed solution identified at PIR stage takes place. In addition, they have to provide information for the asset owner to make a final investment decision.

Afterwards in phase 5 detailed engineering takes place necessary for construction and commissioning of projects. In addition, procurement of material and services necessary for project construction are made at this stage.

The construction and pre-commissioning phase will mobilize and manage construction activities and handover the construction completion certificate.

During phase 7 provision support to commissioning and operating activities are required to achieve design performance levels.

(13)

1.4.2 Phases at the Maintenance work process

Figure 1-3: Phases at the maintenance work process

The phases at the maintenance process: 1. Establish year plan;

2. Initiate;

3. Estimate / approve;

4. Planning / release work order; 5. Procurement / scheduling; 6. Execute work;

7. Close-out.

The year plan is a rolling plan. This means it is established each year for the next year. The year plan is constructed out of the 5 years base plan. The year plan contains every maintenance work needed to be done in a particular year. The year plan is distributed to all vendors for information. In the initiate phase will be looked at the type of maintenance. Is it a routine job or a non-routine job? Further, the year plan has to provide data and supporting documentation for asset owners to assess viability in the kind of maintenance. After the initiation, estimations will be made on person-hours, materials, tools, etc. Afterwards they can approve a job or send it to evaluation and improve. The planning will look if the job fits into the year plan and releases the work order (WO).

(14)

1.4.3 Volume of work

AJS is responsible for the maintenance and projects on 50 assets. The assets are divided

approximately fifty-fifty in the UK sector and the NL sector. The dimensions of the assets show many differences. For example, Normally Unmanned Installations (NUIs) and assets with over 80 beds. Consequently, the volume of jobs at each platform differs. The number of WOs and the hours worked in 2006 in the UK and NL are divided as follows, see Table 1-1.

It becomes clear out of Table 1-1, the number of WO CTR’s (Cost Time Resource) in the UK sector are over twice the number of WO CTR’s in the NL sector. This is due to the specification of hours. In the UK this is much more in detail. This explains the high number of WO CTR’s. However, the number of hours worked are respectively 54% for the UK sector and 46% in NL. From this point of view it can be said that, the volume of work is approximately the same.

Sector Work stream WO CTR’s Hours

UK Capital Projects 803 84681 E&M Scopes 18331 694137 Upgrade 645 148742 UK Total 19,779 927,560

NL Capital Projects 1212 148205 E&M Scopes 7135 580641 Upgrade 531 66676 NL Total 8896 795,521

(15)

1.5 Motivation for investigation

The maintenance, modifications or capital projects are delivered offshore at the offshore construction phase. During this phase all tools & equipment, materials and personnel have to go offshore. It is the goal of AJS to get the right tools & equipment, materials and personnel on time, in the right amount, at the right location.

It is difficult to achieve this, due to many factors effecting this phase. For example, two different types of logistics, by boat and by helicopter. These two have different kinds of planning

schedules. Add this to other different types of planning like shutdown-, materials-, and personnel planning and the planning of all the different work streams at the assets, it becomes a complex situation. For example the maintenance needed to be executed twice a year, or projects those are needed, have to be planned along the operations taken place at the assets every day.

Different kinds of constraints have to taken into account, like the limited bed space, maximum people on board (POB) and the limited time people are allowed to stay at the platform due to safety reasons.

Delivery of materials, tools & equipment and personnel at short notice is another difficulty, because AJS interacts with many suppliers / vendors. They all are responsible to commit to planning schedules.

It is a challenge to get the different actors into one combined stable execution plan and improve the performance of the offshore construction phase.

Several disturbances are indicated by the management of AJS:

Materials are missing or do not arrive on time at the platform; Materials do not arrive at the right platform at all;

Work packs are partly prepared. A work pack is a documentation map with all the information necessary for the job. Like the materials needed, drawings, the way the work has to be executed etc;

Offshore people have difficulties to find the right materials for the job. The problems mentioned, and probably more, cause inefficiencies during the execution of the offshore work. In this research will be analyzed which problems occur during the offshore construction phase first. At this moment, the problems during the offshore construction phase are ill defined. Subsequently, a choice will be made which problem to analyze more in detail. The problem analysis will be explained in paragraph 1.6.

The objective of AJS and ONEgas is “Operational Excellence”. Due to the integrated service contract, AJS is rewarded based on a balanced scorecard. A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) on the scorecard is inefficiency costs. Therefore, if any inefficiencies occur during the work process, AJS makes less profit.

Another KPI is safety. Safety is one of the main objectives of AJS/ONEgas. The problems and inefficiencies mentioned above cause disturbances in the execution. Disturbances increase risk and have negative influences on the safety. This causes a lower score on the scorecard and therefore less profit.

At a high level, reducing the disturbances mentioned will contribute to the following business objectives:

Improve the performance of the offshore construction phase; Generate more profit;

(16)

1.6 Problem analysis

A definition of a problem situation is needed, before an analysis can be made. At the start of this research, problems during the offshore construction phase are ill defined. First, it is necessary to know what a problem is. Therefore, the definition given by de Leeuw1 is adjusted to: A problem situation is every situation that is a motive for correction or renovation of that particular situation.

For AJS a problem situation is a situation that has a negative impact on the balanced scorecard.

Because of the quantity and the lack of insight into the problems, it is necessary to get more knowledge of the problems first. This means, investigate the elements mentioned by the management on reliability. Are the problems real problems or is something else happening? A methodology that can be useful in this case, is the DOV-model2 (Diagnose, Ontwerp, and Verandering). The choice to use this model is because at the start of this research, the exact problem is not clear. This model can be useful to get better insights to the actual problems. Next to the used model is explained how the model relates to the chapters in this thesis. Notice the diagnose phase will be executed twice. First to discover problems within the offshore construction phase and second, a scope reduction will be made to analyze a problem in more detail. Diagnose Design Out of scope Out of scope Change

Figure 1-4: DOV model and research structure

1

(17)

2 Diagnosis of problems during the offshore

construction phase

The diagnosis phase consists of a detail review, analysis and description (see Figure 1-4). First, a close look at the problems during the offshore construction phase is made from different kind of views.

The diagnosis consists of two stages, the problem definition phase and the problem explanation phase. The definition phase consists of a description of the problem situation. Subsequently an analysis by the problem owner will be made to indicate who has a problem with a certain situation.

At this stage, many problems in the offshore construction phase occur. To get more insights in these problems, a close look at the offshore construction phase is needed. For Modifications and CP, this is the construction & commissioning phase. For Maintenance, this is the execution phase.

Figure 2-1: Phases at the Modifications and Capital Projects Process

Figure 2-2: Phases at the Maintenance Process

2.1 Problem exposure

There are indications of several possible problems during the offshore construction phase or in the antecedent process. To identify these problems, different methods are used to get the relevant information.

Interviews are held with the following parties, Maintenance, Modifications and CP. The

information out of these interviews gives directions where problems might occur. The problems mentioned are discussed in paragraph 2.1.2.

In addition, change requests (CRs) are analyzed. A CR is a document to change the frozen 28 days execution plan. This is also called the Short Term Plan (STP).The reason to look at the STP is because it is the detailed execution plan for the offshore construction phase. If there are any problems during the execution of offshore jobs and it is necessary to change the STP, CRs are written. CRs are written to the STP only. The CRs are stored in a database and provide

information about the real problems during the offshore construction phase. Further explanation of the planning procedure is discussed in paragraph 2.2.

The reason to look at the CRs is because it provides insights in problems during the execution of the offshore work and the preparation phase, because a CR is made when a job is not executed according to plan or cannot be executed according to plan.

(18)

After the analysis of both methods, a comparison is made to look for similarities or differences in the opinion of the interviewee and the CRs data about possible problems. Distinction will be made into perception problems and real problems.

Perception problems can occur when the problem owner have an incorrect vision of the reality. This could be solved by changing the perception.3 For example, a person thinks a problem often occurs or is a large problem for the whole organization, but after investigations it appears, this person is the only one with this problem. Therefore, at company level it is a small problem. Changing the perception of this person can solve this problem.

Reality problems are problems that could be solved by changing the reality. Reality problems are managing problems for the problem owner.4 For example, a manager thinks it takes too much time from the initiation of a WO, until the actual execution of a job. When it is possible to shorten this time by changing the process, this can be seen as a reality problem.

Finally, a choice is made which problem or problems will be analyzed in detail in this research.

2.1.1 Change Requests

The CR-tool is made to make changes to the STP. These changes give insight into the problems with respect to the STP. It also gives insights into the problems at the offshore construction phase. Because when something is planned and for any reason changes are needed to the STP, a CR has to be written.

The reason to analyze CR data is it provides insights in the problems occurring during the offshore construction phase and the planning period a month in front of the offshore construction phase.

To improve the performance of the offshore construction phase, it is necessary to indicate the possible problems first. If something goes wrong during the construction or during the last month in front of the construction and the STP changes, a CR is made and gives the reason for the change.

Another reason to analyze CR data is the data can be used to verify the problems mentioned in the interviews. This because the problems mentioned during the interviews, could be perception problems.

Figure 2-3: Problem determination

The consequences of a CR are extra work. People had a certain plan, and if changes are necessary to the plan, all activity owners (delivery engineer, area coordinator, planners, helicopter

scheduling, resources, Offshore Installation Manager) have to do extra work.

Before an analysis of the CRs can be made, it is necessary to understand the planning procedures within AJS. Therefore, the planning procedures are explained in the next paragraph and the analysis of the CRs is presented in paragraph 2.3.

3

(19)

2.1.2 Analysis of the interviews

Interviews are held with the team leaders of the delivery streams and services within the organization. Also is spoken to planners, work preparators, buyers and engineers. For a detailed view of the interviewed people and their function see appendix 8.6.

In all interviews, people are asked which responsibilities they have and in which part of the organization’s work process they operate. Also is asked which problems they experience during the execution of their jobs and what, according to them, is the cause is of these problems. Important here is problems mentioned are believes of the interviewees. At this stage, no attention is paid to the classification of problems. In addition, no relationships between the problems and the different delivery streams are stated. It is solely used for finding directions where to put the accent in this research.

The analysis of the interview data shows several problems return in each interview. The problems mentioned can be classified into three main topics:

People; Materials;

Tools & Equipment.

These topics are discussed below are visualized in Figure 2-4: and Figure 2-5. Indicated in the boxes are the main problems. The circles indicate the possible reasons given by the interviewees. People

Figure 2-4: Problems during the offshore construction with respect to people

The people who execute the jobs are divided in different teams. The base crew; this crew consists of two teams. They are at the asset during a cycle of two weeks at the asset and two weeks at home. The base crew is responsible for the daily routines at the assets. They also execute small maintenance jobs.

(20)

Materials

Figure 2-5: Problems during the offshore construction with respect to materials

Problems indicated, concerning the materials (Figure 2-5) are, not delivered on time, not delivered at the right platform or not delivered at all. On the other hand, materials get lost. Another problem concerning materials delivered at the platform are, not findable at the asset or have the wrong specifications. Some materials delivered are used for the wrong job. For example, someone who is working for Modifications uses a pipe for a Maintenance job. All these problems can result in longer duration of jobs or jobs cannot be executed at all.

Tools & equipment

(21)

2.2 Explanation of the AJS Planning Procedures

The planning of jobs can be seen at different levels. From rough high level planning to detail planning. Therefore, the different levels in the planning procedures are described below.

2.2.1 Overall Planning

Figure 2-6: AJS Portfolio and Functional Activity Plans

The planning is divided in five levels. The contents of the levels differ for CP/Modifications and Maintenance.

For Maintenance the starting point is the maintenance reference plan. This contains all the maintenance needed to be done, but is not approved yet. This approval is at level 2. The work preparation starts at level 3. The work preparation is explained further in detail in paragraph 4.1.1. At level 4 the resources are linked to the plan. Finally, at level 5 the detailed estimate of jobs is made and planned. The STP is frozen after level 5.

The first two levels for CP/Modifications are about the determination of scope for the jobs and rough planning for execution. The work preparation starts at level 3 and is more detailed at level 4. The execution plan is prepared at level 5 and afterwards put into the STP.

After level 5, the two work streams combine their planning in the Offshore Work Plan/Short Term Plan. The levels 4 and 5 for CP, Modifications and Maintenance are explained in more detail in paragraph 2.2.2.

2.2.2 Short Term Planning

(22)

The plan is required to reflect the combined effects of all functions within an asset. The plan contains the following activities:

Work requiring platform beds which can not be executed by the base crew; Day trip activities like surveys and management visits;

Work that impacts production;

Work that requires a shutdown of any kind;

Work that may affect other activities. I.e. crane maintenance or hot work. Once a month a meeting is held about the 90-day plan (90-day meeting). In this meeting, the offshore work plan (OWP) is discussed. The starting point (T=0) Figure 2-7 of the 90-day planning process is the issue of the previous months 90-day plan. The 90-day plan is issued as a 120 day window. The first 90 days is the agreed 90-day plan for the coming month and the last 90 days is the preliminary plan for the next meeting.

The first month of the 90-day plan is discussed and set final. At this moment, it is frozen and known as the Short Term Plan (STP). After the meeting, the IPs will update the 90-day plan and produce the STP.

Figure 2-7: Construction of the STP

The STP is the first month of the 90-day plan, this is frozen. The STP is used by Operations to manage planned offshore activities and resources on a daily basis.

After the 90-day meeting, the commitment meeting is held. This meeting is chaired by the ONEgas senior onshore operations coordinator and attended by air & marine logistics. The purpose of this meeting is to agree the logistics support required to execute the plan, can be provided.

(23)

Figure 2-8: Time line of the STP construction

After the turning date, the functional planner (FP) is not allowed anymore to bring up jobs to the 90-day plan. The IP will issue the pre-plan. Once the pre-plan is issued, the IP is not allowed to make changes to the pre-plan anymore. After five days the 90-day meeting is held about the STP of April. The changes made in the plan discussed in the day meeting are issued as the final 90-day plan. It is sent to the flight scheduling unit (FSU) for commitment. Three 90-days later the pre-STP is issued and after two days it is finalized.

All identified changes to work within the STP should be coordinated via the activity owners. These are the delivery engineers or project engineers responsible for that particular work. The activity owners will raise CRs. The moment a CR can be written is once the STP is formally issued. This normally is in the second week of the month. This means the CR-period consists of one month (STP period) plus approximately two weeks in front of the start date of the STP period.

The activity owner, IP and the chief of the asset (HMI/OIM) will assess the impact of the change. The CRs will be approved or rejected. Once a CR has been agreed, the STP will be updated and the latest version on Livelink will be refreshed to ensure that the changes are visible to all parties. Livelink is the online document storage system used within AJS. It is the responsibility of the activity owner to inform all parties affected by the change. I.e. supply chain, subcontractors and vendors.

2.3 Analysis of the Change Requests

After the explanation of the planning, the CRs are analyzed. Like mentioned before, a CR is made when changes to the STP are needed. These changes provide insights that something is not going according to plan and rework is necessary.

There are different reasons to make a CR. Some changes require an e-change form approval. This is an electronic form with the necessary information of the change. The information should be suitable for an HMI to base his decision to approve or reject a CR. Changes requiring an e-change form approval are:

The number of beds required on a platform on any day changes, increases or decreases (e.g. jobs requiring non-platform base crew to stay on the platform overnight, because its completion is delayed and staff need to stay on the platform longer, or the job is rescheduled for a different time, or the job deleted or a new job is added);

(24)

scaffolders for 4 pipe fitter instead of the planned change of 2 scaffolders and 2 pipe fitters, or a new activity such as a project survey team wish to day trip, or a day tripping visitor is added to the list);

A change to the boat sailing schedule is needed. (e.g. materials, T&E need to be sent to a platform which does not have a boat scheduled or the visit date to the platform needs to be changed);

An activity change is required that has no resource number change. Only applicable to non-core crew activities (e.g. a vendor changes swap out a 2 day trip from vendor A with a 2 day trip from vendor B).

Changes that do not require an e-change form approval:

Just a name change. e.g. when the vendor wants to change the representative, he sends to the platform from Mr. A, to Mr. B or the management visit is

represented by G instead of H;

The base crew job changes, is added or deleted and has no impact on the other planned work scope. The plan could just be up dated;

An activity that affects gas production only (i.e. no resource impact). This needs to be approved separately.

Every person within the organization is entitled to write a CR. When a CR is made, the originator has to fill in the reasons for change.

An example of a CR is nr 2202.

The primary reason for change is job postponed caused by the availability of recourses on a job. The job is about reparation of dew points (Measurement tool, to measure the dew in the gas). Additional information given to the CR is: All dew points are out of order, repair is needed. However, repair this week has been cancelled due the illness of promised employee. Another example is CR nr 11979: Job scope duration changed / Availability of resources Due to problems with compressor on L15 and problems with a well on L9. This in combination with resource constrains. Actions to be taken summarized: Change the flight plan and the bed occupation on two different assets for four people. (see appendix 8.9 for an example of a CR) These examples provide little insight in the consequences of a CR. There are many reasons for changes, so these are analyzed further in this research. In addition, recommendations will be given to reduce these changes.

(25)

2.3.1 Explanation of the Primary Change reasons

Primary Reason for Change

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 2005 2006 Reason N u m b e r Scope/Duration Postponed New Cancelled Brought Forward

Figure 2-9: Primary reason for change

Job Brought Forward is used in case a job is already in the STP but has to be executed earlier than planned inside the range of the STP.

Job Cancelled is the cancellation of a job. The job is not automatically cancelled finally, but is removed out of the STP.

Job New is used when a certain job is not in the STP, but it is desirable to do the job in an early stage within the STP. This can be due to priority reasons, or breakdowns. According to the IP, this category is also used to get jobs done quickly, even though it has a low priority, but the job can be executed on basis of the available resources.

Job Postponed is the primary change reason in case of delay before the execution date. The job can be postponed both inside the STP window and outside the STP window.

Job scope/duration changed is used in case of expanding or reducing the scope of work. The consequences are that the duration of the job increases or decreases.

The Primary Reason for Change for the categories Job Brought Forward, Job Cancelled and Job New is approximately constant over the years 2005 and 2006. For Job Postponed and Job Scope/Duration Changed, a shift has taken place. Fewer jobs are postponed, but more CRs are written to the job scope/duration category. This indicates that the moment a job needs to be executed is more fixed, but the estimated scope/duration of a job is less accurate.

2.3.2 Explanation of the reasons for change

The reasons for change are sub categories of the primary reason for change. When a CR is filled in, the primary reason for change is filled in first. Afterwards other options are given to specify the reason for change. These categories are shown in Table 2-1. Further justifications could be given on the CR form. For an example of a CR form see appendix 8.9. The top 80 % of the CRs are discussed more in detail below.

(26)

resources cannot be available on time at an asset, or changes are needed to the composition of the offshore crew. When resources are mentioned in the CRs, this indicates people who have to execute the activities offshore. This does not include the base crew. The availability of resources can be affected by different reasons. From sickness of a welder to stuck in a traffic jam. Another reason to call it availability is because too many resources are planned according to the maximum people on board.

The label Late initiation/Preparation is indicated on a CR when a job gets a high priority and must be executed within the STP in spite of it is not being in the STP. It is possible, another job is pushed forward within the STP or removed out of the STP, due to this CR.

Optimize route/planning is the planning of people, boats or helicopters to get another schedule. For example, the helicopter route is A-B-C-A. When people are on location C and have to go to location B, a CR is made to change the route to A-C-B-A. Another example is, this category is used to optimize resources for different jobs. The Equipment breakdown is a clear category. When equipment breaks down, mostly it has to be repaired as soon as possible. Therefore, this change falls within the STP and a CR is necessary to get the job done.

Early finish of work could be seen as a positive CR. The job has taken fewer hours than actually planned. The resources can leave the platform earlier if there is not another job planned for these people. To arrange an early leave, a CR is required to reserve a new helicopter seat for the resources involved. Negative effect of this category is it causes disturbance on the planning. Not required anymore occurs when a particular job is done by another team, like the base crew. Alternatively, a job becomes surplus due to other jobs and is cancelled. Most of the surveys are planned, but when a survey is needed on a short-term basis (within the STP period), CRs are needed. The time planned for a survey could be too short. Subsequently there are two options. One, the survey is extended or two, a second survey is planned. Both need CRs.

Progress related are CRs about the progress of a job. For example, a job is planned for 10 days. On day 5, the job is done for 20 %. To make the deadline, more people are required. These could be asked through CRs. Another Job Scope/Duration Changes is used if during the execution of a job, other work is discovered. For example, the isolation of a pipe is removed, at that time is discovered the pipe is rotten and needs replacement. This means the job scope is increased and probably the duration is lengthened.

In some situations, it is not possible to execute different jobs at the same time. For example, you cannot test measurement instruments, before the installation, which you want to measure, is installed completely. Alternatively, when an x-ray photo has to be taken, other people are nt allowed in the vicinity because of the radiation. Therefore, job A can Conflicting with another Job B.

(27)

All primary reasons of change have their own sub-categories of reasons of change. To give more insight in these possibilities they are listed below.

Primary Reason Reason for change

Job Brought Forward - Equipment breakdown

- HSE

- Instructed by HMI/OIM - Integrity

- Optimize route planning

Job Cancelled - Already executed

- Not required anymore

Job New - Equipment breakdown

- HSE - Instructed by HMI/OIM - Integrity - Late initiation/preparation - Management visit - Survey - Visitor

Job Postponed - Availability operations

- Availability helicopters - Availability materials - Availability resources - Availability vessels - Conflicting with other job

- HSE

- Instructed by HMI/OIM - Other job brought forward - Other job new

- Other job scope/duration - Weather related

Job scope/duration changed - Availability operations

- Availability helicopters - Availability materials - Availability resources - Availability vessels - Conflicting with other job - Early finish of work - End date exceeded - Instructed by HMI/OIM - No show

- Optimize route planning - Other job brought forward - Other job new

- Other job scope/duration - Weather related

- Illness

(28)

2.4 Data analysis

All CRs are stored in a database since September 2004. The period from start, until the end of 2004 is used as start-up period and contains contamination. Like wrong specifications and missing CRs due to starting up the new CR procedures. Therefore, these data will be excluded from this analysis.

The years 2005 and 2006 will be analyzed. The overview of the total CRs are represented in the charts below (Figure 2-11 and Figure 2-12).

First, a separation between the UK sector and the NL sector is made. Evident is the NL sector is responsible for 77% of the CRs. The reasons for this difference are not clear at this stage. Further research is needed to explain this difference. At this stage of the analysis, we only look at the NL sector, because the large share of the total CRs and the big differences between the assets in the NL and UK sector. Further separation will be made in the NL data set. The CRs for the NL sector in 2005 are caused by only a few categories. See Table 2-2. 80% of the CRs are due to 8

categories. Number of CR's 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 2005 2006 Year N u m b e r NL UK

(29)

Category 2005 Number CR % of Total Accumulative %

Instructed by HMI/OIM 1377 26 26 Availability resources 729 14 40 Progress related 497 9 49 Late initiation/Preparation 455 9 58 Survey 435 8 66

Early finish of work 325 6 72

Availability materials 315 6 78

Equipment breakdown 289 5 83

Rest 928 17 100

Total 5350

Table 2-2: Number of Change Requests per category 2005

Category 2006 Number CR % of Total Accumulative %

Availability resources 926 18 18 Late initiation/Preparation 437 9 27 Optimize route/planning 413 8 35 Equipment breakdown 346 7 42 Instructed by HMI/OIM 322 6 48

Early finish of work 259 5 53

Not required anymore 256 5 58

Survey 255 5 63

Progress related 249 5 68

Other Job Scope/ Duration Changed

207 4 72

Conflicting with other Job

182 4 76

Availability materials 181 4 80

Rest 982 20 100

Total 5015

(30)

Analysis of the categories in 2005 and 2006 shows the top 80% categories out of 2005 all return in 2006. However, four categories are added. Optimize route planning, not required anymore, other job scope/duration changed and conflicting with other job.

Reason for change NL-2005

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 1 Reason % Instructed by HMI/OIM Availability rescources Progress related Late initiation/Preparation Survey

Early finish of work Availability materials Equipment breakdown Availability helicopters Optimise route/planning Weather related Bed Required Management visit Production deferment HSE No show Availability vessels End date exceded Integrity

Figure 2-11: Reason for change NL 2005

Reason for change NL-2006

0 5 10 15 20 1 Reason %

Availability rescources Late initiation/Preparation Optimise route/planning Equipment breakdown Instructed by HMI/OIM Early finish of work Not required anymore Survey Progress related Other Job Scope/Duration Changed Conflicting with other Job Availability materials End date exceded Integrity Availability helicopters

HSE Weather related Production deferment

Availability Operations Bed Required Management visit

Already executed Visitor Other Job Brougth Forward

No show Other Job New Availability vessels

illness

(31)

2.4.1 Reliability of the data

Different people with different opinions fill in the CRs. There are procedures to fill in a CR, but irregularities always occur. For example, when a job takes more time as scheduled, this could be caused by many reasons. It could be due to bad weather, but on a CR is filled in progress related. This kind of irregularities happens according to the area coordinator (he gets all the CRs) on an occasional basis.

Another issue which can cause contamination of the dataset is the snowball effect. This occurs when one CR is the reason for additional CRs. For example, in the shutdown periods it is very crowded at the assets and the helicopters. In case of a CR to reschedule two persons, the consequences are, more helicopter seats have to be rescheduled. Sometimes these changes are included in one CR, either it also occurs that due to the first CR, other CRs are written. The number of these issues is not visible in the data set.

2.4.2 Impact of the change requests

Two ways to express the impact of the CRs are money or people involved. To express the money impact, it is necessary to know which people are involved to make the change possible and how many hours they work on the change. Subsequently the hours have to be multiplied with the hour rate of each person involved. Also attention has to be paid to the extra costs involved like

inventory costs (materials longer on hold if job is postponed) or costs of lost sales (in case of longer shutdown than planned) etc. Therefore, at this stage of this thesis it is too complicated to make a reliable estimation of the money involved as result of a CR.

It is more useful to express the consequences of the CRs in people involved, because all the CRs could be related to people. People involved at a CR, are people who need changes in their planned situation. This could be a longer stay, or an early leave. It always concerns people for offshore jobs.

For example, a CR to postpone job A due to duration change of job B can cause a change for an entire team that is scheduled for job C. However, if job B duration is lengthened and the people for that job stay on the platform, there are no beds available for the new team for job C. In this example, it involves a team of six persons. This can be seen as more impact compared to a CR in which only one person is involved. A change for six people takes more effort, to make the change work. Like the change of helicopter flights and seats for six people is more difficult than a change for one. This is also the case for the change of bed spaces at the platform.

To make the impact of a CR visible, another diagram shows the number of people involved per category (See Figure 2-13 and Figure 2-14).

The number of persons involved per CR is notified on the CR. For all the CRs, the number of people involved is added to the different categories. The figures of the number of CRs are compared to Figure 2-11 and Figure 2-12. There are no large differences. The top five categories are practically the same. Except in 2005 Survey changed position with late initiation and in 2006 Survey has climbed from position 8 to position 3.

Conclusion

(32)

Number of persons involved per category 2005

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1

Reason for change

N u m b e r

Instructed by HMI/OIM Total Availability rescources Total Progress related Total Survey Total

Late initiation/Preparation Total Equipment breakdow n Total Availability materials Total Early finish of w ork Total Optimise route/planning Total Availability helicopters Total Bed Required Total Weather related Total Management visit Total Production def erment Total HSE Total

No show Total Availability vessels Total End date exceded Total Integrity Total

Figure 2-13: Number of persons involved per category 2005

Number of persons involved per category 2006

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 1

Reason for change

N u m b e r

Availability rescources Total Late initiation/Preparation Total Survey Total Optimise route/planning Total Equipment breakdow n Total Progress related Total Instructed by HMI/OIM Total Not required anymore Total Early finish of w ork Total Conflicting w ith other Job Total Other Job Scope/Duration Changed Total Availability materials Total Integrity Total Availability helicopters Total End date exceded Total HSE Total

Weather related Total Bed Required Total Production deferment Total Management visit Total Availability Operations Total Availability vessels Total Already executed Total Visitor Total

Other Job Brougth Forw ard Total No show Total Other Job New Total illness Total

(33)

2.4.3 Comparison interviews and change requests

The outcome of the interviews shows, most problems occur in relation to people, materials and T&E. However, after analysis of the CRs it became clear the materials do not have an

extraordinary impact on the total number of the CRs. In 2005, 6 % of the CRs were on

availability of materials. In 2006, this number was 4%. Compared to the availability of resources in the same periods, respectively 14 % and 18 % the impact of the materials is less, although in both cases the job cannot be executed.

The T&E problems mentioned by people out of the delivery streams and services do not have a category in the CRs. When problems occur in relation to T&E, they are booked on the materials category.

The CRs indicate several main categories that cause changes to the STP (see Table 2-2 and Table 2-3). The main category is Availability of Resources. This is also one of the problems mentioned during the interviews. It has a share of 14% and 18% in respectively 2005 and 2006.

2.4.4 Problem explanation

(34)

2.5 Investigate the Availability of Resources

A decision has to be made which category will be investigated further. This is done after the interviews and the analysis of the CR data. The Availability of Resources is mentioned during the interviews and contains many CRs. Instructed by HMI/OIM is not used anymore, because too many people used this category for all kinds of matters. It is not useful anymore to analyze this category any further.

Late initiation and preparation and optimize route/planning are also categories with a large impact on the CRs. The reason to let these categories out of the investigation is based on a scope

decision. Further research is recommended on these categories in another study.

The impact of the CRs categories is analyzed on the number of people involved. The distribution based on these criteria is approximately the same as the distribution based on the number of CRs. Because the number of CRs and the number of people involved in these CRs, the category “availability of resources” is expected to have the greatest impact on the stability of the STP. It also affects the offshore execution phase. Execution of jobs is not possible if there are no resources available.

The choice is made to investigate the “availability of resources” further. Also is tried to discover why so many CRs are written in this category.

The resources mentioned in the CRs are people who have to execute the jobs offshore. They are not part of the base crew of the assets.

The CRs on availability of resources are divided in five primary reasons for change. This implicates the consequences of the changes. A closer look on these reasons (Figure 2-5) learns, the most changes are made on the category of job postponed and job scope/duration changed. Consequences are other jobs also have to be postponed.

Primary reason for change 2005 2006

Job Brought Forward 11 7

Job Cancelled 100 61

Job New 167 98

Job Postponed 285 346

Job Scope/Duration Changed 166 414

Grand Total 729 926

(35)

3 Investigation process

After the first analysis of the problem area it becomes clear that once the STP is final, CRs are made to change the STP. An ideal situation is that every activity planned in the STP is also executed according to the plan and is accomplished with zero waste.

Waste can be described as activities that add no value to the work process.

Waste in construction industry is defined in seven categories:5 1. Defects;

2. Delays due to waiting for upstream activities to finish before another job can begin; 3. Over processing;

4. Overproduction;

5. Maintaining excess inventory; 6. Unnecessary transport of materials; 7. Unnecessary movement of people.

In case of the STP, the CRs can be seen as waste. When someone renders a CR, the consequences are more people have to take actions and people have to redo actions that have been taken before. These actions can also be seen as waste. To optimize the workflow waste has to be eliminated as much as possible. These are “Lean thoughts” in construction. To eliminate waste, good insights of actions or aspects which causes waste are necessary. The content of these lean thoughts are explained in this chapter. After the explanation, the purpose of this investigation is given and the research questions are constructed.

3.1 Lean implies waste reduction

In the previous chapters, waste is already mentioned. Waste is an activity that adds no value to the work process. Elimination of waste in the work process characterizes lean thinking. Lean thinking is a value seeking process to maximize value and continually redefine perfection6. This principle is implemented successfully in a broad manner in the production industry. A well-known example is the Toyota Production System developed by Ohno. The Toyota Company produced a variety of cars for a small market. A production system was required, which should be capable of short product runs and rapid changes between different kinds and different models of automobiles, and the smallest amount of work in progress possible. Ohno’s objective was to instantly deliver a product, meeting a specific customer’s requirements without inventory7. His objective defines waste for any form of production and tries to eliminate this in the production stream. Ohno’s view can be seen as lean.

Questions here are: Is lean thinking also applicable in the construction industry? Especially in the offshore construction industry. And is it possible to optimize the work process of AJS by

elimination of waste?

5

Lean Construction, Eliminating the Waste, Lauren Pinch (2005).

6

Implementing lean construction: Understanding and action, Howell, G. and Ballard G. (1998).

7

(36)

3.1.1 Lean Construction

Lean construction is a way to think about and do work in construction. It is based on the same objectives as in lean production. An organization becomes lean by eliminating waste in the work process. However, there are fundamental differences between production and construction. For example, complex projects in highly uncertain environments under great time and scheduling pressure are fundamentally different from producing buckets. Another difference is the

repetitiveness of the actions taken. In production actions are often short in time and made often. In construction, mostly actions take longer and do not occur that often in the same period. In spite of the differences between production and construction the similarity is, waste also occurs in construction projects. Waste in construction arises from the same way of thinking, “Keep intense pressure for construction on every activity because reducing the cost and duration of each step is the key to improvement”8.

Lean construction aims to optimize the project activity by activity. It primarily aims to reduce the waste caused by unpredictable workflows. To optimize activity by activity it is important to decentralize decisions. This means giving more responsibilities to workers on a lower hierarchical level in the organization. For example, if someone observes any kind of waste, he is allowed to intervene.

Implementing lean principles in construction takes time. Because each action supporting the ideal objectives (like zero waste) creates new problems, benefits and understanding. To become lean, it is important to identify a change agent, getting the knowledge, mapping the processes and

installing reliable planning in the first place9.

According to the Lean Construction Institute (LCI), the first target of implementing lean principles is the planning also. LCI is a non-profit research organization, founded by Glenn Ballard and Greg Howell in August 1997. LCI's purpose is to reform the management of

production in design, engineering and construction for capital facilities. LCI developed the Lean Project Delivery System (LPDS); it applies principles pioneered in manufacturing to construction. LPDS tools facilitate planning and control, maximizing value and minimize waste throughout the construction process.

The diagnosis phase of this investigation showed that to the STP approximately 550 CRs per month are written. This indicates an unstable planning. So according to Howell and Ballard and the LCI the first target to become lean is a reliable planning.

8

Improved Resource Availability in the Offshore Industry by applying Lean Construction Concepts

Improved Resource Availability in the Offshore

Industry by applying Lean Construction Concepts

Improved Resource Availability in the Offshore

Industry by applying Lean Construction Concepts

-- Confidential --

Preface

Management Summary

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations

1 Introduction of the Integrated Services Contract A.J.S.

1.1 Introduction to the company A.J.S. vof

1.2 Organization of AJS

1.3 Acceptance of work

1.4 Phases in the execution of the work

1.4.1 Phases at the Modifications and Capital Projects work process

1.4.2 Phases at the Maintenance work process

1.4.3 Volume of work

1.5 Motivation for investigation

1.6 Problem analysis

2 Diagnosis of problems during the offshore

construction phase

2.1 Problem exposure

2.1.1 Change Requests

2.1.2 Analysis of the interviews

2.2 Explanation of the AJS Planning Procedures

2.2.1 Overall Planning

2.2.2 Short Term Planning

2.3 Analysis of the Change Requests

2.3.1 Explanation of the Primary Change reasons

2.3.2 Explanation of the reasons for change

2.4 Data analysis

Reason for change NL-2006

2.4.1 Reliability of the data

2.4.2 Impact of the change requests

Number of persons involved per category 2006

2.4.3 Comparison interviews and change requests

2.4.4 Problem explanation

2.5 Investigate the Availability of Resources

3 Investigation process

3.1 Lean implies waste reduction

3.1.1 Lean Construction