The empire state building is arguably one of the most famous buildings in the world. It reigned as the world tallest building for 40 years. Its design and construction took 20 months and began on April 1, 1930 (Ghosh, & Robson, 2015). The construction was efficient to the extent that at the peak of the construction the building rose four and a half floors a week. The building was officially opened on May 1931 standing at 102 floors.
The construction of the empire state building was completed using 57 thousand tons of steel involving up to 3500 workers per day (Ghosh, & Robson, 2015). A project of such magnitude required a lot of planning and efficiency to complete on time. The designers and contractors came up with a process where the total production was broken down into smaller units. These units are easier to track and manage, and collectively they give a good indication of the total progress. The inherent problem that might arise from this process is overlooking the interdependency between each unit. Consequently, the empire state building was designed and constructed in a linear project delivery system (LPD) perspective as opposed to the traditional approach.
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Key Stakeholders in the Empire State Building Project
The main stakeholders were Empire State, Inc., Lamb and Harmon, Shreve, architects, the owners, and Starret Bros. and Eken, the contractors. The individual companies also had many employees that needed to work together with the other employees in the other companies through teamwork.
Project Definition and Design Phase
The Empire State Building project employed the principles of LPDS. The project recognized the importance of collaboration and using the principles of lean. For LPDS to be efficient, there has to be laid down rules, procedures, and implementation.
Empire State, Inc. decided to include all the stakeholders in different stages of the whole project. The stakeholders including the designers and the contractors collaborated throughout the project life cycle. The collaborations included identifying problems in the project and formulating solutions. The collaboration part of the project was informed by LPDS (Ghosh, & Robson, 2015)
The approach of the stakeholders was with the belief that any challenge during construction is better solved by a combination of different professional units as opposed to a single unit. This promoted value generation approach as laid down by lean.
To ensure that the project was completed in time, the project design committee simplified the design process to the point that it had 16 design variations. Each design was produced with input from all the stakeholders revising every detail to perfection (Ghosh, & Robson, 2015). Different design variations made it easy to adopt any changes during construction. This reduced delays after construction began.
Design Development and Construction Phase
With the input from Starret Bros. and Eken, the Empire State Building’s engineering design was created a few floors at a time. The design was then sent to subcontracted suppliers and other contractors for fabrication and detailing so as to ensure a smooth production process. Furthermore, the specifications were prepared in detailed for the engineers, contractors and architects to express their opinions and gain consensus of the design. The architects went ahead to develop outline specifications that were then sent to various personnel for inputs and comments. A collaborative decision was reached on the job schedule, working documents and contracts. The detailed design of production process is also done together with the design production. Ballard (2008) recommends that in lean supply phase, the lean manufacturing techniques should be used to fabrication shops. Starret Bros. & Eken ensured a predictable supply of materials through controlling and supply chain monitoring by prequalifying the subcontractors, manufacturers and the suppliers. These procedures were conducted to ensure that the partners had the facilities as well as the manpower to deliver on the job.
Starrett Bros. & Eken employed expeditors prior as well as during the construction of the Empire State Building to determine the capacities of production at the quarries in Belgium, Italy and Germany. The expeditors were also employed to study the railroads that led to the ports as well as connections with the Atlantic shipping. A schedule was then worked out based on the results collected. Work chunks that were used to facilitate the work flow were created through the application of a work structuring. For example the work chunk for caulking between steel trim as well as the floor had five floors while the one for steel erection comprised of two floors at a time (Sacks & Partouche, 2010). The idea behind organizing the work chunks was to help control the production process of over 60 major trades that were initially grouped in streams of four that were led by a pacemaker each.
Establishing the work flow predictability in the lean assembly is important to regulate the level of production. By using the pacemaker technique, Starret Bros. & Eken were able to monitor the progress of the work. It was also evident that decoupling of tasks was done by the incorporation of the buffers for the purpose of ensuring uniformity in work flow (Sacks & Partouche, 2010). A constant feed of materials was ensured through the continuous supply of materials at the construction sites. The construction team came up with an innovative idea to move about 10 million bricks to the masons on the construction site. The team designed a chute which led to basement with a hopper where the storage of bricks occurred. The hopper would then release the needed bricks to the masons in rail cars where they would be recommended floors.
With the quest of constructing the tallest building in the world, the Empire State Building stakeholders used the Transformation-Value-Flow model in their management of production. The process was hastened through thorough and timely decision making process, innovative design decisions, constant consultations, and implementing system monitoring and control procedures which enabled them to identify and eliminate wastes. This process of management, construction techniques together with strong team work forms the principle of lean construction.
References
Ballard, G. (2008). The Lean Project Delivery System: An Update. Lean Construction Journal.
Ghosh, S., & Robson, K. F. (2015). Analyzing the Empire State Building Project from the Perspective of Lean Delivery System—A Descriptive Case Study. International Journal of Construction Education and Research, 11(4), 257-267.
Sacks, R., & Partouche, R. (2010). How did they do it?. Construction Research and Innovation, 1(4), 28-31.
