Linbeck believes in actively “managing” our clients’ projects, not just “witnessing” them. Since the design and construction process is essentially a manufacturing operation, we have incorporated some of the latest production management science available into our processes to help ensure Linbeck projects are delivered “on-time”. Consistent with our collaborative philosophy, schedule management is a team effort involving everyone from the architect to our subcontractor’s field foremen.

Like most firms, Linbeck utilizes Critical Path Method or CPM scheduling to outline the general strategy of a project from conception to completion. CPM is a type of “pull” strategy—the schedule begins by defining the final task (such as “owners move into the building”), then identifying the milestones that must be completed to release each preceding task. Using relative completion times for each item along with identification of concurrent tasks, the associated milestones define the start and end dates for the schedule. Unfortunately, CPM by itself has some limitations because it does not have a formal method of measuring production and because it is a “directive” system—it tells you what “should be done”. This, however, is not how the real world works since there are always bottlenecks in a production system.

Linbeck has developed a proactive scheduling system by incorporating the tenets of Lean Thinking into Lean Scheduling. Lean is a collaborative system. It asks the people that are actually putting the work in place (i.e. subcontractors or production teams) to lay out production goals that are consistent with the Master Schedule. Unlike CPM alone, though, Lean allows the management team to CONSTANTLY measure production so that they can shift resources more effectively. Additionally, because there are always bottlenecks, Lean allows the participants to determine what “can be done” versus what is directed by the CPM schedule. As such, bottlenecks can be minimized and production can still continue. The result, faster delivery of projects.