The Last Planner® System

An increasing number of construction organisations are implementing lean construction practices to improve project delivery. This includes The Last Planner® System (also called Last Planner®), a cascade planning technique which allows for better control of a construction project and as a result less variability. It aims to make the planning process more reliable and serves to build trust within a project team.

Rather than a project team simply being handed a pre-defined project schedule, The Last Planner® is a collaborative approach to planning, where all stakeholder are involved in developing the plan and they are accountable for the commitments agreed within the plan. It also involves advance consideration for potential project delays and then proactively managing these delays before they occur.

The first step in The Last Planner® is to bring all project stakeholders together (the team) to plan when and how the project will be delivered through a series of conversational processes.

These involve:

1. coordination of the last planners (those stakeholders accountable for actions) through regular meetings,
2. commitment of these last planners, and
3. public visibility of progress (weekly), through real time tracking (Percent Plan Complete – PPC)

At Strata, we are passionate about continuously improving construction project delivery for our clients. We use lean construction techniques, industry best practice and our specialist planning experience to provide lean construction training and implementation throughout a project life cycle.

Specifically, we have partnered with clients to implement The Last Planner® System in multiple large scale projects across Europe and The Middle East.

For more information on how Strata can help you to improve your construction project productivity, please contact us.