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BUSINESS NEWS FLUOR ACHIEVES
SUBSTANTIAL
“We are off to a great start on this project as the team has achieved more than 3 million safe hours,” said Jim Breuer, group president, Energy Solutions, Fluor Corporation. “We are excited to work on this important project that will expand Albermarle’s position as an industry leader in lithium and lithium derivatives, one of the highest growth markets in the specialty chemicals sector.” The project site is located in Meishan City in the Sichuan Province of China. Fluor’s Shanghai, China, operations center is leading the project.
Fluor Corporation is building a better future by applying world-class expertise to solve its clients’ greatest challenges. Fluor’s 41,000 employees provide professional and technical solutions that deliver safe, well-executed, capital- efficient projects to clients around the world. Fluor had revenue of $12.4 billion in 2021 and is ranked 259 among the Fortune 500 companies. With headquarters in Irving, Texas, Fluor has provided engineering, procurement and construction services for more than 110 years.
ENGINEERING FOR ALBEMARLE LITHIUM CONVERSION PROJECT Fluor Corporation announced that it has achieved substantial engineering completion for Albemarle’s Lithium Conversion project in China. Fluor is providing engineering, procurement and construction COMPLETION management services for the facility. Lithium is an essential precursor material for high performance lithium- ion batteries for electric vehicles. When complete, the facility will produce 50,000 tons of lithium hydroxide per year.
jobsite examples, but are just as relatable in a corporate environment. We can all relate to the concept of “waiting” or “defects” – the non-value-added items that fill too much of the day for many people. With just a few hours of training, your team can begin to change the lens in which they see waste in their work, allowing them the awareness to start generating ideas on how to reduce or eliminate each one that comes across their path. 4. Not keeping score. An old superintendent once told me, “You can’t get to where you’re going if you don’t know where you’re at.” To continuously improve on your organization, you must be focused on metrics. Identify the top three to five metrics that matter the most to your organization and commit to regularly monitoring and reporting on them. Take corrective action when you see the numbers slipping and celebrate the victories when your team hits the goals. Are you measuring percent complete for milestones and activities? Are your team members hitting the commitment? If not, why? Are you reporting out on a regular basis to the full employee base for transparency and accountability? To execute at the highest level, you must make sure you’re keeping score, otherwise you have no idea if your team is progressing with lean. 5. Thinking there is an end. The beauty of lean is that it is never complete. It’s a journey, not a destination. It is always focused on learning, sharing, and continuous improvement. Many times, teams will take their foot off the gas when they achieve success. Through not huddling every day, becoming lax on metrics, and not setting new goals, teams that achieve success with lean can quickly lose what they have gained by abandoning what helped them achieve that success in the first place. Don’t get complacent. Reward a culture of continuous improvement and accountability, allowing anyone to call out those who are not striving to be the best. Keyan Zandy is CEO of Skiles Group. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
KEYAN ZANDY, from page 9
2. Lack of training. Another shortfall to successful lean culture at your organization is in not properly training your team. It’s hard to find absolute value in something when you don’t understand it. I’ve seen this rear its head when teams focus on their planning with disregard to other departments’ workloads or deadlines, or when weekly planning is done without reflecting on the past week’s work plan for percent complete or commitments missed. But the biggest miss is not onboarding departments and new employees. Onboarding your team provides a way for them to reach standard levels of learning and understanding. Creating an onboarding presentation or manual for employees to orient them to the company and processes is a lean way to get everyone on the same page. This can be done with an introduction of all team members; overview of the goals for the company or initiative (conditions of satisfaction); review of requirements and resources available; outline of deliverable and quality expectations; and confirmation of lean culture expectations. “Don’t get complacent. Reward a culture of continuous improvement and accountability, allowing anyone to call out those who are not striving to be the best.” 3. Focusing on tools, not culture. One of the reasons Joe Donarumo and I wrote The Lean Builder is that we got tired of watching so many project teams fail with lean by focusing on tools and not culture. While the book was created for those in the field, the principles are just as relevant for those working in the office. Without a focus on creating a culture of trust and transparency, the tools will eventually fail. Equipping your team to identify the “eight wastes” and understand their root causes is a significant first step toward shifting your culture. The “eight wastes” were initially created as
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THE ZWEIG LETTER JANUARY 2, 2023, ISSUE 1470
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