How A Construction Company Uses Company Calendar To Manage Work Flow, Equipment, And Personnel

The Problem: How to Orchestrate People, Equipment, and Schedule

This case study is about a construction company uses Company Calendar to run their business. The construction company specializes in asphalt paving and large piping. They install roads and sewer piping in housing developments.

The primary challenge is to organize work crews and equipment at the job sites. Organizing crews can be complicated as the work requirements are constantly changing. For example, if you have a crew show up at a job site but the equipment isn't there you are losing time and money. These items needed to be organized on an ongoing basis:

1. Work crews: The company needs get the proper people to the job site.

2. Heavy equipment: Trucks, graders, and other heavy equipment need to be at the job site as needed.

3. Additional equipment: Other equipment needs to be at the job site as well. For example, they may need a bucket for the skip loader.

Job requirements are constantly changing. New jobs come in. Pickup work needs to be done. Deadlines need to be met. It is a daunting task for a company to orchestrate these constantly shifting elements.

What Is Needed: A Master Schedule For Everyone

These elements - personnel, equipment, and schedule - come from all over. Employees leave from their home to go directly to the job site. Equipment comes from the yard.

Having a schedule on paper at the office does little good. People and equipment don't start at the office. Personal calendars, in Outlook and Smart Phones, don't help either. These organize people, not groups. What is needed is a group calendar. They need a calendar that is accessible everywhere. This way everyone can consult the calendar, from wherever they are, to learn the marching orders for the day.

The Solution: Company Calendar - A Web Based Group Calendar

Here is how the company solved their organizational problems. They use Company Calendar.

Every morning the president meets with his staff in the conference room. There is a large monitor in the room. They put company calendar up on the monitor. Then they go to work.

On the screen they see all the jobs in work. Every day of the month is planned. The president and his staff make modifications to the calendar based on schedule and availability of resources. They see what lies before them and make adjustments daily. The calendar is the master schedule for the company.

Everyone in the company and supporting the company consult the calendar too. Employees for example, look at the company calendar from their homes before starting to work. Perhaps a change was made over night. Maybe the job site they thought was right is wrong. Since the calendar is real time, it IS where they are supposed to be that day.

It's the same for equipment. Heavy equipment needs to be at the site for work to begin. Without it, you're wasting time. Company Calendar shows where the equipment must be. As requirements change, the change is reflected on the calendar, and everyone shows up in the right place.

A group calendar can have a dramatic effect on business. Company Calendar is a simple tool, but used properly it can improve a business. Coordinating something as complicated as work, people, and equipment is easy when you have the right system. A real-time group calendar can bring order to chaos. This construction company is doing well. Their customers are impressed at how deftly they adjust to changing requirements. Construction is a competitive business yet this business is expanding due in no small part to Company Calendar.