Touchplan, a Lean construction technology for project teams looking to easily execute Last Planner®, is a common-sense solution to advance the old, analog process of sticky notes on the wall. A key resource for jobs seeking to reduce overall project time, improve team communication and run smoother projects, Touchplan consistently increases the bottom line through a platform project teams can learn and use within minutes of introduction. Designed for field planning and management, Touchplan - a division of MOCA Systems - has continuously served Subcontractors, Superintendents and Project Managers in the field, and Project Executives, Architects and Owners planning the build. With nearly 20 years of experience, it’s no wonder why 15% of the ENR top 100 list are veterans to this unique, easy-to-use solution.
The Last Planner® System (LPS), which is adopted to amplify efficiency and decrease waste, often is introduced through using sticky notes and involves a massive sacrifice of resources only to yield a plan that is frozen and incapable of analysis to activate continuous improvement. Touchplan takes the purpose of LPS – to begin with the finished product in mind and working together to make a plan – and digitizes it, allowing for a swift, adjustable and accessible plan with a way to quantify and qualify areas for growth and improvement. Touchplan also integrates with other master schedules and constraint logs like Procore. It can convert critical path schedules to a Lean process.
“Coordination, especially on highly detailed, unique jobs, takes a lot of time, energy and patience.” says Touchplan Founder and President, Michael Carr. He adds, “The difficulty of putting multiple trades together in a trailer with sticky notes to write on is that everyone is concentrated on their own specialty and less so on the overall picture. Touchplan requires teams to plan together, which is so much more than just physically being the same room; it’s looking at each other’s commitments, feeling accountable and getting everyone’s best possible thinking and effort to help the project as a whole.”
Users in the field are reporting good results of using Touchplan and are experiencing first-hand how impactful a digital Last Planner® presence is to their jobs. Jim Melachrinakis, Senior Superintendent at Skender says, “Working with Touchplan has been a great experience. It’s intuitive, collaborative and provides us with accurate project planning. It has saved our project teams time savings from our old planning method.” “I plan to implement Touchplan on every construction project I'm ever a part of.” Boasts Logan Cannady, Project Engineer at McCarthy Building company. “It's extremely user friendly, yet effective in getting results. It is very simple to bring in a group of people, teach them the process, and begin implementing within 15-minutes of learning the new software.”
It wasn’t long ago that teams were constantly frustrated, over budget and late on many, if not all projects. What folks are able to accomplish today on the job is more achievable using a specialized technology solution like Touchplan. Touchplan is free to try and can be found by visiting www.touchplan.io.