Leading Construction Firm Evolves Workface Planning From the Project Level to the Program Level

May 18, 2015 - Workface planning has become an industry standard methodology for large industrial construction projects due to its ability to increase productivity by up to 25 percent. Jacobs has been a leader in the implementation of this methodology, having used Bentley’s ConstructSim workface planning software for the past several years.  Leveraging this experience, Jacobs has elevated workface planning to an entirely new level – moving beyond deploying it on a project level by instituting program-level workface planning implementation. 

Jacobs has standardized its use of ConstructSim and its workface planning procedures across multiple projects, allowing Jacobs to create a consistent replicable and sustainable process that could be franchised from project to project. The results are impressive. 

Traditionally, a project will employ one workface planner per 50 to 100 trade professionals, or at a minimum one per project. Jacobs, however, was able to deploy 14 projects using just one workface planning manager and one ConstructSim administrator. In addition to the productivity gains from using workface planning, this centralized model also allowed them to save nearly USD 1.5 million in staffing costs.

Said Dale Adcox, workface planning manager, Jacobs, “Bentley’s vision to effectively establish a working packaging model to create electronic field installation work packages in minutes means Jacobs can show immediate value to the owner.”