Heathrow Airport Case Study

To maximise airline revenues and airport reputation, one needs to understand and minimize any disruptions, delays or negative impacts on the passenger experience. It’s a careful balancing act. For this, Mace, one of the leading contractors in the UK, is appointed to provide consultancy, logistics and contracting services to deliver the various projects across Heathrow Airport. Watch the following video to get an idea of the magnitude of the work that was done.

As part of Heathrow’s expansion, VisiLean has been deployed by Mace across the airport to help drive their PPCS (Production Planning and Control System) process towards efficient, safe, and timely delivery of these projects. These projects range from improved Cargo Management and Security Upgrades to introducing new air bridges and Balcony areas within Terminals T1, T3, and T5.

The challenges

The labour-intensive manual process leads to poor coordination

Limited collaboration between the Mace team and suppliers

Multiple tools creating non-value-adding work for the project team

20 hours spent per week on planning and review process

The Solution

VisiLean facilitated a unified platform for the supply chain, successfully piloted across 2-14 projects within six months.
The VisiLean team closely collaborated with on-site teams to define and align processes with tools, ensuring seamless integration.
Implementation of standard processes across projects streamlined operations, easily adaptable for subcontractors.
VisiLean served as the single source of truth, integrating the master P6® plan with production-level plans from suppliers.
The team mapped over 20 constraints weekly, including approvals, design, RAMs, and manpower, optimizing lookahead planning processes.

The Achievements

Improved Work Clarity: Implementation of VisiLean resulted in enhanced clarity in work processes, reducing ambiguity and increasing efficiency.
Elimination of Variability: VisiLean eradicated variability in operations, ensuring consistent performance and outcomes across tasks.
Reduction of Paper Usage: The transition to VisiLean eliminated the need for extensive paper documentation, promoting environmental sustainability and organisational efficiency.
Streamlined Planning Process: VisiLean streamlined the planning process, facilitating a smooth flow of information and enhancing coordination among project teams.
Enhanced Project Control: Real-time updates provided by VisiLean empowered project managers with better control and oversight, leading to improved decision-making.
Significant Time Savings: Implementation of VisiLean led to a notable reduction in task completion time, with hours reduced from 20 to 8, showcasing increased productivity and efficiency.

To download the complete Case Study, please fill the form below.

Howard G.

September 24, 2021.

Review Excellent - as well as the product, the customer support has been fantastic. ☺Ease of use, potential for it to be a single source of data, phone app. ☹Like to be able to scroll left to right between weeks in scheduler view and the location stays in the same place. Would like to be able to scroll 1 week at a time in phase view. Constraints to be tracked, and identify by associated trade. Unable to "commit" a task for the next week.

monish g.

July 24, 2021.

Visilean Review Good ☺Visilean is a very good software for collaborative efforts with a dedicated team working on a tight schedule ☹Offline facility not available. It should be incorporated.

Deron M.

July 22, 2021.

Visilean is the future of construction... ☺Real time updates of the project - Ease of giving updates strait from job site. Mobility of apps and Great customer support and system on-boarding. ☹I don't really have much negative to say, every time we come up with something to improve the system it doesn't talk long and its part of a system update. They are working every day to improve the system.

Aastha B.

July 8, 2021.

Why should you go with the software Software has a lot of significance in improving a projects performance. My overall experience was really great and the team is really supportive. ☺BIMLean Integration works out easy with the software. It supports LPS of Lean Process. Model and Schedule can directly be imported and linked in the software itself. 4D simulation can be viewed in the software with a proper colour wheel assigned to it defining the work status. Work commitment, collaborative planning, communication and workflow are improved using the software, which helps improve project performance. Different projects constraints such as: space planning, resource planning, equipment positioning, etc. are easily identified. Software summaries the project status with PPC tracking of WWP, reason of variance mapping, constraint summary and generates progress reports with all documents submitted per activity (RFI, Quality Report, Site Photograph, etc.) in one place. It compares the planned v/s actual work at site with visual view addition. It is a handy software and is easy to use with easily accessible data. Software also has a mobile version, helping the data to be tracked from anywhere possible. ☹Overall the software is really great but some points from a designer's perspective could be added into the same.

Bhaumik P.

July 8, 2021.

The Future of Built Environment Good ☺3D BIM, 4D Simulation, Value Engineering, Waste Reduction ☹Everything is okay in the cloud and app system. But what if the project is in a remote location. Network Connectivity for real-time updates is an issue. They should build an offline version of the app.

Agastya M.

July 7, 2021.

A game changer for real estate projects The experience with VisiLean has been very satisfactory ☺We have been more inclined towards using the mobile app. Using the mobile app is very much convenient on an every day basis. Most importantly the Quality Approval workflow is very seamless. We can convey our work completion by clicking just one button on the mobile app and the Sr. Engineers get notified about the same. When it comes to the Software, it is cloud based and this helps us to access the Software as well. It is just like accessing facebook; you go to the VisiLean website, provide your credentials and boom; you have all your projects with you. The Gantt view in the Software helps us to create our schedules and also import our schedules created on Microsoft excels. ☹Not much cons that our company can think of, but yes; on some instances, when we work in basements where the network connectivity is an issue; it is not possible to provide the updates from mobile app. We have conveyed this to their support team (which is very friendly btw) and they have already committed to deliver it soon.

Keith O.

July 6, 2021.

Graham Construction Very good as I said. It will need to be in bedded more into peoples working habits. ☺Keeps a track of important contractual issues ☹Needs more time to bed into peoples working live's

Josh B.

July 6, 2021.

Great Planning tool ☺The mobile app made it easy to see my tasks only. ☹The web version was a little confusing and hard to navigate for first time users.

Daniel F.

July 2, 2021.

Visilean review - Best custom service i have ever experienced. - Visilean wants feedback and really listen to it. I am very convinced that Visilean wants to be developed and contiune to improve, and they show it. Ideas and user friendly tips i give in feedback often is implemented in the near future. ☺- Live update on phones. - Low time spent on documenting activities that goes according to planned. - That you make each subcontractor "more" responsible when they need to accept each activities 6-8 weeks before start by making it "ready". ☹- No view to gives you the full overview of the long term plan. (like 12 months ahead). - Todays use of colors. Ready state is good for the planner only, but during planning meeting with all contractors, look