Revolutionizing the industry - Skender

We were fortunate enough to have the chance to visit Skender this week.

Skender, once called Skender Construction, has rebranded itself recently due to the expansion including manufacturing business and architecture design firm.

Skender stands out from other companies because of the unique business model they are using. And the core of that model is the Lean Approach. Lean is a quality improvement philosophy and principles originated by the Toyota Motor Company: "take nonstandard processes and transform them into standard processes that improve performance and then continue to improve the standard work design."* It sounds like a tongue twister but it really helps a company's development. Lean provides opportunities to improve quality, efficiency and productivity.

Our hosts - Mark Skender, CEO and Tim Swanson, CDO - talked a lot of strategies and ambitions of Skender. As Mr. Swanson said, there's a huge amount of waste during architecture construction. And the reason why it causes the consequence is the "fragmentation" of the industry. So what Skender does is to unlock the possibility of becoming more efficient and effective by eliminating barriers between different disciplines especially design and construction. They put 3 people in a row and 6 in a group to create an environment that "forces" them to communicate each other even they are from different majors. (And I think that is the reason why people in Skender seem happier than other firms we visited, because they communicate more!) By integrating design, manufacture, and construction as a whole, Skender can optimize the entire process of every project they undertake. And they also create a single source of truth: a collaborative team and a respect of culture which deliver a client experience uniquely.

After years of development, Skender continuously perfects their Lean philosophy. And the philosophy itself has become more and more impeccable and sophisticated. Some benefits of the SkenderLean™ are listed below**:

• Reduction in overall cost

• More decision-making power

• Accelerated schedules (faster to revenue for client)

• Transparent pricing and reliable budgets

• Less risk, fewer mistakes, fewer RFIs, and fewer unresolved issues

• More consistent, high-quality services

• Improved communication and collaboration

• High-performing, right-sized teams

• Increased efficiency

• Greater value

• Optimized process

• Removal of waste

• Continuous improvement

"Getting more miles on our shoes." - Mark Skender

I think the business model of Skender or the Lean is going to dominate the industry. With the tendency of commercialization, it is obvious that a more integrated, value-optimized, more efficient and sustainable, less time-consuming, and less risk process is needed. The modularized process will not only revolutionize the whole industry, but also be accepted by more companies with expansions beyond their core businesses.

*The Promise of Lean in Health Care, John S. Toussaint, MD, and Leonard L. Berry, PhD

**SkenderLean™, https://www.skender.com/skenderlean/

#Arch593 #Skender #Lean