December 28, 2009
If there is one question that repeats itself over and over in our industry, it is “Why does it take so long to get my panels?”
When you consider that once we have all of the elements to fabricate a panel it only takes about an hour to “make a panel”, it is a reasonable question. So, why does it take months to get our customers their panels?
I think analogous thinking is usually the most effective way to convey a difficult idea, so here goes my attempt to answer the question about “why so long”.
Let us look at what it takes to create a successful popular song. Most popular songs last for about 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
- However, it may take an artist years to come up with an idea which produces the lyrics and to develop a melody that is compatible with the mood, idea and lyrics of the song.
- Then it likely will take additional months to assemble the correct musicians to perform the music, reserve a studio in which the song can be performed, and to record the
- Then the song must be produced onto a platform for distribution, both digitally and physically for sale in stores.
- After that, the song must be promoted to radio stations, a concert tour produced, and if you want a better chance of success for the song, all of these challenges must be repeated for the video of the song.
Bottom line: Great success in the music business takes time, money, passion, talent and considerable effort.
Now, I cannot say that making a panel is the same as producing a hit song, but the skill and effort required are similar in many ways.
Let us look at some of the processes required to produce a successful project that utilizes custom architectural panels. While these steps are for panels, the same type of processes are required for many custom architectural products:
Now, let me mention that many of these steps require multiple components or sub-steps. I do not want to overly complicate the issue, but I hope you get the point that making custom architectural products is complicated and time consuming.
We are not complaining about this fact. Those of us who do this every day are accustomed to these requirements and we understand the importance of each of them. The issue at hand it that we want to educate the other stakeholders in our industry, i.e. General Contractors, Architects and Building Owners, that planning and time are required to do the job correctly.
Our proposed remedies include:
- Make sure that each of the custom architectural products that are a significant part of the “critical path” of a project have its own line item and a sub-schedule for this item be developed for its completion
- Do not procrastinate in the purchase of these products
- Be cognizant of all of the prerequisite activities required to produce the custom products, particularly the prerequisite trades and accomplishments required to appropriately field measure the project
If all of the stakeholders for a project are better informed about the requirements of custom architectural products, then there will be a better outcome for all involved. I hope this discussion will prove helpful to illuminate the issues involved in this subject.
That is it for this week. Post your comments on the Blog and let us stimulate the discussion.
Thanks,
Ted S. Miller