Maximizing Performance by Making Data Visible and Accessible 

This article is part of a series exploring the transformation of RNGD, a contractor with offices in Louisiana, Tennessee and Alabama. RNGD evolved from a conventional general contractor to a "true builder,” developing a strategic approach to achieve speed, quality and cost control simultaneously.

Since its founding, RNGD’s mission has been to revolutionize the construction industry. That ethos led the contractor to reimagine almost every part of how it builds and does business. RNGD adopted a productized delivery model that applies practices and mindsets from manufacturing to achieve optimal operational efficiency.

In 2023, RNGD launched its own manufacturing production facility in Metairie, Louisiana. The facility manufactures structural steel and cold-form steel elements, creating the ability to construct and dry-in entire superstructures independently. 

RNGD’s ambitious business transformation came gaining control over every part of the construction process, including its supply chain, its workforce and its ability to deliver products quicker, more affordably and with even higher quality. Every decision has been rooted in data and data analysis. The contractor did market research, analyzed operational efficiency and weighed every investment of time and money. Once the prefab facility was launched, project timelines decreased by 30%. 

However, the driving force of success wasn’t simply a commitment to collecting and analyzing data; it was a commitment to make data visible and accessible to all relevant stakeholders. Increasing data visible and accessibility extended ownership over performance and operational efficiency — the wins, addressing bottlenecks and continuously improving — to people actually doing the work. 

We asked Will Cotten, RNGD’s Innovation Leader, and Justin Loehn, RNGD’s Analytics Manager, about how they make data visible, leverage data accessibility for increased productivity and strategically use data to transform how RNGD does business and delivers projects.

Will Cotten, Innovation Leader, RNGD

Justin Loehn, Analytics Manager, RNGD

RNGD’s Approach to Data

Will: We knew if we were going to approach a different way of constructing buildings, we had to adopt some structural element, whether it be structural steel, concrete or timber. We elected to move in the direction of structural steel for a few reasons. 

We’re inspired by the carbon sequestering capability of things like mass timber, but in our area of the southeast and Gulf Coast — with the wind zone ratings and what we face from a moisture mitigation standpoint being in coastal areas — you can’t beat steel, which is recyclable and concrete as a resilient product that is going to create a long-term solution for folks in those areas to not be damaged by termines, mold, mildew, fire, etc.

Will: That opens up a whole world of possibilities. As we started to standardize products and components, we got really shrewd with data to create a positive feedback loop which speeds up the production completion duration and the design completion duration. We’re getting into cycle time analyses by the seconds or minutes, instead of by the workdays or the labor hours. You just don't have that capability or bandwidth in a conventional field-applied project type.

We find even more opportunities to get faster because we’re getting data on the back end of projects about how panels can be designed better to be installed faster. Rather than build a building, turn it over to a client and then it’s their problem after the warranty period and we don’t get any data or feedback, we’re actually learning from our buildings.

Committing to Data Visibility and Accessibility

Will: We put reports in front of frontline workers with prefab production and quality reports. We put that on a screen in the shop and every morning we huddle up the workers. We look at, ‘How are we doing relative to production goals? How are we doing on our quality control goals?’ 

Since that data is visualized and updated through a construction data analysis program, we can give people access to real, timely information to inform things like, 'Do we have a bottleneck? How do we fix that?'

Data means we can make real-time decisions that really drive efficiencies in the way we deliver projects.

Will: We’re integrating that view into everything we do. With the BI functionality, we created a dashboard that updates eight times a day. That gives people a look at where they’re hitting the mark and missing the mark. Not as “good job” or “bad job,” but as a way to find what about each station is driving efficiency or creating bottlenecks, and find ways to refine the production line the next day or in the next project. 

Maintaining Precision and Security

Will: It’s one thing to talk about data-driven decisions, but you have to be very disciplined in the fundamentals of data governance and input. We are using technology and data to a degree that data input is becoming a job requirement. It can’t be something that is nice to have. Part of everyone’s work is making organizational decisions with data, so it has to be done right. It’s a critical part of our delivery model.

Empowering and Incentivizing Teams through Data Visibility

Will: That’s what it’s all about. At the end of the day, what we’re ultimately trying to do is make the lives of those in the field easier and better and have them feel like they’re participating in a mission that’s greater than themselves. That starts with giving them a view of how we measure success and how their work contributes to that.

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