Why Construction Schedules Fail and What Last Planner Does Differently
What happens when an architect, AI researcher, manufacturing process thinker, and construction production planner starts questioning how projects are scheduled? Samir Emdanat, President of vPlanner, joins Felipe Engineer-Manriquez to unpack the evolution of vPlanner and the thinking behind better construction planning. From early work with General Motors and Sutter Health to Integrated Project Delivery, Last Planner System, healthcare commissioning, takt planning, PPC, visual management, and Kanban-style workflows, Samir explains why teams must understand and improve the production system before trying to automate it. This episode explores why traditional CPM schedules can become fragile, how collaborative planning creates more reliable workflows, and what happens when construction teams stop treating the schedule as a document and start treating planning as a living production system.
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RSS Feed Samir Emdanat, President of vPlanner, shares the story behind vPlanner and the decades of project experience, Lean thinking, production planning, and problem solving that led to its creation. Together, Felipe Engineer-Manriquez and Samir explore why traditional construction schedules can become fragile, why the Last Planner System requires more than simply moving sticky notes backward from a milestone, and how teams can use real-time production data to make better decisions.
Through stories spanning General Motors, early BIM and 3D workflows, Sutter Health, Integrated Project Delivery, complex healthcare commissioning, takt planning, and the evolution of vPlanner, Samir explains why improving construction starts with understanding the production system before automating it. They also dig into PPC, commitment levels, reasons for variance, visual planning, supply chain activities, Kanban-style workflows, and why trends often tell leaders more than averages.
If you are a construction leader, superintendent, project manager, scheduler, Lean coach, production engineer, owner, architect, trade partner, field engineer, or anyone interested in Last Planner System, Lean Construction, takt planning, collaborative planning, or improving construction scheduling, this episode will challenge how you think about plans, metrics, software, and production systems.
📌 Key Takeaways You’ll Gain:
- Why traditional CPM schedules can create fragile construction plans
- How Last Planner System differs from simply scheduling backward
- Why value stream mapping improves collaborative planning
- How vPlanner grew from solving a complex healthcare commissioning problem
- Why construction teams should understand a process before automating it
- How takt planning can improve construction and commissioning workflows
- Why PPC trends matter more than PPC averages
- How commitment level and percent required complete reveal different aspects of plan reliability
- Why teams should track reasons for variance and learn from missed commitments
- How visual planning helps field teams understand complex production information
- Why digital planning and physical visuals can work better together
- How supply chain and procurement activities belong in production planning
- Why Kanban-style workflows still need construction logic and sequencing
- How early IPD projects helped advance collaborative planning and production systems
- Why software should support team behavior instead of replacing good planning
- How better construction metrics help teams see problems and react faster
Follow for more conversations on Lean Construction, Last Planner System, Construction Scrum, leadership, production systems, takt planning, Integrated Project Delivery, AI in construction, collaborative planning, and practical strategies that make construction easier, better, and more human. 🚀
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President and Co-Founder
Samir Emdanat is President of vPlanner and a recognized leader in Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), Lean Construction, and collaborative project management. He has spent more than two decades helping owners, designers, and contractors improve project outcomes through innovation, technology, and disciplined execution. Samir is a frequent speaker, author, and advocate for advancing the principles and practices that drive high-performing project teams.
