Background
Mercury, a European engineering and construction leader, was tasked with delivering the PAR11 data centre project in Paris. The 19.6 MW facility required complex MEP systems and strict commissioning under compressed timelines. Mercury partnered with VisiLean to strengthen planning reliability and enable real-time execution control.
Challenges
- Multiple MEP-intensive trades within tight programme milestones
- Complex design and material flow management
- Limited visibility of constraints and dependencies across zones
- Manual, time-consuming progress reporting
- Risk of waiting time, rework, and trade conflicts
Solution
Mercury implemented VisiLean with these key elements:
Digital Last Planner System: Weekly planning sessions enabled collaborative work sequence agreements with instant visibility.
Lookahead Planning & Programme Management: Master programmes broken into trade-specific plans aligned to site conditions with live updating.
Constraint Management: All constraints logged with clear ownership and resolution dates.
Live Reporting & Dashboards: Automated dashboards replaced manual reporting for real-time progress visibility.
Collaboration & Transparency: Single source of truth with BIM integration for visual tracking.
Outcomes & Impact
- Practical completion achieved 3 months ahead of the contract deadline
- PPC improved from 52% at project start to a consistent 85–90%
- Trade waiting time reduced from 18% to less than 8% of available hours
- Weekly reporting time reduced from 6 hours to virtually zero
- Rapid resequencing prevented downtime
- Cost avoidance through reduced rework
Key Learnings
- Real-time visibility drives accountability and proactive problem-solving
- Digital Lean tools significantly improve agility on fast-track projects
- Transparent, shared data eliminates blame culture and strengthens collaboration
- Standardised digital planning enables repeatable success across future projects
- Mercury committed to using VisiLean across future projects
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