Introduction

The homebuilding industry, like many other industries has gradually become more complex, requiring high-tech tools and solutions to keep it working efficiently. More and more builders in the nation are looking to process improvement techniques and technological solutions, realizing that they can manage their operations as efficiently

In 1998, Arvida, one of the country’s largest and very successful home builders, began to realize that they needed to work more efficiently to meet their goal of completing more than 5000 homes by 2002. This meant that they had to build more than 1000 homes per year compared to 800 homes they had closed in 1997. If they did not meet this aggressive goal, they would be subjected to liquidated damages. Senior management had

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Arvida - 1997
No. of Employees

134
Revenues (millions)

$156
EBIDTA (millions)

$21
Assets (millions)

$125
No. of Closings

800
Revenue per Employee

$1,164,179
EBIDTA per Employee

$156,716
Closings per Employee

5.97
time reduction was a clear answer to meet the aggressive closings goal. With cycle time reduction, the capacity of the company could be increased without adding any additional people! For example, a company that can build 10 homes per year can build 20 per year if they reduce their production cycle-time by half! It is that simple. However, how one achieves such a radical change in a company so large was the real question to be answered? George Casey faced an even more challenging task of achieving cycle time reduction in a limited

amount of time! This case study demonstrates what was done at Arvida Weston to achieve these seemingly impossible goals

“… they had to build more than 1000 homes per year compared to 800 homes they had closed in 1997.”

with process improvement strategies.

First Look

George Casey’s first step was to create the position of VP of Process Improvement. Richard Rodriguez who had

 

 

as any other manufacturing facility. The following is a case study of Arvida in Weston, Florida, that uses process improvement techniques combined with revolutionary technology to achieve their goals.

 

to find a way of meeting this aggressive goal. There was no other choice.

Arvida’s President, George Casey, had extensive experience in cycle time reduction through process improvement. Cycle