Concrete company learns Nialli is good for business — and their people

Traditional modes of planning just weren’t cutting it for Extreme Concrete.

As company Vice President Darin Wiebe says: “We could only see a certain part of our schedule. We were using Google Calendar™. You could see a couple of projects in a day in a calendar. And it wasn’t sufficient to our growth pattern that we were on.”

There were personal costs too. “I had many days with scheduling that I’d literally walk away at the end of the day in just despair of how to even schedule,” says Extreme Concrete President Jon Baerg.

Something had to change.

Working with planning consultant Lenny Houweling, of KaizenHub Inc., they looked at Extreme Concrete’s existing analog setup, which included a racking system on a wall. They needed to find the best way to take the company’s planning activities into the digital realm.

Going digital

The answer was the intuitive Nialli™ Visual Planner — “taking that concept of stickies off the wall and just putting them to digital form,” said Houweling. “As you use the program and get used to how things drag and drop, that alone is going to change any company that’s using analog mapping.”

They immediately saw a range of benefits.

“The impact of Nialli in our overall planning has been a real game changer,” says Wiebe. Adds Baerg: “One thing that’s very impressive with Nialli is the visual part — being able to see 2+ weeks out. Honestly, you can schedule things a year out and foresee and forecast the things you’ll come upon. It’s a huge benefit.”

Before they adopted Nialli, there were concerns about vital communications with customers. “Traditional planning was affecting scheduling with our customers,” said Baerg. At times they were unable to give timelines that were more than a week. This led to “frustration on both sides.”

Less stress

The improvement with Nialli was massive. “It does cut out on the stress on our project managers and our operations manager, being able to schedule and actually be able to get back to our customers on what a realistic timeline is,” says Wiebe. “We can hold a slot for them and give them a start date 6 months out. We can even help our customers schedule their projects.”

Management was definitely on board with digital planning. But what about crew members?

Extreme Concrete Project Manager Jeremy Penner reflects on the times before and since Nialli: “Before Nialli, we just had more things in our head and maybe some things were missed. It wasn’t as visual and sometimes we were just told the day before what was going to happen and what the project was.”

And since Nialli? “Working with Nialli helps the whole crew. They can see what’s happening farther out, which helps us mentally prepare so we do better work and be more efficient. It helps us to communicate with the trades on what’s happening next. That just makes everyone’s job easier. Nialli gives us a leg up on other concrete contractors.”

Unexpected benefits

Better planning can also have some unexpected benefits. “Back in the early days, we had trailers that were complete chaos,” says Wiebe. “We had bins of tools in the front of the trailer that we’d get to the jobsite, and we wouldn’t know if the tools were going to be in there.”

And now? “We come prepared. We try to have everything in working condition — neat and efficient,” says Wiebe. “The value that we bring to our customers with being organized and planning is that we cut out waste. We’re on time. Our crews don’t have to be running back to the hardware store and the shop to try and find tools. We can hand that cost savings on to the customer.”

Being organized (and clean) is a key part of the culture Baerg and Wiebe have cultivated. And it sets them apart from other concrete companies. “One thing that makes Extreme Concrete stand out from anybody else is our culture,” says Wiebe. “Customers definitely value that we’re clean and organized and that our crew is prepared for the day when they get there. We’re proud to be a progressive, efficient, growing company and Nialli supports that.”

Another unexpected benefit from using Nialli Visual Planner that both leaders recognize is a reduction in stress. “Previous to Nialli there was a lot of just on-the-fly decision-making. Some of the consequences of that were a lot of stress on the team,” says Baerg. But using Nialli has changed that, says Wiebe: “The way Nialli lets us plan so far ahead cuts down on the stress on our project managers. It helps to have process in place and also that we can trust our technology.”

There are many benefits, but what about the experience of using Nialli?

Easy to use — anywhere

Wiebe says they’re “so impressed with how basic and simple the program is” and that using the drag-and-drop touchscreens makes planning meetings with project managers truly interactive. Houweling notes, “Extreme Concrete saw immediate results from the ability for their team to engage with a simple platform. And they can access it at the jobsite from a laptop, phone or iPad® [device].” Of course, with any new technology, support is vital and Baerg says the support they get from Nialli is “great — really good overall.”

Both Wiebe and Baerg say they would recommend Nialli to other construction companies. “One of the benefits to be able to plan that much farther out is that our throughput is higher,” says Wiebe. “We can be more efficient with our crews and get more projects completed.”

But Baerg explains that better planning also helps them achieve something bigger: “One of the best parts of seeing our business grow is seeing our people grow and thrive — and creating jobs and adding value to the community.”

One more benefit for Baerg? “In the early days, we spent a lot of days out in the field, 16 to 18 hours a day. Times have changed. Now, there’s a lot of evenings that I get to spend with my wife and children at home.”