ForConstructionPros.com

While most pavement maintenance contractors have probably heard of "cycle time" some may not be comfortable or used to measuring cycle time. Cycle time is the time that it takes for a work process to be successfully completed, from start to finish.

In the end crew cycle time is a measure of your crew's speed at work.

For the sealcoating contractor, cycle time could represent the time needed to completely clean and prepare a commercial parking lot for seal coating. For the paving contractor it might represent the time to complete the ground preparation for commercial site and then the time spent actually putting the base in or the two-inch overlay. For the sweeping contractor it could represent the time that it takes for a truck to sweep the average 50,000 square feet of parking area for a strip mall.

Cycle time is closely monitored in most manufacturing facilities. Plant managers realize that if the cycle time to produce a product should be 15 minutes, and the actual time is taking more like 20 or 30 minutes, something is preventing the expected time to produce the product. Such interruptions to the expected cycle time might be the result of faulty equipment, lack of preventive maintenance, or poorly trained operators.

Speed, or more accurately, cycle time, should be just as critical to you as a contractor and should be measured. Why?

Consider how much more effective and accurate you can be with your estimates when creating proposals for customers. If you can predict, within a reasonable tolerance of time, the time that it takes for your crews to complete different work processes you can provide more accurate estimates of costs and scheduled completion dates for your customers.