Precast concrete is known for the speed at which it can be erected, but do you know when to order your precast concrete products to ensure you have them for your just in time delivery?
At Mid-States, our goal is to keep our customers’ projects on-time, on-budget, and on-target. One way we do that is to learn what our customers’ goals are and then understand how our lead times could impact those goals. Internally, that means our team communicates daily about the production schedule, openings for production, and capacity, as well as projects we expect to be awarded in both the short-term and long-term that would impact the production schedule.
When approached about a potential project, the best we can provide is the current lead time at that point in time. However, if we anticipate lead times growing, we make sure to communicate that with our customers so they can make the decisions that are best for them.
Since many of our customers have used precast before, the importance of getting a spot in the schedule is something they are relatively familiar with. Mid-States will only hold production space for a customer once we have been awarded a project. However, when Mid-States is brought on to a project early, perhaps to help with design, we are able to track the timeline of a project, and are able to keep our customer apprised of what the production schedule looks like if they were to award us a contract at that time, versus two weeks from then (as an example).
Production time also varies greatly from product to product, depending on the projects we are working on at that time. While we are generally able to refer to our typical lead times on our beam, column and hollowcore product line, our wall panel schedule usually has a longer lead time.
All this being said, the earlier a customer brings Mid-States on as a project partner the better. Knowing the construction industry is fluid, however, to ensure you have Mid-States Concrete precast around your desired delivery dates, we encourage an open line of communication leading up to the awarding of the project.
To see how we can help with your next project, contact us at sales@msprecast.com.