The next time you find yourself held up in traffic due to highway construction; take the opportunity to sit back, take a deep breath, and think green.
In spite of all the diesel fumes, you just might be looking at one of the most efficient and most productive operation in the country.
I say that because in to-days economy, construction companies have to be efficient and productive or they simply don't survive.
There is probably no other type of business owner more in tune with the concept of lean and green than the owners of a construction companies.
Their concept of efficiency is getting the job done as quickly as possible, as cost effectively as possible, with as little fanfare as possible and as little paperwork as they can get away with.
Ask almost any contractor what his number one enemy is and he will likely tell you it is down time, severe weather conditions and the never ending paperwork bureaucracy.
To-day we are going to talk primarily about the first one, down time.
Down time is production time lost, usually due to equipment failures or unsuitable working conditions caused by uncooperative weather.
A good contractor knows that the key to minimizing down time in equipment failures is through preventative maintenance.
New equipment goes a long way toward reducing down time but even tired iron can be coaxed along, remaining effective even in demanding conditions, as long as the equipment is serviced regularly and treated with a level of respect commensurate with its age and history.
Even small tools require regular maintenance in order to maximize their usefulness over as long a period as possible.
While small tools may represent a relatively small monetary investment, the cost of their not being in top notch working order can be huge.
Substandard tools can result in decreased productivity, shoddy workmanship and unrecoverable down time.
Just as annoying, and perhaps even more costly than the tools themselves, is having to locate a replacement tool or part, only to discover the replacement is not instantly available.
It may require days or even weeks to acquire..
Every contractor knows that changing the oil in the crankcase every 150 hours will likely extend the efficiency level and life of a particular piece of equipment.
He is also well aware of the fact that writing down the fact that the oil was changed will do nothing for the equipment or improve the bottom line of the financial statements.
As a result, if recording the service activity is the least bit difficult, or it takes him out of his way to do so, it will probably not get done, at least not on a consistent basis.
There are a number of real good reasons for tracking service work done to equipment and most readily and easily accomplished in a fully integrated seamless workflow construction ERP software.
•It is important to record service to every unit so that we know when it was last serviced and can be prepared for the next, knowing when it is due.
•It is important to record service so business owners know that all the necessary precautions are being taken to comply with the requirements for a good preventative maintenance program.
•It is also important to know that service is a regular activity, not hit and miss.
On newer equipment, good service records may be critical in instances whereby warranty claims are presented to suppliers or equipment manufacturers.
•It is important to know that someone is taking a look at, and making notes on what may prove to be abnormal conditions, situations which might lead to serious and or costly equipment failure.
•Every piece of equipment eventually reaches a critical life point whereby decisions must be made to either replace or overhaul.
Service records present extremely useful data for equipment lifeline analysis.
The fully seamless integrated workflow approach to ERP for construction makes physical access to equipment and job costing data and reporting relatively simple, easy to use and very affordable as compared to traditionally modular accounting and ERP systems.
In the seamless workflow ERP, it is not only remarkably easier to do what you want and need to do, but data is also captured at a significantly higher level of accuracy resulting in unprecedented quality and reliability in equipment costing reports.
Finally, in seamless workflow systems all the data collected is retained for extensively long periods of time making it possible to review the entire life of a particular piece of equipment.
When it comes to making decisions about repairing or replacing your equipment, your decision can now be based on actual facts instead of a few recent details and a lot of educated guesswork.
Nothing gets left to chance in this construction ERP software.
In spite of all the diesel fumes, you just might be looking at one of the most efficient and most productive operation in the country.
I say that because in to-days economy, construction companies have to be efficient and productive or they simply don't survive.
There is probably no other type of business owner more in tune with the concept of lean and green than the owners of a construction companies.
Their concept of efficiency is getting the job done as quickly as possible, as cost effectively as possible, with as little fanfare as possible and as little paperwork as they can get away with.
Ask almost any contractor what his number one enemy is and he will likely tell you it is down time, severe weather conditions and the never ending paperwork bureaucracy.
To-day we are going to talk primarily about the first one, down time.
Down time is production time lost, usually due to equipment failures or unsuitable working conditions caused by uncooperative weather.
A good contractor knows that the key to minimizing down time in equipment failures is through preventative maintenance.
New equipment goes a long way toward reducing down time but even tired iron can be coaxed along, remaining effective even in demanding conditions, as long as the equipment is serviced regularly and treated with a level of respect commensurate with its age and history.
Even small tools require regular maintenance in order to maximize their usefulness over as long a period as possible.
While small tools may represent a relatively small monetary investment, the cost of their not being in top notch working order can be huge.
Substandard tools can result in decreased productivity, shoddy workmanship and unrecoverable down time.
Just as annoying, and perhaps even more costly than the tools themselves, is having to locate a replacement tool or part, only to discover the replacement is not instantly available.
It may require days or even weeks to acquire..
Every contractor knows that changing the oil in the crankcase every 150 hours will likely extend the efficiency level and life of a particular piece of equipment.
He is also well aware of the fact that writing down the fact that the oil was changed will do nothing for the equipment or improve the bottom line of the financial statements.
As a result, if recording the service activity is the least bit difficult, or it takes him out of his way to do so, it will probably not get done, at least not on a consistent basis.
There are a number of real good reasons for tracking service work done to equipment and most readily and easily accomplished in a fully integrated seamless workflow construction ERP software.
•It is important to record service to every unit so that we know when it was last serviced and can be prepared for the next, knowing when it is due.
•It is important to record service so business owners know that all the necessary precautions are being taken to comply with the requirements for a good preventative maintenance program.
•It is also important to know that service is a regular activity, not hit and miss.
On newer equipment, good service records may be critical in instances whereby warranty claims are presented to suppliers or equipment manufacturers.
•It is important to know that someone is taking a look at, and making notes on what may prove to be abnormal conditions, situations which might lead to serious and or costly equipment failure.
•Every piece of equipment eventually reaches a critical life point whereby decisions must be made to either replace or overhaul.
Service records present extremely useful data for equipment lifeline analysis.
The fully seamless integrated workflow approach to ERP for construction makes physical access to equipment and job costing data and reporting relatively simple, easy to use and very affordable as compared to traditionally modular accounting and ERP systems.
In the seamless workflow ERP, it is not only remarkably easier to do what you want and need to do, but data is also captured at a significantly higher level of accuracy resulting in unprecedented quality and reliability in equipment costing reports.
Finally, in seamless workflow systems all the data collected is retained for extensively long periods of time making it possible to review the entire life of a particular piece of equipment.
When it comes to making decisions about repairing or replacing your equipment, your decision can now be based on actual facts instead of a few recent details and a lot of educated guesswork.
Nothing gets left to chance in this construction ERP software.