CC Jul-Aug 2021

INDUSTRYfocus
everything is geared towards the job in
hand - work commences when
resources are available, components
arrive on schedule at a rate
commensurate with the job in hand, the
task is done and the next one is waiting.
Compare that with the way construction
sites seem to have operated for many
years, as skilled craftsmen hang around
waiting for deliveries or plant or until
other trades have completed their
assignments.
There is no lack of activity, just a lack of
coordination. Builders on-site don't really
understand part numbers and the
concept of work packages and are not
really interested in having to accept
receipts for goods, going through picking
lists or checking goods against invoices.
Kenny added a fourth point which is not
really a step as such, but an incentive.
Stop being just a construction company,
and look to take over the complete asset
lifecycle commitment. Provide clients with
a service for building, operating and
maintaining and eventually dismantling
an asset. Take a leaf out of Amazon's
book. Or, as an alternative, consider
setting up your own manufacturing and
supply chains. To go in either direction, of
course, the use of BIM is a sine qua non.
IFS CLOUD
The key to maintaining control while
encouraging companies to evolve, is to
work on a single version of the truth - a
single source and repository of
information. IFS Cloud provides that
environment using a construction-centric
Digital ERP Backbone, enabling
everyone on a project to work together.
Changing a company's culture, though,
is not quick, or easy. Kenny suggests
that one step is taken at a time and that
it could be 9-12 months before the
benefits are felt from each cultural shift.
You can see this in the move towards
off-site/modular construction or what is
commonly called MMC (Modern
Methods of Construction). This needs a
more structured approach and a
rebalancing of a company's
infrastructure which can accommodate a
less-skilled workforce, along with a
switch from building components to
buying them and setting up a JIT delivery
system to prevent components clogging
up a building site. The obvious next step
is to become vertically integrated and to
set up and run your own factories to
supply your own components.
This is why IFS recommend the use of
its IFS Cloud solution to support all the
project and asset lifecycle processes
that a company needs to handle both
current requirements, and the changes
that will undoubtedly occur over the next
twenty years.
The advantage that IFS has is that, while
there are several companies that provide
alternative ERP solutions for the
construction industry, their expertise is
somewhat scarce outside of this
environment. If the trend is towards
companies becoming multitalented, then
the knowledge that exists within IFS as a
supplier to a wide-ranging selection of
industries enables the company to match
a client's aspirations to its solution.
Besides Engineering and Construction,
Service Industries, Manufacturing, Oil
and Gas, Property and Commercial - all
of which have some relationship to
engineering and construction - IFS
covers both Aerospace and Defence and
Energy and Utility Sectors. All of these
industries are involved in designing,
building, manufacturing, operating and
maintaining assets.
The challenge, as is always the case in
the construction industry, is not just to
handle change but to make it work for
you - something that IFS have proven
time and again.
www.ifs.com
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