Money-Management Seminar In Demand

In keeping with its mandate to keep members abreast of developments and stay ahead of the game, OSM recently organized a seminar in Jobsite Productivity Management, a Gold seal recognized course.  What makes it so attractive to contractors is its hands-on design, developed to explore specific measures to save contractors between 10-30% of their project man-hours.  The hands-on nature proved to be extremely popular, especially since participants were invited to bring test examples from their own businesses as models for study. 

Conducted by K.E. O’Brien & Associates Inc., construction productivity consultants, the all-day seminar accommodates as many as 40 participants from senior management ranks, project managers, field and shop supervisors and from managers responsible for purchasing and estimating.  Based on its own research studies that show the field team spends roughly 42% of its jobsite man-hours on material handling and get-ready activities, O’Brien’s aim is to pare down man-hours to 25% by demonstrating how to develop an effective team approach to achieve a dramatic increase in productivity.  Accordingly, using his team-oriented methodology O’Brien encourages participants to bring their own actual projects for added relevancy, thus intensifying the learning experience.

The seminar’s secret lies in its simple, direct format.  First, participants view a slide presentation modelling several examples of successful applications of productivity planning procedures.  Then armed with a step-by-step productivity manual containing standardized checklists for material handling reduction and organized into groups, participants worked through five stages of a project: jobsite research studies, site layout and materials handling, detailed productivity analysis, implementation (the team effort) and implementation – project pre-planning.  At the end of the day, participants who had worked on their own jobsite projects had trial models to take away and try out. 

The seminar was held in three locations: Chatham (covering Sarnia, Windsor and the London area), Milton (encompassing Toronto (west), Hamilton, Niagara and Waterloo-Wellington) and Ottawa (for Kingston and Ottawa contractors).  The intent is to cover the entire province with a spring date projected for a Whitby location to include Toronto (east).  To provide a participation opportunity for members in northern Ontario, OSM plans to offer financial assistance to contractors wishing to attend