Masonry Magazine December 2010 Page. 42
INDUSTRY NEWS
time transaction costs, and will significantly strengthen MSA's market position in one of the most attractive segments of the safety industry. It will further enhance MSA's line of fixed gas-detection products and strategically position MSA as the industry leader in the estimated $850 million market. General Monitors' products and systems are used in a broad range of oil and gas exploration and refining applications and in diverse industrial plant settings.
Gugger Joins Holcim Foundation Board
Architect Harry Gugger has joined the management board of the Holcim Foundation. Gugger is full professor of architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and principal of Harry Gugger Studio based in Basel, Switzerland. Previously, he was partner-in-charge at the architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron in Basel. Gugger has been a member of the Technical Competence Center of the Holcim Foundation at ETH Zurich for more than a year; was head of the Holcim Awards jury for Europe in 2008, and will be a member of the jury for North America in 2011. He replaces Marc Angélil, dean of architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, who has been a member of the both the management board and the TCC of the Holcim Foundation since their inception 2003.
Fastest Trowel on the Block, MITA Skills Challenge
The first-place winner of the Fastest Trowel on the Block competition, Journeyman category, was Bob Christensen of ASR Constructors. The first-place winner of the MITA Skills Challenge, First Year category, was Joe Gonzalez. The first-place winner of the MITA Skills Challenge, Second Year category, was Graham Grainger. The first-place winner of the MITA Skills Challenge, Third Year category, was Juan Carlos Duran.
Sometimes, Best Laid Plans Create a New Direction
CONTRACTOR TIP OF THE MONTH
A few months ago, I wrote about how we have to be willing to change. Now, after some soul searching, I have to be ready to take my own medicine. I have been trying for years to get the right systems in place to make things more automated in the office and in the field. My foremen have laptops, automated production time cards, the ability to log right into the office, cell phones the whole nine yards. You all know my philosophy. technology is here to stay, and we need to use it to be competitive. My goall has always been that the job estimate, schedule of values, production, pay roll, and, finally, the job profit and loss would all work in a perpetual system, so we are not doing the same thing over when we do the next task.
I'd develop one system and get it going, and then move on to another system for a different situation and get it going, and on to the next. Although I have some really good information, I've created my own new problem: The systems don't talk to each other to accomplish the next task. When I want information, I have to run three different reports from three different systems and put them all together to see all the pieces to the whole picture.
To help fix this, I hired a tech-savvy, construction-schooled engineer as a consultant. I thought this guy surely could fix us and train as we went along. After all, he'd worked with some big construction outfits in the past. Life would finally be good. Come to find out, the only skill this person lacked was the ability to communicate effectively to my people on their levels. Even though this person is very knowledgeable, I ended up with everyone in my office, frustrated. I talked with him and tried to be the mediator to help him leam a better way to get his message across, but it just didn't sink in. Lesson learned. It doesn't matter how smart you are, if you don't have communication skills so others can understand what you are trying to say and teach. Time for another change.
After 26 years, the time is right for me to hire someone who knows what to do to revamp all those systems and get them talking one to another, in perpetual motion. And, owning four businesses, I truly need someone who can free up my time as operations manager of the masonry company. Someone who is smarter than I in the operations manage ment area, and, as the saying goes, has "been there and done that." So, I put out some feelers and started calling people that I network with in the industry to get someone in to actually be my operations manager. After 26 years of filling that position on my own, this is a big step for me. But, that's exactly what I did. Talk about a change.
It's been said that the only thing constant in this world is change. So begins the next chapter for my company, and we'll see if I can really take my own medicine and, eventually, after some training with me, let the operations manager do what I want him to do. There's one bright spot in the market right now: I was more than pleased to find that this recession actually has done businesses in my situation one big favor. There are some very qualified, experienced managers out there looking for work. If you are in need of a key employee right now, it may be the time bite the bullet and find your next All-Star as well.
Damian Lang is a mason contractor in southeast Ohio and Inventor of many labor-saving masonry systems and products. He also is the author of the book "Rewarding and Challenging Employees for Profits in Masonry." To order a copy of his book, or to network with Damian on these tips or tips you have and would like published, contact him at dlang@langmasonry.com or 740-749-3512.