ADDICTION: Are you or your projects addicted to waste and excess?

Addiction, as described by Wikipedia: "A brain disorder characterised by compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli despite adverse consequences." Nothing, and I mean nothing, sums up the waste and over capitalisation I see on projects across the globe these days then that description by Wiki.

When I first moved out of the workshop and into the field of Pipeline Construction it was apparent that production was the driving factor. Quality yes, safety somewhat but #1 was production. The companies knew that to make more money you needed to get the pipe in the ground quicker or you needed to do the job with less overheads. More often than not, it was a combination of the 2. However, the fact of the matter remains, production drives profit. Our pay structure was even derived around a bonus directly related to the whole project finishing on time or under.

Sure we live in a different construction world these days however the fundamentals of construction remain the same. The exact time and place we started losing direction, I have no idea. Now some may say it was the second that safety took a bigger seat at the table. This may have been the timing but it was certainly not the cause of lost production. One injury or death is too much, end of story. In my opinion it was the integration of safety and production which became the issue.

The details of when production issues started and who to blame is totally irrelevant. It is important to work on solutions. I personally have been on projects where people continue to say, "it's not the old days anymore Chris," "You wont get those production figures anymore," "impossible these days." It goes on and on and on. Some people just always have a problem for every solution, it's that simple. The fact of the matter is that it is possible to achieve more with less. It is also a fact that technology plays a huge part in this today, not like before.

Let's take the safety scenario. Safety has the hierarchy of controls as seen below. The top 3 items all involve technology in my mind. Some would say how is elimination related to technology. Easy, take lowering water pipes or drainage pipes into the ground. Look anywhere through the Gulf here (or most capital cities in Australia or the USA for that matter) and you will see a crane, a lifting sling, 2 persons at the lifting point (depending on the pipe size), 2 persons at the unhook point and 1 or 2 handling the pipe into position.

I can eliminate all of these people with a pipe handling device. Whether this be a vacuum lift, a pipe hook or a pipe laying attachment. I am sure some will argue that this is not elimination, this is Engineering and Substitution. I argue, who cares! The whole point is about changing our mindset. To look for alternatives. By using technology in this one example what have we achieved?

• We have lowered our risk for personal injury by removing personnel from a lifting operation
• We have lowered our costs by removing labour
• We have increased our production as we don't need to wait to sling and unsling pipe
• We can excavate a smaller trench as we don't need people in the trench
• We save on our backfilling material with a smaller trench

This is just some of the highlights from taking a look at one operation that is performed around the world every minute of everyday. Safety has not hindered us in this scenario, quite the contrary, it has pushed us to improve our safety and as a great added bonus we can achieve more with less. Problems are opportunities in the making, it's all about our mindset and which type of person we choose to be; a problem solver or problem maker.

Being addicted to waste and excess is a serious problem effecting the construction industry today. I personally see it everyday. A drive down any road here in the Gulf, people standing, 10 excavators doing the job of 1 trencher, 6 machines doing the job of 1 Slinger, 12 machines doing the job of 1 Padder. There is material stockpiles being handled multiple times before use whilst also being contaminated. Machines being transported to control erosion where 1 Slinger truck can take care of the operation quickly and efficiently.

I jump on social media, there it is again, this time in developed countries that have the technology at hand. Companies and people posting about how "efficient" their operation is. Quite literally handling material 3 times (yes 3 waste points) from the truck to the trench! This is not isolated. I can literally pick my phone up now and go straight to them. What's surprising with it is when I ask questions regarding their operation or maybe suggest a more efficient machine for performing that task, the conversation generally goes straight to justification and why they love to be unproductive. Of course they don't say that but it's all I hear.

I hear the smaller contractors amongst us saying, "but we dont have the capital to buy a trenching machine or warrant having a Slinger in our fleet." I understand this and you need to know what is important to your operation and working within your means as well as your budget. That being said for a smaller contractor, why then are you not going to your supplier of say your backfill material and putting pressure on them to deliver the material in a Slinger? Why are you not looking for a contract Slinger operator in your area and doing a deal with him? There are options available to you when you know what it is you want.

The smaller contractor can then focus on say turning his excavators into the multi-tool that they should be. Like adding a tilt rotating hitch with quick coupling hydraulics. Moving away from independent small engine compaction machines and into Europes latest and greatest technology. I recently spoke with a contractor from Australia and I spoke about the attachments like MTS (there are others) and I showed one of the compaction "feet" used for haunching the pipe. Honestly you would swear he saw fire for the first time!

If you are in business to hire buddies and have some fun then I'm sorry, you have an expensive hobby. If you want to deliver for your customers time after time after time, if you want to have the kind of reputation where it is you and no one else, if you want to have the safety record that wins you the work for the Tier 1 companies, then it's time to wise up. It's time to address the ADDICTION that you have. It's not easy. Breaking habits are hard. Changing the way you have done things is hard. Believe me when I tell you that the rewards are great when you can let go.

We had a recent meeting here in Dubai and we were speaking to a contractor who installed water pipes. The market is slow here in the Emirates and payments are slow, very slow. It is something that is effecting everyone. In my mind there is no greater opportunity for technology. It is in these economic climates where the great savings can be made as well as cementing your reputation. We spoke at length about why they could only get XYZ production per day. I understood where they were coming from, speeding up their production would not work in this instance due to cashflow.

If speed won't help and cashflow is the issue then we go straight to savings. We started discussing about how much labour and equipment is currently used. I nearly fell off my chair. With the right equipment we could get rid of over half their equipment and personnel requirements, true story. The company started to argue the validity of why they need this much excess. Just like an addict, there they were justifying the why and that "it's not a problem." Well I'm sorry if saving money and carrying out your project more efficiently is not a priority then you have a problem. Most meetings these days I literally feel like a counselor and I am not the smart one when it comes to that.....that is Lindsay Bowe's roll in the organisation with the Masters in Social Science.

I love a robust discussion and even more so love learning the "why" of most situations. Call it the Caterpillar training in me, you can never fix anything until you first learn the WHY. But having people whom have been doing something the same way for over 30 years tell me something won't work. Or a "new to the industry" telling me how more productive his laying box is because he now has the "brand new" tilt rotator hitch (these have been out since Jesus was playing soccer for Jerusalem). Or the experienced sales person with the trenching attachment for an excavator having a full debate on an open platform about how his 10 excavators with his super attachment are more productive and more cost effective than 1 trenching machine (of course failing to mention the other excavators needed to dig material from the trench).

What most of these people above don't realise is, I have come from the field. I have built pipelines on 4 continents. I know the issues faced. I have been there and dealt with them. Not for a moment do I think poorly of the people above, quite the contrary. I want to educate. I ask questions. I want them to succeed more than I have succeeded in the industry. I want to inspire and allow them to use their own knowledge of their industry to find solutions. Simply put Oryx Consulting only succeeds when our customers succeed.

Technology is here, instead of watching funny cat videos use the time to search hashtags on your industry and see what others are doing. Spend a few hours on a rain day checking out YouTube videos relating to your project. Put in a weird search and see what comes up. Stop using excuses like safety and start accepting that it could be the change you are looking for. Stop using negative words in your organisation like CAN'T. Reward your workers for bringing technology to your attention, these are the guys doing the job day in and day out. Carry out a lessons learnt on the completion of each project. Document it! Inspire to be the best you can be, break your addiction and embrace the beauty that is on the other side.

Most importantly, ASK. Never be afraid to ask. By asking a question you don't need to commit to anything. Be strong enough to tell someone from the outset that you are just looking for information so don't give me the sell if it's a company. If it's someone in your industry, even from another country, ask them how they have found something. I see 90% statements and only 10% questions these days. Questions are the key for knowledge. Attend the trade show and while you're there, ASK again. It's what those fancy sales guys are there for. Visit trade shows in other parts of the world. It will give you another perspective and appreciation of what it is that you do.

At Oryx Consulting it is our passion to help you break your addictions. We truly have a deep seeded aspiration to help you achieve things you did not think possible. Watching you succeed is our greatest reward. For us it is about building a long term relationship with you regardless of what service we help you with or what machine we deliver to your projects. We are passionate equipment people with a passion to help you Build a Better Project. Checkout any of our social media outlets like Instagram, YouTube and here on LinkedIn as we have a tonne of information there for the taking.