Construction Mirror Article detail

Industry Overview

The World Health Organisation declared the Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19, as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Since then, over 200 countries—including India—have been reporting an alarming number of Coronavirus related cases and fatalities.

India was one of the earliest countries in the world to impose an initial 21-days nationwide lockdown to contain the virus. Though the lockdown has eased out around the beginning of June, likely, all of us will continue the battle against the indiscernible enemy for some more time.

Economically, COVID-19 has affected almost every Indian sector including real estate and construction largely, which contributes nearly 10% to GDP and is the second-largest employer. The health crisis has led to a substantial decline in business and revenue, project delays , job losses and pay cuts for the people associated with this sector.

Construction and infrastructure is the backbone and a vital cog of the economy. But it is far more than just an economic driver. The buildings and structures constructed today will last decades, even centuries. They have lasting consequences, shaping not only our present but also our own and future of generations to come.

While poor buildings scar the environments and damage the reputation of the industry as well as the nation. Good buildings and structures are a source of pride and pleasure.

Therefore, a great power is entrusted to the construction industry to construct the right quality of structures. With this, comes a huge responsibility of delivering good quality and timely construction to public.

Seeing the impact trails of the virus, developers and contractors are facing disruptions in their operations due to several factors like capital, liquidity, time, material and labor availability.

Also as hundreds and thousands of migrant laborers, who make up the bulk of the over 50 million workforces (approx.) in the real estate and construction industry, have returned to their towns and villages. This will also lead to critical challenge of labour shortages to finish the projects in time.

Hence here comes one pressing challenge - how to achieve the desired construction productivity with lesser labour?

Understanding the big picture

At Doka, we understand the bigger picture, which is why we focus on the construction process as a whole and not just limit only to our products and systems. By understanding the aims and objectives of our clients, we provide optimised solutions that ensures a smoother execution and adds efficiency to the project.

As a large part of the population needs housing and a robust infrastructure, it becomes prerequisite to use formwork systems. Using formwork systems for construction does not only bring speed to the project, but it also adds quality to construction process and safety to the building structures.

Managing construction quality, productivity, improving efficiency, completing the project on time and within controlled costs are some of the key challenges faced by construction companies.

Hence, in order to overcome these challenges, making a shift towards the technological innovation and switch towards modular formwork systems is a need of the hour. This move can help contractors and developers bridge gap by enhancing productivity at the job sites.

Adapting to newer technologies have become a new norm in these unprecedented times. In many instances technological advancements has offered significant opportunities in various phases of the construction cycle and value chain such as BIM, AR/VR.

At Doka, we strive persistently to be a reliable partner by offering wide range of services, through all stages of building projects. From planning to implementation, through to completion of a successful project to bring efficiency and improvement in construction quality.

Modern construction processes require top-quality formwork systems and excellent process knowledge to derive the desired results. Both factors enable us to work in tandem with our customers to implement construction projects on time and with high quality.

Learning is a continuous process and speeds up productivity

When assessing the onsite roadblocks faced by construction companies in getting better output, unskilled labours and improper trainings surfaces as some of the key reasons. It is also observed that there is a continuous scarcity of labours which are well trained and are equipped to handle moder equipments.

Therefore, it is essential to train the site workers regularly to create awareness about potential hazards.

Doka is a reliable partner to cater to any concrete construction application or design by offering not only its world-class products but also several customer-centric services.

One of these service is to conduct regular training for its employees and customers to improve onsite safety and productivity. These training programs are conducted regularly in association with the Formwork instructors and technical teams to support the clients.

Especially during the current times, when almost all of us were unexpectedly compelled to transit from working in an office / jobsite to working from their homes, we launched an E-learning platform #LearnwithDoka and organised customised webinar training to develop an in-depth technical understanding on formwork as well as to prepare our clients to make informed choices for their projects.

Need for a paradigm shift

India is a price-sensitive market, and ‘price’ is one of the key factors while selecting a formwork solution. Therefore there is a need to bridge the understanding gap.

A need to critically evaluate how low-value products can reflect immediate benefit but in the long term it may cost quality, efficiency and safety of the project and people.

By using a right quality approved formwork system in combination with a customised project solution, companies can save man-power resources, time and money. It also contributes in keeping your workers safe, as it allows workers to concentrate better on their tasks that deliver efficiency at work.

In Doka, safety is integrated at the centre of our product design, to make our products simple, easy to use and support faster progress at jobsites.

Doka system formwork solutions have a longer life and can be re-used at various sites, resulting in long-term cost savings for the contractor. All this, in turn, means increased productivity and savings in the investments.

To set the perspective with an example about Doka Floor/ Slab systems such as Dokaflex, Doka Lightdek, Doka Tables etc. provide significant benefits, when benchmarked against conventional shuttering practices as it adds up to overall cost savings for the operator. The benefits also include greater durability and shorter cycle time while being lighter and easier to manage.

While talking about Doka wall and column systems, Doka Framini and Frami Xlife are an ingenious, modular and lightweight handset systems that are a complete system in themselves. They can be used for any wall application that needs concrete. The panels are made of torsion-resistant hollow section steel profiles ensuring an extremely long life span.

Being reusable, it delivers impressive labor savings from day one to day done, and beyond. These systems empowers teams to build quickly, efficiently and ensure each project is delivered on time. Also each product fully complys with the OHSA standards.

Flexibile commercial solutions

At a time when the Indian economy in general and the construction industry in particular are on a slow down, Doka India offers a range of flexible commercial models to offer new or used products and even offer material under its rental or buy-back scheme. Doka's international network of sales and logistics facilities, including high-capacity rental yards, ensures steady supply times.

Your partner for growth

Sound advice from the specialists, if implemented at the tender phase of the building construction, can bring in value addition to any project in terms of cost efficiency and faster project completion with complete safety. Hence our team of experts at Doka can patner you and advise you early and in detail to enable you make informed choices.

'Doka's technical experts would be delighted to offer a tailor made optimal formwork solutions along wth high-performing services to meet the project needs and requirements of the structure.

Regardless of how different and unique any construction project is, Doka's commitment is to offer the formwork solution that makes the construction process fast and safe.

With a robust local presence in seven cities in India, Doka is the one-stop solution for anyone looking for formwork solutions for varying scales for residential construction, commercial building, high-rise, bridge, energy, tunnel and mining building sectors.

Going forward as the new normal requires everyone to prioritize safety and maintain safe distances even when we work on our projects, Doka is proud to be your reliable partner for formwork solutions to do more with less and help you take your construction aspiration to the next level.

For more information

Visit :www.doka.com