During last years, competitiveness has been one of the main issues in our customer discussions. In precast concrete factories, staying competitive is a multi-dimensional effort concerning not only production lines and machinery, but also operator skills and operational best practices.

In this blogging, I share my views on how a precaster and a technology supplier can cooperate to improve the competitiveness of a precast investment. This blogging also continues the blogging series on precast production lifecycle started by Petri Vesa.

Operational competitiveness of a precast factory

I prefer to have people thinking over machines. Even so I work in a leading precast technology company. No factory can operate optimally, if people – operators, production managers, designers, owners – do not develop it.

Profitability of a factory requires parallel support for hardware, software and people. One way to acquire all of these is our Precast Academy, the only training concept of its kind available in the market.

As its best, a technology supplier can offer for a precaster similar references and industry knowledge on operational best practices based on proven track record.

Local factory service and maintenance

In major capital goods investments, daily productivity is in the core of the investment profitability. When a machine breaks, fast delivery of the right spare part is essential. Preventive maintenance contract with regular machinery inspections and factory visits is a minor cost, but a major element in the creation of competitive advantage.

Production renewals for competitiveness

Finland was ranked as the world’s third competitive country by World Economic Forum Competitiveness Report 2012-2013 .

Strong part of Finland’s competitiveness is mechanical engineering; companies in this sector know how to apply new technologies rapidly to customer-driven products and production processes.

In building construction sector, Finland has gathered unique cluster knowhow in precast building design, connections and production. Also, our building construction companies are internationally recognized of their quality work.

How does this then benefit a precaster?

Technology innovation and engineering tradition is a firm base for continuous development. For a precaster, benefits come in the form of

–       faster reaction to market needs,

–       more cost-effective manufacturing models and processes, and

–       premium quality machinery.

It would be interesting to hear your experiences in your precast investment development. And by that continue the discussion on how we could make the precast industry even more competitive together.

Meanwhile, Happy Holidays!

Petteri Laitinen,  Director, Customer Services, Elematic