All together now
How do you get the construction industry and its suppliers working in unison? TiC hears how a simple piece of software can help pave the way for harmonious working.
MANY CONTRACTORS are hailing timber frame as a way to speed up the construction process and solve problems with deliveries to site. But although timber frame construction might make things easier when projects are underway, the construction method does require a lot more planning in order to bring together all the elements in the supply chain. This is no easy matter as it involves main contractors talking extensively with their subcontractors as well as architects and even manufacturers.
In order to get everyone singing from the same hymn sheet, Mangofile has developed software that will store data in a way that is compatible to all elements of the job.
“The problem that you have on a project is that your office ends up full of bits of paper,” says Mangofile director John Bloomfield.
“People file their paper in different ways and we reach a situation where no two companies use the same system. We have developed a way that people can agree on.”
Mangofile uses companies’ existing hardware to create a filing system that is easy to understand.
Companies scan in their documents at the beginning of each project and then create a filing cabinet on the desktop of their computer in which to store them.
He explains Mangofile allows its users to add notes to the data, which, for example, could explain which edition of the blueprint a particular file relates to.
“It’s like sticking a Post-it note to a piece of paper,” Bloomfield says. “Most people want to get rid of the paper from their office and easily store it and access it. The big thing about this is simplicity. Even your granny can install and use it.”
Mangofile stores the complete data for a project in an easily understandable place and also allows contractors, manufacturers and architects to search for information on specific parts of the project.
Bloomfield explains that the search function allows companies to retrieve information in a simple and secure manner.
“On a project, anyone could have access to the database,” he says. “You could then look specifically at, for example, the window frames for the west side of the building. You could then highlight all the invoices that had been sent to you.”
Bloomfield says Carillion found the software invaluable when it reviewed the way it stores and retrieves project data.
The company’s problem lay not so much with the storage of data, but with its retrieval. Carillion spent £1m a year on filing its paperwork. Bloomfield says a man in a van would quite literally drive to where the documents were stored, find the piece of paper he wanted and drive it to the people who needed it.
The company now puts drawings, plans and blueprints onto the system, which can be retrieved later in the job.
With this new way of working, when Carillion starts a project the company inputs the data and then has a number of CDs delivered to its headquarters in Wolverhampton; some when the project is finished.
Bloomfield says the software comes with in-built security. With sensitive information, such as cvs, the main contractor can preclude certain people from accessing it.
The information can also be whittled down so its users can also retrieve data such as all the emails from that project. This could prove invaluable when dealing with cases of litigation.
“You can bring all the paperwork together under one umbrella, but if I only want to look at one particular area, I can isolate it,” Bloomfield says.
There is a lot of talk about bringing the construction industry’s supply chain closer together and of companies working in closer harmony. In order to do this they will need much more advanced lines of communication. This does not, however, mean they will be using ever-more complex software. If there is easy to use and accessible software out there in the market, it could have a profound effect on the working relationships between contractors, architects and their suppliers.
