Building access in Asia

The booming economies of Asia are eager to tap the productivity benefits that MEWPs promise. Berlinda Nadarajan reports on the IPAF Asia Conference and Platform Showcase in Singapore.

Productivity is the driver of the fast-growing Asian markets, and businesses are geared up to adopt powered access equipment as a safe and effective way to work at height. More than 140 participants from 14 countries attended the IPAF Asia Conference in Singapore to learn and exchange views about the use of mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs) and productivity.

In Singapore, the regulators have introduced a range of incentives to promote productivity with the aim of better managing its reliance on foreign workers given housing and infrastructure constraints in the island republic.

One such measure is the Building and Construction Authority’s (BCA) S$250 million Construction Productivity & Capability Fund (CPCF), and more specifically the Mechanisation Credit (MechC) scheme, which seeks to provide assistance for companies to reduce costs incurred in technology adoption such as purchase or leasing of equipment.

Mr Chew Boon Hur, executive manager of the BCA’s Construction Productivity Centre, told delegates: “The equipment must improve productivity by at least 20% -- either through increase in speed, i.e. workers spend less time performing the same amount of work, or through reduction in manpower, i.e. less manpower is required on site to perform the work.”

Under the standard MechC scheme for example, a small builder who plans to meet the 20% productivity improvement through purchasing a battery-powered scissor lift at S$24,000 (equipment cost less than S$100,000), could receive a S$12,000 rebate (50% capped at S$20,000) and only have to pay S$12,000. If 30% productivity improvement is met, the builder could qualify for the enhanced MechC scheme and receive a S$16,800 rebate (70% capped at S$25,000 for equipment cost less than S$125,000) and only have to pay S$7,200.

High productivity

MEWPs are work tools for productivity, as a presentation by Nick Sowden, president of Snorkel Asia, highlighted. Research, such as the oft-cited 2008 study by UK-based contractor Crown House Technologies, attests to the productivity gains that MEWPs can offer. The time and motion studies using different types of access equipment on two different projects showed that MEWPs were on average three times more efficient to use than mobile towers and podiums. No surprise that diverse markets and stakeholders, including those in Asia, wish to reap the productivity benefits for their industries, from installation and construction projects, to manufacturing and rental operations.

Italian manufacturer Bravi Platforms began as an installation company, but started to produce its own machines as part of its quest for a more efficient way to work.

“Bravi was tired of wasting time, energy and money in the assembly, ascending and descending of tower scaffolds and ladders,” said Marina Torres, Bravi’s marketing and sales director. “Time and motion studies showed that replacing traditional methods of access with a newer breed of lightweight, manoeuvrable and ultra-compact access platforms could reduce time spent on the job by up to 50%.”

Practical examples highlight the loss in productivity with traditional access methods, as Ms Torres explained: “For a job involving installation of square-tiled suspended ceiling over 100 square metres across five rooms at 3 metres working height, we calculated a total of 110 instances of re-positioning taking 330 minutes if using tower scaffolds. The hidden cost in loss of productivity is loss of concentration, apart from the actual time wasted in descending, pushing the equipment and ascending. In sum, the actual work takes 12 hours, re-positioning 330 minutes, erection/dismantling 30 minutes, time loss for interrupted work 5.5 hours. The job could be completed within 13 hours using self-propelled platforms which reduce accident risks and increase operator comfort.”

Productivity was and is paramount for installation company and manufacturer Bravi to be competitive. This also applies to the value cycle in rental operations.

“Rental techniques are universal, but the business strategy has to be right from a geographical standpoint,” said Norty Turner, CEO of Riwal. “Data is the new oil; assess your data. One of the key performance indicators that Riwal uses is the dwell rate: the time a machine is off-rent until it is ready to go out again. Do you know rental opportunities before they happen? Organise customers into an atlas of needs and geographies to get early insight into industrial, construction and maintenance projects. Look at credit management and collection processes. Is it easy to do business with you? Processes drive value in the cycle.”

Good regulations

Making a rental business productive and adding value calls for a conducive regulatory environment as well as strategic acumen.

“Governments can encourage or discourage the use of powered access,” said Geoffrey Lee, general manager of Modern (International) Access & Scaffolding. “In Hong Kong for example, different authorities are responsible for scaffold and mast climbing work platforms (MCWPs). The approval process for MCWPs can take six months to one year; the equipment can take three to six months to arrive. Can the customer wait 12 months? Business is destroyed. MCWPs are not often seen in the Hong Kong market, despite their potential and low work fatality record. But scaffolds are more prevalent, so perhaps the way forward is to put all access solutions under the responsibility of a single authority. If you set the bar too high, people won’t try. We need realistic regulations.”

Mr Lee estimated that there were 3000-3500 MEWPs in China (population: 1.3 billion) in 2008, excluding Hong Kong, which has 5000-6000 MEWPs. He further estimated that there are about 1000 MEWPs in Malaysia and 3000 in Thailand, which are among the fast-moving Asian markets. Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam will take a longer time to develop the MEWP market, he said.

Mr Lee emphasised picking the right moment to move into emerging markets. “Never employ pros to do the research,” he said. “Use single indicators. Visit hardware shops. What standards are the hard hats being sold? Are customers willing to pay more for hard hats? Will people want to spend more money for safer machines? Look at the employment rate and daily wages. In China, a general construction worker costs US$20-30 a day; a scissor lift costs US$30 a day. Using the scissor lift would make sense if you could save two workers at US$50 a day.”

Asked if rental companies should move into China, Mr Lee advised caution. “The potential is there, but everything has a product life cycle and the product life cycle is short in China. More investors are stepping out of the market, but not talking about it. There is a complicated tax system that keeps changing and the costs may be higher than expected. Ask yourself if you are prepared to compete with local players who know the rules of the game. Is the game played fairly? Are you confident of finding a local and reliable working team of operators, service and salesmen? It is not easy to find the right skills; the hunters are more. Any business can be killed without a real working team.”

Promoting access

In Singapore, the regulators are promoting productivity through tax relief and cash payouts, while keeping a close watch on MEWP safety and standards.

Statistics from the Singapore Ministry of Manpower (MoM) indicate that 14 workers were killed in MEWP-related accidents from 2006 to 2012. Engineer Mohd Ismadi, deputy director (engineering safety) at the MoM’s OSH Specialist Department, estimated that there were 10653 MEWPs in 2012 (which puts Singapore on par with Sweden’s 13590 and Finland’s 11479, source: IPAF European Powered Access Rental Market Report 2013).

Singapore introduced dedicated Work at Height Regulations in May 2013 which apply to all factories. From May 2014, the Work at Height Regulations will apply to all workplaces (e.g. construction sites, shipyards, petrochemical plants) and include requirements to implement a fall prevention plan and a permit to work in instances where a person could fall from a height of more than 3 metres. A Singapore standard for MEWPs is also being drafted.

“MEWPs offer the safest way to the top,” said Mr Ismadi. “The MoM saw a strategic advantage working with IPAF and applauds its initiatives such as the Smart PAL Card. If maintained as per requirements and operated by trained employees, MEWPs are safe to use.”

Event information

Presentations from the conference are available at www.ipaf.org/asiaconference. The next IPAF Asia Conference will be held on 9 May 2014 in Singapore.