October 2017

Mechanical Contractors Association of British Columbia

mcabc.org 223-3989 Henning Drive, Burnaby Ph: 604-205-5058 Fax: 604-205-5075 staff@mcabc.org

Message from Executive Vice President Dana Taylor

Productivity and Innovation in Construction

- Continued on page 4

MCABC Island Classic 2017

Go to Album

A few photos of the MCABC Island Golf Classic, held Septem-ber 8 at Olympic View Golf Course, Vancou-ver Island.

Pictured are first place winners, left; second place winners, far right; and Ladies’ Longest Drive winner,

center. For a list of all winners, see page 3. To see all photos from the tournament, click on button at right.

Photos and results of MCABC & CIPH Golf Tournament: see page 5.

What is the reality of Canada’s construction

industry? Is it constantly innovating and

becoming more productive, making use of new

technology and bettering its practices? Or is it

resting on its laurels, perpetuating the status

quo and simply reaping the rewards of strong

demand? A couple of recent reports on the

issue of productivity in the construction

industry paint very different pictures. Let’s look

at the views of both reports – that Canada is a

productivity success story, and that

construction’s global productivity is in a sorry

state.

Two articles; two views

In its article, Constant innovation is key to

productivity, the fall 2017 issue of Buildforce

Canada magazine reports that industry is

working hard to boost “…Canada’s already

well-deserved reputation for productivity and

innovation within the construction industry.”

Buildforce asserts Canada implements

“pioneering knowledge” of best practices such

as “seeking out those processes and

technologies that best ensure safety, keep

quality high, and bring costs down.” The

report says, “The Canadian construction

industry has begun to increase its investment

in innovative practices and establishing

systems that foster innovative ideas and

improvements.” However, no evidence or

examples in the article back up these

comments.

What Buildforce does offer is that the power to

innovate comes from a corporate culture “that

will allow it (the company) the freedom to

generate the ideas that enable it to improve

over time.” To improve value and be cost

competitive, a company needs to “objectively

measure its skills and capacity for innovation,

and then give its workforce a tangible method

and the tools for instilling innovation into its

systems and processes,” the article asserts.

“Innovation drives productivity because

refining techniques and processes results in

improvements.”

Contrast this optimistic Canadian view with a

recent study conducted by McKinsey Global

Institute (MGI) and reported in the August 19-

25, 2017 Economist magazine feature,

Construction: How to build more efficiently.

The Economist article tells us: “The

construction sector is one of the largest in the

world economy, with about $10 trillion spent

on construction-related goods and services

every year. However, the industry’s

productivity has trailed that of other sectors

for decades, and there is a $1.6 trillion

opportunity to close the gap.” In fact globally,

the article continues, construction sector

labor-productivity growth averaged 1 percent a

year over the past two decades, compared

with 2.8 percent for the total world economy

and 3.6 percent for manufacturing.

October 2017

Mechanical Contractors Association of British Columbia

mcabc.org 223-3989 Henning Drive, Burnaby Ph: 604-205-5058 Fax: 604-205-5075 staff@mcabc.org

2

Back to school Estimating 101

Estimating 101 will provide you with the funda-

mentals of estimating.

October 21 & 22

MCABC Burnaby office

Two gold seal credits

More information and registration

Estimating 201

This course is the follow-up course of estimating

101. At the end of the course you will have been

exposed to the full scope of estimating.

November 18 & 19

MCABC Burnaby office

Two gold seal credits

More information and registration

The September Informer passed along the sad

news of the August passing of Chris Wolfe,

president and owner of Vibra-Sonic Control.

A Celebration of Chris’s Life will be held:

Friday, October 13 at 2 p.m.

Pinnacle at the Pier

138 Victory Ship Way

North Vancouver

CCW offering bursaries to women in construction

Women in Construction is offering four bursaries of $1000 to provide financial support to

women who:

Are currently enrolled in any full-time construction-related credential program; Are currently enrolled in a trades training program; Or, have graduated from a trades training program and seek financial assistance to buy tools and

equipment related to her chosen trade.

Applicants must CCW members; student membership is free. Application deadline is October 15.

CLICK HERE to find out more.

Let’s Get Social!

Do you follow MCABC on Facebook or Twitter? How

about both? Like or Follow us on social media for

industry news and fun stuff too. Click the icons below

to navigate to our pages, then hit “Like” or “Follow.”

October 2017

Mechanical Contractors Association of British Columbia

mcabc.org 223-3989 Henning Drive, Burnaby Ph: 604-205-5058 Fax: 604-205-5075 staff@mcabc.org

3

MCABC Island Classic Winners List

Winning Rob Williams — Bartle & Gibson

Team Tim Johnson — Brentwood Bay Mechanical

John Vandenberg — JA Vandenberg Plumbing

Jon Thomson — ISS Solutions

Second Place James Clapp — Jardine Lloyd Thompson Insurance

Team Mike Astleford — SMS Summit Mechanical

Erik Bergvinson — Canwest Mechanical

Jeremy Dolan — Clemco Plumbing & Heating

Third Place Corry Belcourt — Veridis Plumbing

Team Earl Belcourt — Belcourt Consulting

Tibor Mandur — Veridis Plumbing

Miles Martin — Wolseley Sales

Men’s

Longest Drive Trevor Walters — On Demand Plumbing

Ladies’ Longest

Drive Brenda Harley — Bartle & Gibson

Longest Putt Matt McCarthy — Viessmann Manufacturing

Thank you to all Sponsors of the MCABC Island Classic Golf Tournament!

Quality products, sustainable solutions, superior ser-

vice The (not-so) new HVAC equipment supplier in town!

Johnson Bar-

Call us at 604-506-7557 or check out our website.

“WE ARE MOVING TO SERVE YOU BETTER” in bold (add this small pic off to the side??)

New Location: (All in bold)

#6 - 62 Fawcett Road

Coquitlam, BC.

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Quality products, sustainable solutions, superior service

The (not-so) new HVAC equipment supplier in town!

Johnson Barrow

Call us at 604-506-7557 or check out our website.

WE ARE MOVING TO SERVE YOU BETTER

New Location:

#6 - 62 Fawcett Road

Coquitlam, BC.

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WE NOW STOCK REPLACEMENT CHASSIS

for your Whalen Vertical Stack fan coil

and heat pump needs! Call us today!!

October 2017

Mechanical Contractors Association of British Columbia

mcabc.org 223-3989 Henning Drive, Burnaby Ph: 604-205-5058 Fax: 604-205-5075 staff@mcabc.org

4

Opportunity exists for innovators

MGI claims since 1945, US productivity in

manufacturing, retail, and agriculture has

grown by as much as 1,500 percent, but

productivity in construction has barely

increased at all. Without a huge change, the

global need for infrastructure and housing

will be hard to meet. But if the industry does

rise to the challenge and approach other

sectors’ productivity levels, the industry’s

growth could be immense.

The reasons given for poor performance are

many and familiar: poor project

management, insufficient skills, inadequate

design processes, and underinvestment in

skills development, R&D, and innovation.

What changes need to happen to increase

productivity?

The MGI study examined innovative firms and

regions and concludes that, by acting in seven

areas simultaneously, construction could boost

productivity by 50 to 60 percent. The con-

struction industry needs to: 1) reshape

regulation; 2) rewire the contractual frame-

work to reshape industry dynamics; 3) rethink

design and engineering processes; 4) improve

procurement and supply-chain management;

5) improve on-site execution; 6) infuse digital

technology, new materials, and advanced

automation; 7) and reskill the workforce.

It seems to me that in order to act on any of

these areas, innovation will be necessary. Few

reading this will likely disagree with any of the

seven suggested actions, but the questions

remain, how to innovate and where to begin?

MGI suggests: “Many barriers to higher

productivity and ways of overcoming them

have been known for some time, but the

industry has been in deadlock. Most individual

players lack both the incentives and the scale

to change the system.”

New resources needed for innovation

Where do today’s players find the resources

needed for R&D and innovation? Assuming we

are all aware of the barriers for change, we

should also be aware that there are forces

lowering those barriers, and those are as MGI

suggests, “…rising requirements and demand

in terms of volume, cost, and quality; larger-

scale players and more transparent markets,

and disruptive new entrants; more readily

available new technologies, materials, and

processes; and the increasing cost of labor

with partial restrictions on migrant workers.”

In summary, industry is being told that

construction productivity must improve

and that there is huge opportunity in

making these improvements. We are also

being told that the key to improved

opportunity is innovation and that

innovation must be part of industry’s

culture. The Buildforce report provides a

clue to the barrier to innovation when it

quotes a productivity expert:

“Unfortunately, despite many reports

indicating the importance of innovation for

Canadian firms, there are still very few

resources for those looking to implement and

develop this culture….”

MGI warns that resources must be found:

“Construction-sector participants should

rethink their operating approaches to avoid

being caught out in what could be the world’s

next great productivity story.” MGI’s research

has provided a pathway where the work needs

to be done, challenging industry to innovate,

become productive and prosper, or be caught

out.

Message from EVP Dana Taylor — continued from page 1

October 2017

Mechanical Contractors Association of British Columbia

mcabc.org 223-3989 Henning Drive, Burnaby Ph: 604-205-5058 Fax: 604-205-5075 staff@mcabc.org

5

MCABC & CIPH Golf Tournament MCABC & CIPH Golf Tournament Winners List

First Place Lyle Mussleman — Noble BC

Team Kevin Fredette — Noble BC

Curt Thomas — Warrior Plumbing

StanBoehm — retired

Pink Ball —

Rafal Choroba — Broadway Refrigeration

Winning Edward Fox — Johnson Barrow

Team Mike Madore — Johnson Barrow

Nicky Roberts — Alpha Mechanical

KP # 4 Marty Gray — Canadian Aqualine Sales

KP # 7 David Carlson — Vanguard Mechanical

KP # 13 Dave Nagra — Noble BC

KP # 17 Vincent Kim — Viega

LD #8 Nicky Roberts — Alpha Mechanical

Putting Contest

Marty Gray — Canadian Aqualine Sales

MCABC Calendar of Events

October 21 & 22 Estimating 101 Course MCABC Classroom, Burnaby

November 2 MCABC Board Meeting MCABC Boardroom, Burnaby

November 18 & 19 Estimating 201 Course MCABC Classroom, Burnaby

December 6 MCABC Holiday Open House MCABC Boardroom, Burnaby

Pink Ball

Winning

Team

KP

Winners

Table Top

Exhibitor

CCTF

Corporation