Competence Development and Capacity Building of Sawmill Enterprises in Kenya – A Human Resources Development Approach

The Kenyan forestry and sawmilling industry have been subject to a changing environment since 1999 when the industrial forest plantations were closed down. This has lowered raw material supply and it has affected and reduced the sawmill operations and the viability of the sawmill enterprises. The capacity of the 276 registered sawmills is not sufficient to fulfill sawn timber demand in Kenya. This is because of the technological degradation and lack of a qualified labor force, which were caused because of non-existent sawmilling education and further training in Kenya. Lack of competent sawmill workers has led to low raw material recovery, under utilization of resources and loss of employment. The objective of the work was to suggest models, methods and approaches for the competence and capacity development of the Kenyan sawmilling industry, sawmills and their workers. A nationwide field survey, interviews, questionnaire and literature review was used for data collection to find out the sawmills’ competence development areas and to suggest models and methods for their capacity building. The sampling frame included 22 sawmills that represented 72,5% of all the registered sawmills in Kenya. The results confirmed that the sawmills’ technological level was backwards, productivity low, raw material recovery unacceptable and workers’ professional education low. The future challenges will be how to establish the sawmills’ capacity building and workers’ competence development. Sawmilling industry development requires various actions through new development models and approaches. Activities should be started for technological development and workers’ competence development. This requires re-starting of vocational training in sawmilling and the establishment of more effective co-operation between the sawmills and their stakeholder groups. In competence development the Enterprise Competence Management Model of Nurminen (2007) can be used, whereas the best training model and approach would be a practically oriented learning at work model in which the short courses, technical assistance and extension services would be the key functions.

Future trends of Finnish cement based construction

The construction material sector, as a capital intensive industry, is highly vulnerable to rapid fluctuations in the economic cycles. In Finland this was witnessed especially during the late 2000s, as in 2007 and 2008 the demand for several construction materials exceeded their supply and right after this, in 2009 the demand collapsed fast as a result of an international recession. These factors brought about the need to study the future trends of the market place of the commissioning company, Finnsementti Oy. As reliable short term market forecasts for the sector are difficult to compose, the study concentrates primarily in examining and identifying the trends that are likely to affect the Finnish cement industry, and as an extension, the concrete industry in a frame of 10 to 15 years. The study’s scope comprehends also the examination of the domestic construction sector, as it represents the end user industry of both cement and concrete. These motives for the study produce the research problem, which is to conduct a trend analysis for cement based building in the Finnish market area in the 2020s. The theoretical frame for composing a trend analysis in the case of this study is twofold. This is due to the fact that both, the macro and micro environments of the examined industries are studied. The main methods used are the PESTE-model (macro) and Porter’s five forces model (micro). The study applies a qualitative approach and the data is gathered by interviewing a group of experts from the cement, concrete and construction industries. The result of the paper is an overall trend analysis for the Finnish cement based building sector, which is based on ‘sub trend analyses’ concerning four identified sub-sectors of the Finnish construction industry. The results are a combination of findings from these sub-sectors and the analyzed data that deals with the studied sector’s macro and micro environment. The conclusions provide an overall picture of the examined sectors’ potential future as a whole and by defined sub-sectors of the construction industry. The recognition of future trends in different areas of the construction industry can be applied as a means for an industry actor’s decision making and in estimating the types of construction that are likely to grow or decline. Finally, based on the analyzed data and conclusions, the commissioning company is provided with a brief SWOT analysis, that provides additional tools for decision making and planning processes regarding the future.

Organisational learning and knowledge acquisition. A case study of internationalising manufacturers of wood-based prefabricated buildings

The study investigates organisational learning and knowledge acquisition of wood-based prefabricated building manufacturers. This certain group of case companies was chosen, because their management and their employees generally have a strong manufacturing and engineering background, while the housing sector is characterised by national norms, regulations, as well as local building styles. Considering this setting, it was investigated, how the case companies develop organisational learning capabilities, acquire and transfer knowledge for their internationalisation. The theoretical framework of this study constitutes the knowledge-based conceptualisation of internationalisation, which combines the traditional internationalisation process, as well as the international new venture perspective based on their commonalities in the knowledge-based view of the firm. Different theories of internationalisation, including the network-perspective, were outlined and a framework on organisational learning and knowledge acquisition was established. The empirical research followed a qualitative approach, deploying a multiple-case study with five case companies from Austria, Finland and Germany. In the study, the development of the wood-based prefabricated building industry and of the case companies are described, and the motives, facilitators and challenges for foreign expansion, as well as the companies’ internationalisation approaches are compared. Different methods of how companies facilitate the knowledge-exchange or learn about new markets are also outlined. Experience, market knowledge and personal contacts are considered essential for the internationalisation process. The major finding of the study is that it is not necessary to acquire the market knowledge internally in a slow process as proposed by the Uppsala model. In four cases companies engaged knowledge in symbiotic relations with local business partners. Thereby, the building manufacturers contribute their design and production capabilities, and in return, their local partners provide them with knowledge about the market and local regulations; while they manage the sales and construction operations. Thus, the study provides strong evidence for the propositions of network perspective. One case company developed the knowledge internally in a gradual process: it entered the market sequentially with several business lines, showing an increasing level of complexity. In both of the observed strategies, single-loop and double-loop learning processes occurred.

Potential benefits of building information modeling for building material supplier

This thesis investigated building information modeling (BIM) from a material supplier’s point of view. The objective was to gain understanding about how a building material supplier could benefit from the growing use of BIM in the AEC (architectural, engineering and construction) industry. Increasing amount of inquiries related to BIM from customers and other interest groups had awoken target company’s interest towards BIM. This thesis acts as a pre-study for the target company related to potential of BIM. First of all BIM and its meaning from a material supplier’s point of view was defined based on a literature review. To reveal the potential benefits of BIM for a material supplier a questionnaire survey and in total of 11 interviews were conducted. Based on the literature review and analyzed results it came clear that BIM offers benefits also for material suppliers. Product libraries and material databases for BIM tools can act as an important marketing channel for material suppliers. Material suppliers could also utilize the information from the BIM models to schedule their deliveries more precisely and potentially even to schedule their own production. All this needs deeper cooperation between material suppliers, contractors and other stakeholders in the AEC industry. Based on the results also first steps for the target company to utilize the growing use of BIM were defined.

Customer Need Assessment for Differentiation in Building Information Modeling

Building Information Modeling – BIM is widely spreading in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industries. Manufacturers of building elements are also starting to provide more and more objects of their products. The ideal availability and distribution for these models is not yet stabilized. Usual goal of a manufacturer is to get their model into design as early as possible. Finding the ways to satisfy customer needs with a superior service would help to achieve this goal. This study aims to seek what case company’s customers want out of the model and what they think is the ideal way to obtain these models and what are the desired functionalities for this service. This master’s thesis uses a modified version of lead user method to gain understanding of what the needs are in a longer term. In this framework also benchmarking of current solutions and their common model functions is done. Empirical data is collected with survey and interviews. As a result this thesis provides understanding that what is the information customer uses when obtaining a model, what kind of model is expected to be achieved and how is should the process optimally function. Based on these results ideal service is pointed out.

Tower and Thistle Construction

Distant view of the tower and construction of the Thistle Complex.

Exposing the myth of the 1:5:200 ratio relating initial cost, maintenance and staffing costs of office buildings

In an attempt to focus clients' minds on the importance of considering the construction and maintenance costs of a commercial office building (both as a factor in staff productivity and as a fraction of lifetime staff costs) there is an often-quoted ratio of costs of 1:5:200, where for every one pound spent on construction cost, five are spent on maintenance and building operating costs and 200 on staffing and business operating costs. This seems to stem from a paper published by the Royal Academy of Engineering, in which no data is given and no derivation or defence of the ratio appears. The accompanying belief that higher quality design and construction increases staff productivity, and simultaneously reduces maintenance costs, how ever laudable, appears unsupported by research, and carries all the hallmarks of an "urban myth". In tracking down data about real buildings, a more realistic ratio appears to depend on a huge variety of variables, as well as the definition of the number of "lifetime" years. The ill-defined origins of the original ratio (1:5:200) describing these variables have made replication impossible. However, by using published sources of data, we have found that for three office buildings, a more realistic ratio is 1:0.4:12. As there is nothing in the public domain about what comprised the original research that gave rise to 1:5:200, it is not possible to make a true comparison between these new calculations and the originals. Clients and construction professionals stand to be misled because the popularity and widespread use of the wrong ratio appears to be mis-informing important investment and policy decisions.