Formwork forgery

zoom

Palm Jumeirah: Peri was responsible for the forming, reinforcement work and concreting of the sub-sea tunnel, which connects the crescent of the Palm to the trunk. Peri system components from the VARIO girder wall formwork system provided the ideal basis for all areas.

zoom

A two-tier strategy is recommended by Jens Lutzow-Rodenwoldt.

As site regulations tighten in the emirate in response to a growing awareness of international standards, concern remains in the formwork sector over the impact of substandard reproductions being made available to contractors, who are attracted by significantly lower costs.

According to Geir Jensen, general manager, Doka Gulf, formwork suffers in a number of ways. Its temporary nature onsite means legislation is minimal, plus it is, generally speaking, quite low technology, hence few aspects of it are applicable to patent rights, meaning there is nothing illegal in reproducing such products. The problems arise when clients are given the impression that they can acquire these products with the same quality from suppliers at significantly lower prices. "Certainly the biggest fake producer for Doka is China," Jensen says.

"These people give the impression these products can be purchased at a much lower price than Peri or us or other well-established companies. And they spoil the price suggesting we are making huge profits. But it is not so." In some cases, this can be as much as 1/3rd of the price of authentic material.

This approach is detrimental to the construction process overall. While the contractor may believe he is saving costs, the reality is that it eliminates any support services that would be offered from an established supplier. Instead, the site would receive a container or containers, of material and nothing else. But is this so important if the material is simplistic and straightforward to operate? Jensen believes so: "That is what the clients' need. If you go and ask us or Peri what is important for the client nowadays, with these fast-tracked products they need the service follow-up. Simply to dump material on-site is no help."

Employing such a method merely exacerbates the problems associated with the lack of labour - or more specifically, skilled labour that is afflicting the emirates. Jensen laments the lack of skilled labour available in the current market and questions the benefit of ‘dumping' 10 containers of material on a site of unskilled labourers who don't know what to do. For those who expect good products, at the best possible price with the best service, you cannot look past the real companies for the pirate ones.

If such an approach is patently so disadvantageous in the long run, the question remains why contractors pursue less-than-authentic formwork. The reason, says Jensen, is that contractors are keen to save money where they can, and that since the majority of formwork is so easy to copy, they believe they can handle it, which, with unskilled labourers, is where the problems arise.

"It is all a question of price. Because they know that they can get away with it, and take shortcuts. But they cannot handle these products with unskilled labourers. And that is where they are suffering - you get what you pay for. They are convinced by the low price, but normally they don't do it again, because the follow-up and service is not up to scratch."

Peri also adopt this approach, believing the service-intensive nature of formwork offsets any temptation contractors might feel to cut corners and, in the end, is a telling aspect. Christian Schwörer, managing director, Peri says: "You can copy a product but you cannot copy a solution, and that is how we protect ourselves - by the technical competencies of our people. That is way stronger as a barrier to other competitors than just the product."

Print | Email | Discuss this article |

USER COMMENTS (0 COMMENTS)

POST A COMMENT

CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Security Code *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.