Eliminate Downtime gains momentum

The Eliminate Downtime movement is gaining momentum. The construction industry cause has seen increased support after holding a number of industry events at ARA in Chicago, US, Bauma in Germany, BAM Nuttall, London City Airport and Uptake Technologies in Chicago, US.

Launched in March by telematics company Trackunit, Eliminate Downtime aims to see an end to construction industry downtime by 2025. The movement has already drawn support from companies and organisations such as the European Construction Equipment Association (CECE), software copmany Uptake Technologies and access equipment manufacturer Skyjack.

Trackunit said the construction industry suffers from low productivity, limited digital technology utilisation, project overruns and increasing regulation. 

Commenting at an Eliminate Downtime discussion at Bauma 2019 in Germany, Riccardo Viaggi of CECE, said, “Our industry needs to adopt a more collaborative approach. The construction value chain is huge. It is more than 9% of the EU GDP. One of the benefits we will see as the Eliminating Downtime movement grows, is that it will deliver better societal outcomes. This is what we want the European Commission to hear from our industry, so they will understand and support us.”

Søren Brogaard Jensen, Trackunit Chief Commercial Officer, said that while the industry could not escape the fact that it is very diverse and fragmented across professions, company size and locations, that it needed to interact in a coordinated programme of tasks, in order to implement fundamental change.

Jensen said, ”The journey has the potential to change our working lives and our businesses for the better, and through that, as Riccardo said, to deliver a better built environment, and along the way to streamline processes, increase efficiency in working practices, which will improve safety, drive up productivity and offer the opportunities to future generations of construction employees.”