PERI Formwork Systems Canada

Extending excellence  PERI Formwork Systems is a global market leader in quality and innovation, using German manufacturing excellence to create concrete forms and scaffolding products that serve the construction industry worldwide. Keith Regan learns how efforts under way at PERI Canada seek to extend that level of excellence through the sales, service and support organization as well.  PERI is the worldÔÇÖs largest manufacturer of formwork and scaffolding systems, providing solutions to the construction industry around the world while maintaining a single main manufacturing presence in Weissenhorn, Germany. That approach has helped earn the company a solid reputation for long-lasting quality as well as innovation in engineering and manufacturing.  With that reputation as a foundation, PERI Canada has enjoyed a long stretch of strong growth, fueled by boom years in construction in cities such as Vancouver. PERI supplies concrete formworks and scaffolding solutions to some of the countryÔÇÖs largest construction firms and customized solutions to some of the largest projects in the country, according to Peter Weiss, chief executive officer of PERI Canada. ÔÇ£The high-rise sector in particular really took off, and we have a number of systems developed specifically for that market. There were also some monumental projectsÔÇösuch as the South Health Campus hospital in Calgary, the Bay Adelaide Center in Toronto, and the Golden Ears Bridge in British ColumbiaÔÇöthat happened to take place during that time as well.ÔÇØ Weiss has been CEO of PERIÔÇÖs Canadian division (based in Bolton, Ontario) for a year but has been with the company for almost a decade, having worked as an engineer in the US and as a North American regional manager, including time at the German headquarters. ÔÇ£With the growth in Canada, there were growing pains,ÔÇØ he says. ÔÇ£We wanted to put more structure in place and be more proficient in all areas of our operations. The company has a reputation for being the best at manufacturing and engineering, and we want to extend that through everything we do.ÔÇØ The company is also exploring opportunities to extend its geographical reach into new parts of the country as well as additional services that it can provide to the construction industry. PERI provides a host of up-front engineering services, helping construction firms develop solutions to specific challenges while constantly refining its solutions to help reduce construction costs and time and improving workplace safety. ÔÇ£The solution is what is key for customers. They need an engineered solution that addresses unique challenges and job issues, and we can work with them to get them what they need. We always use our clients as a sounding board, and most of our products have been developed through very close interaction with those end-users,ÔÇØ Weiss says. For instance, when CanadaÔÇÖs largest construction company, EllisDon Construction, needed a solution to enable it to pour concrete at the $1.2 billion South Health Campus project with less hard-to-find skilled form-placement labor, it turned to PERI, which designed, engineered and manufactured a hydraulic-based solution that reduced deflection of concrete as it is poured. The solution enabled EllisDon to keep the massive project on schedule while using fewer workers and keeping those workers performing concrete pouring more safely. Doing more with less is a general trend in the construction industry and one that PERI helps to advance with solutions that require less up-front training and less experienced labor. ÔÇ£We understand the exceptional challenges that the industry faces in terms of changes in the labor force and having people work on projects who have less field experience,ÔÇØ Weiss notes. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre always developing lighter solutions that require less up-front thinking and just go together more easily.ÔÇØ Newer solutions also include safety features such a handrails and fall-arrest systems built into the forms and scaffolding. To help develop those solutions in conjunction with customers, PERI Canada has expanded its engineering staff. It is also providing additional jobsite documentation, safety literature and other support documents that it can offer because of its deep experience in the field. ÔÇ£We have a deep well of documentation that we can provide to help our customers with safety compliance and others issues. ItÔÇÖs just another way we can provide value and become more valuable to our customers.ÔÇØ Meanwhile, the company remains protective of its single-point-of-manufacturing model, which it believes enables it to keep costs down and to better control quality. That means products that last longer in the field. ÔÇ£We avoid the extra overhead costs of having multiple manufacturing facilities, but we also keep that image of strong German engineering and manufacturing standards.ÔÇØ Other efforts under way to update the Canadian organizationÔÇÖs approach include improvements in logistics support, as the company seeks to manage more efficiently the $300 million worth of materialÔÇömuch of it scaffolding and formworks that are rented out from a series of seven distribution and sales facilities across the country, where scaffolding and formworks systems are received from Germany, assembled and stored. PERI is also looking at the possibility of upgrading its showrooms to create a learning-center environment where customers can get hands-on experience with the companyÔÇÖs solutions before they use them. ÔÇ£We learn a lot from clients and feel we have the resources to offer back to the community, and we want to encourage that feedback loop and the communication of best practices to the entire industry,ÔÇØ Weiss says. ÔÇ£There are simple little things that we can do to improve the way a form is used in the field that can make a significant difference over the life of a project. WeÔÇÖre working hard to put ourselves in the best position possible to be the solutions provider that the construction industry continues to turn to.ÔÇØ