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| Bouygues Construction awarded itself for innovations French giant Bouygues Construction held the award ceremony of its first Innovation Competition. This was the first time that the competition, which already exists in a number of subsidiaries, was organised at group level. The competition included five main categories: Engineering and works (studies, methods, structures/tooling design, etc.) Commercial (product or service for a client or specific market) IT (products, applications and services) Management, finance, legal (cost control, accounting, project financing, etc.) Human Resources (recruitment, employee loyalty-building and recognition schemes) Bouygues Construction’s general management committee, which is heavily committed to innovation, managed the selection process. Of the 330 entries put forward by some 1, 000 employees, 17 were selected. The following innovations were awarded first prize in each category: Transpra (Engineering and Works category). Already applied on the A28 motorway project, this process enables bridges intended for road and rail crossings to be transported using self-propelled lifting trucks. Built several metres from the road or rail track so as to avoid disturbing traffic, the structure is transported on a hydraulically operated multi-axle truck and erected above the road or track that it will span. In addition to moving the structures freely and erecting them within the nearest millimetre, Transpra substantially reduces working time and achieves significant savings on the overall project cost. Digiscan (IT category). This new application optimises quantity surveying in the building sector using scanned drawings. By simplifying the process, the innovation saves a considerable amount of time for technical teams. Multimedia terminals (Human Resources category). Developed for the 170 centres of Bouygues Construction’s electrical contracting and maintenance subsidiary ETDE, the terminals give site staff without PCs access to the company’s intranet and internet sites. A new partnership approach between Bouygues Construction and its clients (Commercial category). An intra-group invoice netting system aimed at simplifying entry and accounting methods (Management, Finance, Legal category). Bouygues Construction employs 40, 000 people in 60 countries, and expects to generate sales of approximately 6 billion euros in 2005. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Construction News :: home page |