Employees in the construction industry should no longer have to risk being worn out by the time they are in their 30s or 40s. This is the clear objective of an innovation project in which the construction company Jakon A/S is participating. The project aims to find less straining ways of handling plasterboards.
“Of course it is a financial advantage to us as a company that we can keep people instead of having to let them go. But we have entered this project particularly out of consideration for our employees. It is also an incredible waste for society that people have to leave their trade and are worn out at far too young an age,” says Jørgen Abildgaard Nielsen who is responsible for training at Jakon A/S that employs some 280 people.
Further to finding new, less straining work methods, the objective of the project is to make the work with plasterboards more efficient, according to the principle ‘work smarter, not harder’.
The project develops new tools
The innovation project is carried out in collaboration with the Danish Technological Institute and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Two students have followed the company’s tradesmen, including filming their work with the plasterboards. The project is supported by the open funds scheme.
“We would have addressed this issue anyway, but the collaboration with the Technological Institute and the DTU students has brought us much further than we would otherwise have managed,” says Jørgen Abildgaard Nielsen.
In the course of the project, tools have been developed that reduce the strain on the tradesmen who work with the plasterboards.
“We are not tools manufacturers, so we only contribute to the development of a so-called functional model of each tool. Then it is up to the Technological Institute to make a tools manufacturer interested so the tool can be put into production. This means that the new tools become available not only to us, but to the entire industry,” says Jørgen Abildgaard Nielsen.
The first tool has just been produced as a functional model and it is now ready to be tested by Jakon’s tradesmen.
The project costs time and effort
Asked whether he can recommend that other companies make use of Open Funds, Jørgen Abildgaard Nielsen answers:
“I don’t want to give the impression that all you have to do is apply for a project and then the rest is smooth sailing. You have to be willing to invest time and effort. If you are, then I would definitely recommend the open funds scheme. It has been a good way for us to have something developed that we needed badly.”