Where there's muck there's wasted brass

Exclusive by David Nunn



A major productivity study will reveal that inefficient practices added 10 per cent to the cost of work on a Balfour Beatty bypass contract.

Earthmoving on the A30 bypass contract at Honiton, Devon, was measured as part of the Government's AGILE initiative, the results of which will be announced tomorrow by the Paymaster-General.

Analysis over two muckshifting seasons showed that around £1 million could be cut from the cost of work.

Earthmoving equipment was fitted with global positioning systems to track the movements of vehicles around the 7km site. Monitoring devices also recorded when trucks were tipping or being loaded.

A source close to the project said: "The IT equipment allowed us for the first time to track all the vehicles and monitor their 'behaviour' - behaviour is the right word, too, because we found some pretty odd things going on."

The study found 'traffic jams' arose, seriously hampering efficiency, because drivers were not aware of each others' movements on the site. Other problems were linked to the fact the drivers were paid according to time spent in the cab, rather than for their productivity.

"These are ingenious guys - properly incentivised, and with better information they could find ways to move that earth much more efficiently," said the source.

"Dramatic improvements are possible. You could expect to save £1 million by using global positioning equipment on a comparable project."

Some of the equipment was damaged during the tests. One driver stole a phone and ripped-out other devices to fit a stereo. "There were the usual problems in getting people to look after the equipment," said the source.