Axis Capital Group to join IGBC 2015

Singapore is set to prove its place when it comes to green building construction and the events to back it up are continuously pouring. This coming September 2-4, 2015, International Green Building Conference is said to be one of the largest events which will serve as a catalyst for more seminars and eco-friendly awareness in the years to come.

Axis Capital Group, a company which sells and rents capital equipment in Singapore and has extended to Jakarta, Indonesia, is also expected to come to Marina Bay Sands Hotel, the event’s venue along with other non-profit organization, private institutions and interested individuals to learn more about green construction and its coming future.

Organized by the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore and into its seventh run, IGBC 2015 is the anchor event of the Singapore Green Building Week. IGBC 2015 will play host to more than 1000 participants from over 30 countries - international green building experts, policy-makers, academics, built environment practitioners, tenants and end-users, including members of the public and students.

Months before it is about to take place, reviews are already being written on the various expectations prepared for this event. A congregation of ideas, collaboration and learning among global and regional stakeholders to achieve a shared vision of a greener planet through the green building movement are some of the many expectations.

IGBC 2015's theme will be 'Build Green, Live Smart', focusing on the call for greener infrastructure and on the need for end users to act more responsibly and live sustainably based on meaningful smart data collected.

Since 2005, Singapore has topped the world on the cleanest and greenest city all over the world. With the development in infrastructure of the so-called Lion City, one cannot totally imagine how environment and modernization were incorporated.

Not only is today’s façade of the city green and eco-friendly. The government, along with other private and public institutions are already planning an 80% green overall requirement of each and every infrastructure found in the country. In response, buildings and projects are already including green and healthy designs and systems in their projects.

By encouraging and even demanding the use of innovative architectural green ideas and energy-saving technologies, Singapore has become a model of improving civilization in Asia – an important development in the region as it is a home of struggling and growing urbanization and housing the largest number of people anywhere else in the world.

Setting up your Rental Business

With the development of construction industry and infrastructure, the demand for the equipment used in this field is also increasing. In America alone, 80% of businesses and projects are taking advantage of rented equipment on a regular basis.

The set-up of local manufacturers in Jakarta, Indonesia also set up ways for heavy equipment rentals and sales to a big boom. In Singapore, Axis Capital Group, one of the companies in the same field has a lot in their sleeves since the lion city has set up to be one of the most developed countries in Asia.

Many individuals are also wondering how they could get into the game. Despite the warnings of a very fierce competition between local and foreign manufacturers and distributors, a lot are still willing to risk. How do you set up your own business then?

1. Evaluate the Competition

Prior to launching a heavy construction equipment rental business in your area, it's a smart move to see how strong the competition is. Know them and identify their strengths, marketing practice as well as their weaknesses. Knowing their products they offer and their partnership can be a little over-the-top but it can be an advantage. Review it and compare on your own. You may learn some lessons from their own way of making their business.

2. Learn from Experts

Since you are just a start-up business and the industry is a tough one, you can be humble enough and ask those who had been in the game longer than you are. An owner of a heavy construction equipment rental business in another town may be willing to share their entrepreneurial wisdom with you, after they realize you reside far away from them and won't be stealing their local customers. In that case, the business owner may be more than happy to discuss the industry with you. Based on Axis’ experience, you may have to call ten business owners in order to find one who is willing to share his wisdom with you.

3. Every business needs to be marketed

Market your rental business. Let everyone know you exist in the game. Call on businesses that have need of your equipment. Advertise on radio, in the paper or on TV. As an introductory offer, you can give promotions so you can gain a good customer base. Marketing your business can also give you a good branding.

Large Data in Construction

Machine to machine communication has been rampant nowadays. With the emergence of new systems which helps in distinguish issues that were once too look into, the use of data in construction has been considered important and necessary. Aside from the fact that it is used for daily activities, it is also used in equipment. With its integration to capital equipment, many rental and selling companies like Axis Capital Group which is a Singaporean based company distributing across Asia and has expanded to Jakarta, Indonesia have been able to identify fraudulent products in its machineries.

Big data analytics is being used in a wide variety in every industry. It enables businesses to manage and analyze vast amounts of data at ultrafast speeds, and obtain valuable insights that can improve their decision-making processes.

One of the industries that are reaping the benefits of this technology is the construction industry. Construction companies are using big data to perform a wide range of tasks, from data management to pre-construction analysis.

Construction industry oftentimes handles many projects at once. Having large data management system can help reduce the stress that can result to unorganized information gathering. As these data are stored in the clouds, strict security rules are being implemented as a way to prevent scammers from hacking confidential information that may affect large scope projects and even the government or the public as a whole.

In order to plan and execute projects effectively, construction companies need to be able to predict risks accurately through intelligent use of data.

By implementing big data analytics, they can gain valuable insights that enable them to improve cost certainty, identify and avoid potential problems, and find opportunities for efficiency improvements.

The ability to solve issues and problems quickly is essential in construction projects with deadlines to meet and budget that is allotted with only limited time frame.

According to reviews, forensic issues usually occur in major construction projects and they can cause big problems such as failure to meet deadlines if they are not fully addressed.

In order to fix forensic issues efficiently, construction companies have to be able to collect the right data in an organized way and make the data accessible to the right people at the right time. This can be achieved through the implementation of big data solutions.

Presently, big data analytics is relatively immature in terms of functionality and robustness.

Equipment Rental in the Future

Equipment rental is one of the most booming industries in today’s generation. Given the option to rent or to maintain heavy equipment with the risk to be outdated in the near future, many people choose the path to better renting. Maintenance is also one key factor that prevents people from buying heavy machineries.

Now that machineries are more patronized nowadays, have you also wondered what the future for construction equipment is like in 5 years?

Axis Capital Group, a company which sells and rents capital equipment based in Singapore and has now expanded to Jakarta, Indonesia has also been wondering where the industry be in the near future. Our experts are constantly analyzing today’s construction industry’s status to better prepare our clients for what is to come.

Rental companies are emphasizing service in everything they do. And many dealers who once said they happened to have a rental division are now more likely to describe themselves as full-service rental companies who happen to do sales. What does full-service rental mean today? It means more convenient locations, faster check-in and check-out procedures, faster field response, better customer training.

Many of these services in a construction industry are not new. But more and more, these services are no longer considered an added value or an extra benefit. They are considered part of the basic rental package - an operating necessity in a maturing business and something that must be done to survive.

The quality of equipment fleets is also improving. And so is fleet utilization. According to reviews of contractors, availability of equipment is far and away the most important factor in why they choose a company. Availability is even ahead of price. To serve this demand, companies continue to expand and modernize their fleets while they also implement systems to manage it all more efficiently.

Another trend is toward newer fleets. Companies used to hold equipment for as long as it would hold up - the longer it rented, the better the return on investment. Now all things being equal, the customer wants to rent the latest models. Both large and small companies are reporting fleets with average ages as low as 24 and 36 months.

However, despite the growth and development, the rental industry remains fragmented. These companies still remain to be a minority in many nations. It would take a lot of time for the industry to establish its position but will continue to control their destinies.

The Story behind forklifts

As we all know, forklifts are used to handle materials from one place to another and has been very useful in the daily activities of a construction project. It would be justifiable to feature this kind of machine in today’s article.

Just like any other capital equipment companies. Axis Capital Group has laid a huge emphasis on the use of fork lifts. This kind of machine of every available brand has been one of our top sellers in both of our offices in Singapore and Jakarta, Indonesia. The demand for this equipment spread across all over Asia.

Handling has once been done by different kinds of equipment but with the creation of forklifts, it has made a great spur in the industry. The development, however, has taken years of review and research to truly evolve.

In the middle of the 19th century through the early 20th century, the world has seen the development of lifting tools which had led to today’s modern forklifts. The forerunner of the modern forklift was manually powered hoist that were used to lift loads.

On 1919, some high lift trucks were built which raised their platforms several feet to provide a greater range of operation and permit handling the many different types of skids. From here it was only a short step to tiering. Warnings of demolition caused by wars did not hinder the development of this useful equipment. Post war standardization the same year eliminated the rest of the trouble, and has resulted in keeping the platform truck skid system useful right up to the present day.

The year 1919 also saw the development of vertical lifting cantilever trucks as well as the introduction of forks and rams. The cantilever feature enabled these trucks to drive right up to a stow without requiring clearance underneath for projecting front wheels, while the forks and rams provided a means of handling many different types of objects. Some of the first trucks with forks were merely platform trucks to which bars had been welded.

Forklift hydraulics is controlled either with levers directly manipulating the hydraulic valves, or by electrically controlled actuators, using smaller "finger" levers for control. The latter allows forklift designers more freedom in agronomical design.

Forklift trucks are available in many variations and load capacities. In a typical warehouse setting most forklifts have load capacities between one and five tons. Larger machines, up to 50 tons lift capacity, are used for lifting heavier loads, including loaded shipping containers.

Heavy Construction Equipment on a Tight Perspective

Today’s construction industry requires different number of capital equipment in different sizes, types, and groupings for earth moving, excavating and/or lifting. Construction equipment today is specifically made for certain purposes to design and perform specific tasks and mechanical operations. Working capacity is direct function of the size of the machine and the motor power.

The dependency on capital equipment in the creation of buildings and infrastructures lays a deep root on the growth of the industry. As long as there is equipment fit to do the more tedious tasks that manual labor cannot do, there will always be a demand.

Axis Capital Group, a company which sells and rents capital equipment with its head office in Singapore and its subsidiary in Jakarta, Indonesia, is among the few companies which emphasizes the need for heavy machineries in today’s generation. With the increasing number of infrastructure projects not only in the already developed countries of America and Europe but also on the developing nations of Asia, the need for construction equipment has been greatly acknowledged. Both foreign and local manufacturers from all over the world has been busy producing and distributing new models almost every week.

In some cases, there is a threat that these machineries will replace manpower, a warning of a possible increase in unemployment rate especially in developed countries. However, when local producers and manufacturers have been greatly affected by the increase in attrition rate caused by the recession, the demand for operators and construction workers are proven to be as highly important as the need for these machineries. In a sense, it is a give and take scenario. If there is no manpower, there is no one to operate these heavy machineries and if there are no machineries, workers can obviously file tantamount of complaints on the extremities of labor and tasks.

The dependency and need for construction equipment have grown with the size and the complexity of the projects. The development of automated machineries for earthmoving, excavating and lifting has had an overwhelming evolution in the last two centuries. Today, when some new model of equipment does not exist to perform specific tasks, it can be designed and built. Heavy construction equipment manufacturers are very responsive to the market’s needs and to client’s feedback and comments. A lot of innovators and idealists make it so simple to create a machine which was once a big challenge. How effectively a new machine is done will greatly affect and influence the construction project.

Indonesia partners with China in Infrastructure Industry

Japan has been overlooked by Indonesia as a partner. Instead, it chooses China, one of the most rivaled and sought-after country to be allied with. Many critics say that this is because of the worsening status of traffic in the archipelago’ city, Jakarta.

Jakarta, infamous for its traffic gridlock, recently won the dubious distinction as the city with the world’s worst traffic jams, according to a study by the British industrial and automotive lubricants company Castrol.

This once again highlights not only the Indonesian capital’s infrastructural shortcomings but also the limited land and sea transport networks across the entire archipelago, as well as the frequent power outages that are the Achilles heel of the country’s economy.

Jakarta is nonetheless a developing city and one of the most advanced cities in the world. Businesses seem to flock this growing city and investors have pointed out a lot of potential. One of the companies which sells and rents capital equipment all over Asia is  Axis Capital Group which is based in Singapore has expanded their services to Jakarta and is now partnering with government agencies, private institutions and non-profit organizations to help Indonesia’s infrastructure. 

Critics though, say that Indonesia is in dire situation, a reason why they have reached out to China.

Keen observers of the Indonesian economy believe that China is well placed to meet this demand for infrastructure as an investor, especially with the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) expected to launch by the end of this year, which will be dedicated to funding infrastructure development in the region.

According to reviews, China is regarded as the most viable economic giant to support the development of infrastructure in Indonesia backed by the world’s biggest foreign exchange reserves. Despite warnings of fraudulent acts in China and scams on their products which are now known worldwide, Indonesia continued with their partnership.

During President Xi Jinping’s meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, in Beijing last month, China expressed its interest to invest an estimated $63 billion in infrastructure and other projects in Indonesia, according to the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board.

During Jokowi’s visit, the two presidents also oversaw the signing of a joint project to link Jakarta and Bandung by high-speed railway, alongside a memorandum of understanding for closer cooperation in infrastructure, including toll roads, railways, power plants and ports.

               

Indonesia has made infrastructure its top priority since its new president came to power in October. An ambitious plan to build 1,000 kilometers of toll roads, 5,000 km of railways, as well as 15 airports and 24 seaports in the next five years has been laid out in Jokowi’s 2015-2019 National Medium-Term Development Plan.