It entails from formwork to scaffolding solutions such as core, wall, floor, slab and climbing formwork and adequate support to construction companies and stakeholders says Keshab Chopra, Managing Director, Doka India and SAARC.

How is digitalisation impacting the scaffolding and formwork design?
The business environment is becoming increasingly dynamic and complex. Managing construction quality, productivity, improving efficiency and completing the project on time & within controlled costs are some of the key challenges faced by construction companies.  

Identifying, adopting and implementing the right technology can play a significant part in solving these challenges, as a large part of the population needs housing and a robust infrastructure. 

Smart products are the foundation for efficiency.

At Doka, we strive persistently to be a reliable partner by innovating and offering a wide range of services, through all stages of building projects, for complex as well as for simple project planning. We enhance efficiency and improve construction quality by partnering from conceptualising a solution to detailed design and implementing it until successful project completion. Having intelligent IOT based solution not only brings accuracy to construction but also enables you to achieve more in less time with fewer resources.

Simplified working procedures, more transparency and better quality in execution are the central aspects of this digital Doka drive. 

Doka offers a wider range of applications for on the go and on the construction site such as Daka Tools, Concremote, AR and VR solutions and many more techs as your digital helpmate for you at the site! ‌Most of these apps‌ ‌are‌ ‌available‌ ‌on‌ ‌the‌ ‌Apple‌ ‌App‌ ‌Store‌ ‌and‌ ‌Google‌ ‌Play‌ ‌Store.‌ ‌

Doka Tools:

Time-consuming, labour-intensive methods of calculating the optimum equipment quantities are now outdated. With Doka Tools, you can plan wall and floor formwork, and it takes just a couple of seconds to optimise the components for the chosen formwork system, to work out the permitted rate of placing and maximum fresh-concrete pressure during pouring. Users can download this calculation app from Apple store or Google Play store.

Doka AR-VR-App:

The Doka AR-VR-App is a powerful mobile application, which combines Augmented (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies. The enables you to have a look at various formwork models (e.g. Frami Xlife, Dokadek 30, …) via Augmented Reality and get an exciting insight into the world of formwork technology. Besides placing the models on specified markers, the Doka AR-VR-App also provides a markerless Augmented Reality feature. The application scans the actual environment instead of printed markers and allows you to place virtual objects into a real context. A 3D view of the models and QR code readers round off the  ‘app’s functionality; some 3D models even let viewers show and hide specific components and watch animations of the set-up procedures. This enables clients deep-dive and take a closer look at the products in virtual mode. 

Doka Manuals:

With Doka Manuals, you can easily get technical information about Doka formwork systems.

DokaCAD Revit:

Doka is launching DokaCAD for Revit for automated formwork planning. Doka works closely with Autodesk to create BIM-compatible building models. Autodesk is an architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) partner that is leading the way in the industry by providing increasingly automated and networked ways of working for the construction of the future. DokaCAD for Revit represents the overall formwork planning process in BIM. An Autodesk Revit plug-in allows native, automated formwork planning in BIM software.

Doka supports its partners with innovative digital solutions to Plan, procure, manage and perform efficiently. Hence, making a shift towards technological innovation and switch towards modular formwork systems and new digital solutions is a need of the hour. This can help contractors and developers bridge gap by enhancing productivity at the job sites.

Summary:

In the current unprecedented times, adopting and adapting to newer technologies have become a new norm and a necessity. In many instances, technological advancements have been offering significant opportunities in various phases of the construction cycle and value chain. Hence, making a shift towards technological innovation and switch towards modular formwork systems and new digital solutions is a need of the hour. 

Every day, our clients are performing exceptionally. Doka assists them in this and wants to be remembered as a construction-industry partner who today already has tomorrows solutions for boosting productivity on jobsite and who is looking even further forward into the future.

What kind of advanced scaffolding and formwork solutions are you offering and its feasibility?
In the construction industry quality, speed and time are paramount. There has been an acceptance and a reasonable shift on the part of builders and developers from traditional to system formworks solutions due to its speed, scope for higher repetitions, cost-effectiveness and freedom from the hazards of using unskilled workers.

Doka caters to all sectors: residential, high-rise, infrastructure, energy and commercial construction, industrial and public facilities. We offer a wide range of applications from formwork to scaffolding solutions such as core, wall, floor, slab and climbing formwork and adequate support to construction companies and stakeholders irrespective of project size and complexity. 

Every Doka formwork systems deliver different savings on labour cost and impact on project site productivity. To understand with an example, our products for Floor/ Slab systems such as Dokaflex, Doka Lightdek, Doka Tables etc. provide significant benefits, when benchmarked against conventional shuttering practices as it adds up to overall cost savings for the operator. The benefits also include greater durability and shorter cycle time while being lighter and easier to manage.

While talking about wall and column systems, Doka Framini and Frami Xlife are ingenious, modular and lightweight handset systems that are a complete system in themselves. They can be used for any wall application that needs concrete. The panels are made of torsion-resistant hollow section steel profiles ensuring an extremely long life span. Another solution that offers flexibility to tailor-make formwork solution to match your needs is Doka Top 50. This Large-area formwork is a modular gang form system constructed from standard parts that can be assembled in any configuration for a wide range of applications. Shape, size, tie pattern, and plywood can be adapted to suit your jobsite requirements.

These systems empower teams to build quickly, efficiently and ensure each project is delivered on time. Also, each product fully complies with OHSA and other standards. Our formwork technology is optimised in every detail, and therefore, it requires minimal quantities for commissioning soptimising total construction cost. Our systems are extremely reliable, and some of our customers have been able to use them for over 20 years.

Doka engages with its patrons by accompanying them at every touchpoint during the whole construction process. We ensure to deliver a seamless experience of our products and services, i.e., right from manufacturing quality complaint and technologically advanced systems to offer them at attractive commercial models and finally preparing highly skilled professionals to assist you at each stage. Doka is your partner to support you in transferring the benefits of our solutions to your next level customers.

What are the related technical services and professional expertise essential to facilitate effective implementation of scaffolding, formwork systems?
Doka provides comprehensive support from the beginning of the construction process until the end of any project. We start with detailed engineering design, gang charts with formwork planning and training for the site engineers and labours. We optimise the construction progress by offering professional consultancy services across products and processes. 

Project Management:

To create a seamless experience, Doka project management assists customers during the project development, decision-making, operation scheduling, execution and completion stages of construction. We help our clients minimise any unnecessary costs by designing innovative solutions. 

Right from the project development stage, Doka offers the right formwork solutions with high-performing service packages tailored to suit each construction project, thus ensuring its success. We also provide a single-source supply — from products, services, and planning through to project management and logistics.

The contractor’s project team and Doka experts work together closely to develop a solutions-oriented overall concept taking requirements such as a tight schedule and lack of space into account along with the specifics of the predefined workflow. System formwork from Doka provides ready-to-go solutions for a wide variety of applications.

Product Training: #LearnwithDoka

Doka offers an in-depth technical product and system training, along with made-to-measure training on special subjects. The training is conducted online, at Doka office or ‘customer’s premises, on request. It is observed that there is a scarcity of skilled and qualified labours equipped to handle modern formwork  equipment’s. Therefore, it is essential to train the site workers regularly to create awareness about potential hazards.

Especially during the current times, when almost all of us unexpectedly had to transit from working in an office / jobsite to working from their homes, we launched an E-learning platform #LearnwithDoka. We organised customised webinar training to develop an in-depth technical understanding of formwork as well as to prepare our clients to make informed choices for their projects. 

Formwork Instructors:

Our specialised team of formwork instructors consists of trained and experienced practitioners. They provide required training to ensure our customers can operate formwork with complete safety. Our specially trained and experienced Instructor plays a crucial on project sites by providing supervision and training for our materials and supports construction moves ahead efficiently and safely. As we focus not only on products, we focus on construction processes; therefore, we are happy to support our customers in any phase of their formwork projects. 

What is the scope of the rental model in the backdrop of post lockdown?
Economically, COVID-19 has affected almost every Indian sector, including real estate and construction at large, which contributes nearly 10% to GDP. The health crisis has led to a substantial decline in business and revenue, project delays, job losses and pay cuts for the people associated with this sector.

Seeing the impact trails of the virus, developers and contractors are facing disruptions in their operations due to several factors like capital, shortage of material and labour availability, delay in project commencements etc. Hence, to overcome these challenges, we have been seeing, customers are making a shift towards opting rentals models to curtail initial investments, maintenance and storage cost post completion of a specific project. 

Doka India offers a range of flexible commercial models to offer new or used products and even offer material under its rental or buy-back scheme that helps our clients deal with the uncertain business environment. No matter which models our clients select, we support in managing the assets on-site and optimise the use of our formwork equipment during the construction process, thus ensuring flexibility and increasing efficiency.

Whether to buy or rent is simply a question of economics. While opting for a rental solution can bring benefits like no initial investment, no long term warehousing, no future maintenance post-completion of a project. 

Doka’s international network of sales and logistics facilities, including high-capacity rental yards, ensures steady supply times. We strive to accommodate fast track projects by acting as a single-source for products, services, planning, project management and logistics.