Now a division of Boral’s cement business, De Martin & Gasparini (DMG) began in 1947 with a humble wheelbarrow and has since grown to become one of the largest concrete placement and pumping companies in New South Wales. With expertise in delivering large pours, detailed formwork design, and high strength concrete, the company provides services for commercial and high-rise developments across the industrial, residential and utility sectors, and has played an important role in the establishment of many of Sydney’s most iconic buildings and structures. DMG’s impressive portfolio of completed projects includes high-rise developments, sports stadiums, retail complexes, hospitals, warehouses, educational facilities, infrastructure works, and airports.

These achievements demonstrate that DMG knows a skilled workforce, timing, extensive knowledge, and the right equipment are all critical in successfully working with concrete. In addition, the company has continued to build its expertise, size, and infrastructure to provide the flexibility needed to allocate crews and equipment to service Sydney’s construction industry.

Seeking Efficiency for Growth

Despite recent expansion opportunities fueled by Sydney’s booming construction industry, DMG began noticing growing pains which were being caused by using an outdated business system. “We had been using an in-house legacy system since the 1980s to manage our specific project accounting needs. While this was regularly updated over the years, we had growing concerns surrounding the suitability of the technology,” says Sally Warne, Business Process and Administration Manager at DMG.

“The main problem was the system’s inefficiency, which frequently caused time-wasting through manual data entry duplication. Also missing was the ability to maintain budgets and hold forecasts, which are the key ingredients in effective job cost management,” explains Warne. “We needed to find a way to improve business efficiency and skill utilisation, so the search began for a solution that would provide a single repository point for job data.”

Proven Expertise in Construction

To maintain its leading position and gain a competitive edge, DMG chose Jobpac by Viewpoint construction software, following an exhaustive evaluation process. The DMG project team, led by Warne, set about evaluating suitable solutions on the market. “We used a ‘common choice’ theme right from the start of the evaluation process and spent a lot of time finding out what individuals within DMG had used over their careers, as well as what was being used by the construction and engineering industry,” she explains. “During our discussions, Jobpac was repeatedly mentioned. Following closer investigation, we came to the full realisation that the Jobpac Business Forecasting solution was ideally suited to our specific needs, making it our number one choice.

Warne adds, “Compared to other products, the Jobpac solution stood out as it required no significant customisation, which would have inevitably added to our final project costs. Additionally, we recognised that future product development would most likely be required. With Jobpac’s proven expertise in delivering solutions to our industry, combined with its track record in developing customised components for existing customers, we felt confident in our selection decision.”

Implementing for Elimination

The Viewpoint and DMG project teams collaborated closely over a six-month implementation period leading up to go-live date. “The two companies worked hard to create a detailed requirements document, which included a gap analysis,” says Warne. “And by involving employees across the company throughout the project, we ensured grass roots engagement, thereby maximising the integrity of the system. This resulted in a very successful adoption of the system.”

The successful implementation combined with a fluid adoption of the Jobpac solution resulted in the delivery of instant visible benefits for DMG. “Of crucial importance has been the dramatic reduction in duplication,” says Warne. “For instance, within stores control, we need to manage multiple sites and equipment allocation on a daily basis. Prior to this solution, we had to deal with duplication, and sometimes even triplication, of data entry. We’ve now eliminated this problem as data needs to be entered only once and automatically populates into the different areas of the system.”

She adds: “We’ve also eliminated the use of multiple spreadsheets across our business, which allowed us to further reduce manual data manipulation, and has in turn led to shorter cycle times, better skills utilisation, and improved data integrity. We can now identify issues within a job early due to the transparency of data; this has led to improved risk management, as well as a higher level of accountability and greater ownership of projects.”

Intelligent Solution to Leverage Strengths

According to Louie Mazzarolo, Managing Director at DMG, “The short-term benefits for DMG primarily encompassed increased transparency and improved data integrity. Beyond that, the Jobpac solution has also allowed us to build a more accurate and reliable business profile. Overall, we now have an intelligent business solution in place that will continue helping us to protect and build on our business strengths.”