This latest issue of Partners in Progress magazine takes a look at the enduring partnerships between management and labor, collaborations that are bringing about positive change on several fronts. Change can sometimes be uncomfortable, but the results can foster new growth and opportunities.
This edition highlights how SMACNA contractors and SMART’s skilled workforce are working together — on a modular hotel in Seattle, in new technologies in the workplace and supporting those going through personal crises.
Read how skilled labor is helping management reduce costs, work more efficiently, and speed time to market on the first modular building in Seattle. Dutch firm CitizenM is creating the city’s first modular hotel with prefabricated hotel rooms, which are stacked by crane on top of one another. This project was made possible through a collaboration between SMACNA contractor Auburn Mechanical and Sheet Metal Workers Local 66.
A feature story on trends and technology demonstrates how SMACNA contractors and SMART’s skilled workforce are using lean practices, design build, BIM and new software to retain market share. It shows how these technologies are increasing efficiency while lowering costs in the shop and in the field for SMACNA contractors Apollo Mechanical, Wiegmann Associates, McKinstry and Southland Industries, and their skilled workforce.
The article “Members Helping Members” describes the assistance available to those suffering from mental illness, depression and substance abuse via the SMART Map (Member Assistance) program. In conjunction with the International Training Institute, the program trains union managers, business agents, apprentices and coordinators, and encourages contractors to help support and implement this program so individuals can recover quickly.
A constant in the world is change, which offers opportunities for growth, collaboration and new relationships.