Article and Author

Abstract

Strategies for successfully meeting the demands of quality and service excellence
JJP Verster

The management of quality is crucial to business survival and merits the personal attention and commitment of executive management, but the primary responsibility for quality lies with those who perform the work. To enable production teams to accept responsibility for quality output, management must establish systems for control and verification of that output and must educate and train the workforce in the execution of duty. This training in techniques to achieve quality standards, will be repaid many times over by greater output, less waste, an improved product and higher profits.

An evaluation of investment and investment decision-making in the construction industry in South Africa
C Heckroodt

It seems out of a research survey carried out in South Africa, as well as the general stand of the civil engineering and construction industries over the past few years, fhat economical and political factors have a far greater influence on the growth of the industry than internal organisational factors. The risk associated with projects, seen within the broad spectrum of other internal and external risk factors, seems to be the biggest concern of investors and developers. Financing construction projects is the second highest factor, and can be of critical importance. The view should always be to improve the cost-effectiveness of the decision of how and what and when to invest. It is evident that the quantity surveyor and/or cost engineer has an important role to play in this regard.