A Global Owner Talks About Project Execution Completion
Interview with Joe Gionfriddo, Global Construction Process Owner of Proctor & Gamble
MDC Systems®’s Mitchell Swann met with Joe Gionfriddo at this year’s McGraw-Hill Global Construction Summit in Beijing, China in April 2006. Mr. Gionfriddo, the Global Construction manager – Corporate Engineering at P&G, was a part of a Panel Program entitled “What Do Global Owners Need?” which featured speakers form a number of global owners. We thought his comments and viewpoints were very insightful and would be of value to our Advisor readers. Below is a short interview we conducted with Joe Gionfriddo.
Construction’s Seven Deadly Sins
The Seven Deadly Sins of a Construction Project that Regularly Lead to Claims
(And How to Avoid Them)
From a project’s inception, an owner will typically have a vision of how they imagine their project will end. A ribbon cutting on a bright sunny day, surrounded by contractors, architects, and engineers alike all happy with the project’s outcome, on time and under budget, with motivation to continue on to additional shining successes in the future. Typically, this vision begins to fade as reality sets in…
Risk Management – Recognizing and Prioritizing Project Risks
One of the biggest components in successfully managing your capital program is a strong risk management plan. A project risk assessment is usually performed during project kickoff with all stakeholders contributing to the list of risks because the earlier in the...
MDC Systems® receives 2013 SBIEC Pennsylvania Excellence Award
December 16th 2013 - MDC Systems® has been selected for the 2013 Pennsylvania Excellence Award amongst all its peers and competitors by the Small Business Institute for Excellence in Commerce (SBIEC). Each year the SBIEC conducts business surveys and industry...
Information Management in an Electronic Age
John P. Sieminski, Esquire Burns, White & Hickton, LLC Information Explosion The world is going digital and the business world is no exception. It is estimated that over 90% of new information is created on an electronic device in digital form. Of that electronic...
Only as Strong as the Weakest Link
E. Mitchell Swann, P.E., of MDCSystems® & James W. Haile Jr., C.P.M., of JWH & Associates Over the past 9 – 12 months or so many parts of the world have been rocked by unforeseen events – "black swans" – which have called into question some of the ideas or...
Court Has No Jurisdiction Over a Contractor Claim that Was Based on an Issue Raised to the Contracting Officer for Final Determination but Not Sufficiently Detailed and Explained
Where a contractor amended its complaint in an action against the United States to include a claim for remission of liquidated damages on the basis that it was entitled to a time extension, but the contractor did not explain why it was entitled to a time extension in its original letter to the contracting officer, the court had no jurisdiction over the claim.
Covering you @ in an Electronic World of Discovery
120,000 emails, 9 months. I recently counted the number of emails I either sent or received in a single day. I was surprised at the number: 67. If you multiply that by a 10 person operation, over the course of a 9 month project, you have a total of over 120,000 emails sent and received during that time period. Add onto this Excel files, electronic schedules, digital photos, drawings, etc… and you have quite a large data set. The construction industry today, like most businesses, has entered an age where a staggering amount of electronic data, files and emails are created during the course of a project. Managing this amount of information can be a challenge in the course of everyday business. If litigation results from the project, this large body of electronic information can create an expensive problem.
Owner Beware: Stucco is Not Maintenance-free
ater can get into the exterior building envelope, including the stucco wall system through cracks, improper sealants, improper flashing, and high-sitting plant beds. Keeping up with the maintenance of your home in these areas is the easiest way to prevent moisture issues. Performing a simple visual inspection of the exterior of the wall system on a regular basis (once or twice per year) for holes, significant cracks, or separations as well as noting changes from your previous observations is a great way to keep yourself abreast of potential issues.
Professional Responsibility and Disclosure at Marcellus Shale
In September 2012 the Technical Director of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Laboratories testified in a deposition that the office had only reported 8 of 24 metals found in a water sample associated with a case over well water contamination by hydraulic fracturing (frack) chemicals. What are the requirements for disclosure and professional responsibility of the director for disclosure of the lab results?