Today is May 17th! It is a public holiday in Singapore, Vesak Day. Well, today is also the day where i started working after completing my studies a year ago. A welcomed coincidence isn't it?
Generally i find myself love to work in marine environment. It offers some kind of thrill out of the routine boredom from time to time. What kind of thrill am i talking about? It is the thrill of unforeseen circumstances.
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| Myself about a year ago! |
You know in construction line, schedule is of utmost importance. Basically a major determinant of whether a construction firm going to grasp a profit from a particular project. And for most of the construction projects on land, in my opinion, are quite predictable. However, it is not so in the marine construction.
Why do i said so? One of the factors that influence schedule are tidal change. The level of permanent structure is not going to change regardless of the tide. Therefore sometimes, for a particular work, there is only 3 to 4 workable hours in a day as the seawater level rises or falls. Hence, planning is an everyday job because tide levels are different in each and every hour everyday. Of course there are works that do not depend on tide levels, this is where the other hours in a day are used for.
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| Piling Barge |
My company specializes in marine foundation works. Our works are highly dependent on machineries, as most of the machineries are huge. To name a few, piling barge, crane barge, material barge, jack-up barge, drilling machine, anchor boat et cetera. When there are so many plants and machineries around, breakdown of machineries is inevitable. This is the second factor that influence the schedule, in fact, a lot.
Many construction companies overlooked the importance of workers, thinking they could be replaced with another one anytime, causing their welfare poorly taken care of. Perhaps it is because they are afford to lose their workers, but it is not so in my company, workers are rather important. Due to the fact that we got so many kinds of machinery, we need operators/workers to operate them. Project managers or engineers are not going to operate them, hence workers and their respective supervisors know best. They are in fact real skillful personnel, an important assets to the company. Some of the operators and supervisors actually earning a salary higher than engineers, and maybe project manager too.
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| DTH Hammer |
Tackling the unforeseen circumstances, analyses the problems, thinking of a solution, planning the works, are everyday chores. I was very helpless at first, but now i started to get the hang of it. Under the guidance of my manager and fellow colleagues, operators and even workers. I am feeling quite good doing my job everyday.
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| 914.4mm OD Steel Pipe Piles with length from 32m to 45m In my company, everyone has different expertise to offer, and i try to learn from everyone of them. I looking forward to gain an all round knowledge, and become a complete, highly capable personnel for the company. In return, hopefully, fulfilled my ambition and satisfaction in life by gaining a highly rewarding career. |
