Comparison of the concreting productivities in Hong Kong and Beijing and a proposed comparison methodology

The ready mixed concrete (RMC) industry is an important sector of the construction industry in many places. Its level of development in terms of size and performance may be taken as an index representative of the development level of a particular construction industry taken as a whole. Therefore comparisons between different places are of interest, and of potential economic benefit. As part of a larger research study in Hong Kong on the productivity of concreting, data have been obtained on the RMC industries in Hong Kong (HK) and Beijing (BJ). Both are large cities at different stages of economic development. The study involved close observation in the early 1990s of 154 pours on building construction sites in HK and 38 days spent at 38 RMC plants, one day at each, together with 34 site pours and 20 days at RMC plants in BJ. Much detailed performance information has been derived, and a comparison methodology is proposed which could have general application in this industry. It is demonstrated that the RMC industry in HK is more productive than the industry in BJ.