The figures bluntly reflect the worrying circumstances in the construction industry: according to the Federal Statistical Office, new orders in the main construction sector in Germany fell by a full 9.6 percent from 2022 to 2023. In January of this year alone, orders fell by 5.8 percent compared to the previous month. The latest figures from the Main Association of the German Construction Industry do not inspire much hope: in February of this year, orders received by companies with more than 20 employees fell by a drastic 15.4 percent compared to February of the previous year. Accordingly, the drop in turnover is not long in coming - at 6.8 percent compared to February this year and last year, it is probably only the beginning.
A downright bizarre situation - after all, the demand for housing, energy and transport infrastructure is higher than ever before. Housing, especially in cities, is already in short supply and the high demand is far from being matched by supply. It is assumed that last year's record order backlog will still provide a buffer for the first half of 2023 - but the order backlogs will not be sufficient to keep construction companies busy for long. Small and medium-sized companies are particularly hard hit. Due to the postponement of construction projects and the decline in investments, it is becoming increasingly difficult for companies to promise deadlines and prices, capacity utilisation is more uncertain and uncertainty is higher.
Of course, we can neither reduce material costs nor conjure up more construction orders - but with Vanillaplan we make sure that you can manage your resources with maximum efficiency, especially in times of fluctuating order situations. With our capacity planning, you have your personnel utilisation at a glance up to 60 weeks in advance and thus have an overview of the effects on the weekly operational utilisation at all times in the event of project shifts. You can filter individual departments so that changes in capacity utilisation in the event of project postponements are visible for each department. Thanks to the reliable overview of time requirements and resource consumption in each individual project, you always know where you stand and can make necessary adjustments in good time. In this way, you can reliably control your workload even in volatile phases.
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