Shining, systematised and sorted – the collection container for circular table saws supports the 5S programme with which ZÜBLIN wants to ensure more order and cleanliness on the construction site and so make an enormous contribution to efficiency and safety.

Spotlessly Clean

Rainer Knödler has nearly three decades of experience on construction sites and is constantly working on new ideas. The most recent example is a collection container for circular table saws that he developed himself and which will be used as a standard in the future – and is proof of the successful use of the principles of LEAN.Construction.

Rainer Knödler on the construction site.

Rainer Knödler has been working on construction sites for almost three decades.

Setting up the work area for the circular table saw.

The circular table saw in action.

Rainer Knödler oversees the work at the circular table saw.

Rainer Knödler next to the circular table saw.

Preparing to empty the collection container for circular table saws.

Spotlessly clean – the sawdust ends up in a dumpster.

One of many good ideas – Rainer Knödler and STRABAG BMTI have developed a collection container for circular table saws.

The collection container is designed to allow the saw to be easily moved from A to B.

Shining, systematised and sorted – the collection container for circular table saws supports the 5S programme with which ZÜBLIN wants to ensure more order and cleanliness on the construction site and so make an enormous contribution to efficiency and safety.

Nearly three decades of on-the-job experience and still searching good ideas every day.

LEAN.Construction is gaining more and more importance in the construction industry. In the form of the 5S programme, it is already an integral part ZÜBLIN’s “Production 2022“ strategy. In all new projects, the 5S elements – sort, systematise, shine, standardise and self-discipline – should lead to orderly and efficiently structured construction sites. This will allow waste time (e.g. unnecessarily searching for tools/materials and the travel time involved) to be reduced and added value to be increased by about 10 %.

5S: Sort, Systematise, Shine, Standardise, Self-discipline

Simple and of great use

The 5S programme was the catalyst for an idea that Rainer Knödler recently brought to the job site. The foreman stands behind the whining blade of a circular table saw. He closely observes a worker as he cuts through a long wooden board. The sawdust and woodchips land in a special collection tray beneath the circular table saw. This is just one of the many faces of innovation: no high-tech marvel – just an incredibly practical and useful idea.

Rainer Knödler remembers well what things used to look like on the construction site after a circular table saw was in use. “Dust, shavings and little bits of wood as far as the eye could see. We could spend the whole day just cleaning up after people. But that’s all a thing of the past. Today we have no more cleaning staff on the construction site.“

Here you can see Rainer Knödler and the circular table saw in action at the construction site for a new Daimler AG office building in Leinfelden-Echterdingen near Stuttgart.

“Question the daily work“

Rainer Knödler

Head of Technical Services, Process Planning and Construction Management