Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/597582
I t could only be described as a surreal event. Fronted by telecom services provider Ericsson, representatives from head-to-head competitors Vermeer and Ditch Witch joined Ericsson in an- nouncing a distinctly different deal at the recent ICUEE trade show. Relying on equipment, technical, training and dealer help from the two manufacturers, Ericsson would create "its own construction firm," says Ericsson representative Ed Delong (more details on page 11.) In short, the broadband demands from consumers are so great that telecoms are scrambling to keep pace with fiber installation requirements. In a report released this August, telecom industry trade association USTele- com says it expects internet protocol traffic – driven primarily by consumer video – to grow at an average 20 percent compounded annual rate through 2019. To fulfill these client demands, Ericsson will recruit and train its own equipment operators to perform as much as half of the work it anticipates it will do in ma- jor metro areas across the nation in the next 10 years. "We're not trying to go out and recruit the best opera- tors from the industry, but to create a new supply of operators," Delong says. "Just taking them away doesn't solve the problem." The decisions behind mounting such a massive effort – although all parties declined to give exact numbers of anticipated number of projects, jobs, hourly wages and equipment purchased – are intriguing to contemplate. I wish them luck. If they can find the easy but- ton – or even the not-so-easy-but-effective button – to construction skilled worker recruitment and retention, Ericsson should receive every major award this industry has to offer. But here's a question: Do you think Erics- son would muddle into the curious world of construc- tion worker recruitment if they thought U.S. contractors were up to the task of getting the needed numbers through the door? This is a clear "you can't do it, so we have to" tactic. (And I believe Ericsson would be care- ful to emphasize the doubt is not about the quality, but rather the capacity.) What Ericsson does bring to the recruiting table is scalability, something the one- or two-state contrac- tor typically would have difficulty matching. Based in Sweden, the firm has fiber deployments in more than 30 countries. It plans to create a recruiting and training template, one it can reproduce across the nation in roll- ing four-week boot camps. "I would like to think the industry would look at this as good news," says Ericsson's Delong. "We can poten- tially bring innovation to this space. It relieves some of the anxiety some contractors have about adding to their own capacity in this cyclical industry. We're not looking to compete with the existing industry, but to leverage it in every possible way, and create a new supply." Delong says Ericsson will share the onboarding processes it develops; if it's successful and that comes to fruition, there will be tremendous gains for construc- tion. In the meantime, contractors who have Ericsson for a client will be in the odd position of competing with them for the limited pool of people who have the mindset and inclination to give construction a try. EquipmentWorld.com | November 2015 9 on record | by Marcia Gruver Doyle MGruver@randallreilly.com Why contractors should pay attention to the Ericsson deal