Nearly 250 people attended the Mechanical Contractors Association of America’s Project Performance Conference in Philadelphia titled “Productivity -- Beyond the Basics,” which focused on intensive project management education. New at the conference was a case study and solutions session, developed by MCAA President Tom Williams, which allowed contractors to merge the different elements of project management together. Workshops on project management techniques and strategies — such as change orders, project documentation, jobsite workflow and communication — complemented the case study work.

A session on best practices provided details of three programs awarded MCAA’s E. Robert Kent Award: the J.F. Ahern Co.’s pre-fab process (2000 winner); Kinetic Systems’ quality program (2001 winner); and Nooter Construction’s safety program (2002 winner).