For construction sites developed by D.M. Consunji, Inc. (DMCI), the people who turn up at the crack of dawn and leave at sundown are the personnel from the fleet of pumps, shoring, equipment, trucks, and other heavy construction machinery of Allied Services Group (ASG). ASG is one of the primary factors that transform many seemingly impossible construction schedules into mere challenges.

A building is only as good as the scaffold of support it has when it is under construction. This basic principle remains unchanged, in the Philippines and abroad. Allied Services Group (ASG) is the team behind that in-between space of a building under construction.

What is Allied Services Group, really, and how can ASG best serve developers, contractors, and construction enthusiasts? Read on for more.

WHAT IS ALLIED SERVICES GROUP, REALLY?

ASG is DMCI’s integrated business solutions arm. ASG provides the needed equipment, materials, and personnel to support DMCI’s projects.

DMCI builds; ASG provides them with what they need to build, and for them to operate in order to deliver quality projects to their clients in time.

The four primary service lines of ASG are:

1. Equipment Management - a self-owned fleet of heavy and light equipment for construction.

2. Concrete Products - ready-mix concrete supply, including precast products.

3. Formworks & Scaffolding - temporary support systems for concrete construction.

4. Subcontracting - specialized in various construction services like oversized load transport, end-to-end heavy lifts, complex scaffolding, and steel and equipment erection, to name a few. ASG also has the corresponding trained personnel and expert technical knowledge.

ASG has operated efficiently by delivering construction solutions which are not only innovative and efficient, as required by DMCI for the construction of its projects, but also competitively priced and of high standard. ASG’s four primary service lines are open to the entire market and available for all external clients, big and small.

Taguig Plant – 3 batching plants, 105, 90, and 77 m³/hr total rated capacity

BUILT ON A CLEAR PURPOSE

DMCI’s overall vision is to be considered a world-class organization in the chosen industry segments, while its mission is to build structures of quality that can help enhance the lives of people and support the country’s growth and development.

As a part of DMCI, ASG embodies this vision to be the leading business solutions provider in the market for concrete products, equipment, formworks, and specialized subcontracting, while its mission is to provide creative and sustainable solutions for clients by using DMCI’s experience of more than 70 years in the construction industry.

Simple words, but implementing them is harder than it sounds.

THE VALUES THAT HOLD IT TOGETHER

ASG anchors itself on the same four core values of DMCI:

• Dedication
• Malasakit
• Commitment
• Integrity

These values trace back to a broader creed that the group believes in:

• That construction is a noble profession that can contribute to national progress.
• That healthy competition in the industry is much better than monopolistic practices.
• That labor and capital should get what they deserve in their dealings with each other.

THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE MACHINES

All/Rough Terrain Mobile Crane Simulator Program in partnership with D.M. Consunji Technical Training Center (DMCTTC).

ASG has more than 100 Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)-certified construction professionals, trained and assessed to national skill standards. Below is a list of the technical people behind the company’s line of equipment and products:

• Heavy Equipment Operators and Crane Operators
• Welders certified in Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW), Flux-Cored Arc Welding (FCAW), and Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW)
• Mechanics, Electricians, and Pipefitters
• Certified Truck Drivers and Transit Mixer Drivers
• Scaffolders, Riggers, and Pumpcrete Operators

Each of them holds a TESDA NCII or NCIII certification, and is very experienced in their jobs and functions. This is what distinguishes a good crew that can finish a project on time.

ASG puts its crew through four main training pillars, which are:

1. Environment & Safety (Compliance with government requirements & environmental policies)

2. Corporate (for career development of employees)

3. Competence (TESDA certification programs for competency)

4. Internationalization (for world-class competency recognized globally)

Through these pillars, the technical skills of ASG’s 100+ construction professionals are honed in the ASG Learning Hub, which is partnered with the D.M. Consunji Technical Training Center (DMCTTC). Their training teaches the technical skills needed for building scaffolds, pumping concrete, structural demolition, designing formworks, safety training, and simulator-based training for cranes, excavators, and trucks. Their Operator Up-skilling roadmap trains truck drivers from medium-duty vehicles to heavy-duty trucks, and crane operators from tower cranes to mobile cranes, among other skills. ASG practices multiskilling over simple specialization.

A NATIONWIDE FOOTPRINT

For those unfamiliar with the reach of ASG, their machines and men have served clients and projects all across the country - from Batanes to Mindanao and all places in between, for their projects such as:

• Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 Rehabilitation in Pasay;
• Mariveles Wharf and Terminal Project in Bataan;
• Angat Aqueduct No. 5 Project in Bulacan;
• Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) which traverses the provinces of Tarlac, Pangasinan and La Union;
• Magat Bridge Project in Isabela;
• Carmen Bridge Project in Pangasinan;
• 2 x 150MW Mobo Diesel Power Plant in Batangas;
• Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) Project;
• Gibong Diversion Dam Project in Mindanao;
• wharf expansion and cold storage facility in Davao;
• 105MW SEC210 Power Plant in Sarangani;
• lifting of wind turbine blades at Semirara Island for a renewable energy project;
• cement silo conversion for Concreat Holdings Philippines in Antipolo;
• and construction for Shangri-La Resort in Aklan.

The ASG creed, “Wherever access takes us whether on land or sea, we serve,” holds true for over 1,000 projects of varied sizes and nature that the company has completed so far.

ASG's Integrated Management System is implemented across all its service lines. The Equipment Management Group and Concrete Products Business Unit are certified by Certification International Philippines to ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, and ISO 45001:2018 Standards.

QUALITY, ENVIRONMENT, AND SAFETY AREN'T AFTERTHOUGHTS

ASG implements an Integrated Quality, Environmental, Health and Safety Management System (IMS) across all its business units. While certification by Certification International Philippines (CIP) currently covers the Equipment Management Group (EMG) and Concrete Products Business Unit (CPBU), the IMS is applied organization-wide to promote consistent standards of quality, environmental stewardship, occupational health and safety, and continual improvement.

The Integrated Management System is translated into four commitments of ASG as follows:

1. Quality – delivering reliable, high-quality products and services improved continuously through competent people and risk-based thinking.

2. Environment – promoting pollution prevention, waste reduction, and responsible resource use.

3. Health & Safety – fostering a culture of safety through hazard identification, risk management, and incident prevention.

4. People & Partnership – empowering employees to provide the best possible service to their partners and clients and work with suppliers who uphold the same QEHS standards.

The heightened risk of construction comes when one piece of equipment fails, or a worker forgets a single safety check, causing the loss of lives and of assets built to last for decades. Through its integrated QEHS policies and procedures, ASG ensures that its personnel are properly equipped, competent, and adequately trained to identify, manage, and mitigate risks, helping prevent incidents and safeguard the interests of clients, employees, and stakeholders.

REVISITING THE FOUR SERVICE LINES, UP CLOSE

1. Equipment Management - ASG runs a self-owned fleet of thousands of pieces of equipment spread across different types like lifting, hauling, excavating, concreting, track works, pile driving, earthmoving, air equipment, power generation, shop equipment, and compaction. The fleet includes crawler cranes ranging from 250 to 800MT, mobile cranes, luffing jib tower cranes, self-erecting tower cranes, and crawler telescopic cranes. Specialized equipment like girder launchers, micro tunneling machines, concrete paver form-riders, hydraulic static pile drivers and straddle carriers also form part of the Equipment Management Group (EMG) of ASG that service specialized projects that are not usually found in most contractors’ equipment inventory.

2. Concrete Products - ASG produces high-strength concrete with compressive strength up to 12,000 psi, such as high-early strength concrete, high-volume fly ash concrete, flexural concrete, lightweight concrete, and self-compacting concrete. It also produces precast concrete products, such as precast wall panels, piles, blocks, and barriers. It has 23 concrete pumps, 16 of which are mobile and 7 of which are stationary, spread in Meycauayan and Taguig batching plants. The company uses Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) in analyzing the polymer structure at the molecular level in fine-tuning the admixtures for high-quality concrete that can extend the setting of concrete for hours. All ASG Concrete Products are tested in ASG’s laboratory using American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) methods and protocols. It is also partnered with TERMS Concrete and Materials Testing Laboratory.

3. Formworks & Scaffolding - ASG’s inventory of systems comprises the following: table forms, Crab 60, Periform, Otinord, Aluma, and A-Frame scaffolding for various structural needs. The Crab 60 shoring scaffold system is manufactured to comply with British Standard BS 5975 and BS EN 12812. It was used at the extension of Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 2 and at the Laguna Lake Water Treatment Plant. Climbing formwork for high-rise buildings, such as skyscrapers, bridge pylons and elevator shafts, was used in the construction of Fairmont Makati and SM Mall of Asia, among others. ASG also provides access scaffolding to support construction personnel in accessing remote locations of a site, as is the case of North-South Commuter Railway Taisei-DMCI Joint Venture (NSCR TDJV) stations under construction.

4. Subcontracting - ASG’s expertise can also be utilized in specialized subcontracting work, such as the transport and heavy lift of a power plant’s 200-ton generator, Semirara wind turbine erection, and the demolition of the Pandacan Bridge’s superstructure, to name a select few. ASG’s capabilities are only limited by one’s imagination.

Allied Services Group (ASG) Key Personnel

WHY CLIENTS PARTNER WITH ASG

The 4 core strengths of ASG are:

1. Integrated solutions under one roof to avoid undue coordination;

2. Rich construction expertise that ASG inherited from the operational strength of DMCI;

3. On-time delivery to clients;

4. Continuous innovation and upgrade of technology to add value to its services and operations.

All these are standard claims of any contractor. But few can actually back up these claims with the fleet of equipment, the certificates to operate said equipment, and more importantly, the track record of more than a thousand completed projects in total that ASG has successfully delivered to clients.

ASG’s mantra is:

“One Team, One Strategy, One Direction”

One team behind every machine. One strategy across every service. One direction toward every finish line. On every project, that’s ASG: showing up first and staying until the work is done.

This is just the start of our introduction to ASG’s four major operations: Equipment Management, Concrete Products, Formworks & Scaffolding, and Subcontracting. We will be exploring them one by one, because each deserves its own deep dive.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Christine Ave V. Tragura, MBA, CLSSYB

Ave is a licensed Civil Engineer with over 16 years of international engineering and infrastructure experience across the construction, oil and gas, mining, manufacturing, and energy sectors in the Philippines and Singapore. She is currently serving as Digital Communications Senior Supervisor at D.M. Consunji, Inc. (DMCI).