Building Jobs in Haiti with Building Blocks

In the past two months, 1000 Jobs has concentrated its efforts on improving the quality of its concrete blocks while increasing our productivity in terms of blocks produced per day. Here are the highlights of the progress we have made for our new company.

• A team of engineers from Clemson University visited our plant in September and another visit is planned this month. They will be helping us with quality control. Our goal is to raise our quality to the levels now extant in the US. This collaboration could also help us marketing our blocks to the NGO's working with Clemson on projects in the Central Plateau.
• We have begun using a rebuilt Mixer (to mix cement and sand) rather than mixing by hand. Although we have not yet mastered this technigue, we are making progress. This will help us in terms of quality of block and efficiency. 
• We are planning a trip of the managers to the Dominican Republic in order to search for a more modern, new stone crushing machine. This will save us some 15-20% on our cost of sand due to less waste. It is an investment with a real return. 
• Due to our success in the Global Giving Challenge we are able to replace our old existing generator with a new one this week (week of October 7-13). The old generator could never run even one week without repairs and cost us much delays and down time. 
• With help from EDH (Electricite d'Haiti) we have brought running water to the site for the first time.
• We have purchased already gloves, masks, and helmets for our workers and soon will have boots and glasses.
• We are researching the purchase of a used truck with which to haul raw materials (chiefly sand) and to deliver finished product. Such a purchase, when we can afford it, will greatly increase our profitability and move us toward both sustainability and growth.