ASSIGNMENT

NICMAR/CODE OFFICE

Name :
Regn. No. :
Course No.: NCP-24/25
Course Title: Material And Equipment Management
Assignment No.:
Date of Dispatch ;
Last date of receipt
of Assignment at CODE Office

Scope of work:

100m width of Road construction for international airport 30 km away from city –

• Cutting and dozing of 100,000 cum of earth. Average height – 0.75 mtr
• Transportation of 20,000 cum of surplus earth from site to dumping place – 3 km away from
site. Filling of 80,000 cum in landing strip.
• Bringing of 3000 cum of sand from 20 km including spreading and leveling at site.
• Procurement of 150,000 litres of bitumen from refinery at Bongaigon in Assam.

Description of Equipments:

• Hauling equipments – Tractor: Tractors have many uses as construction equipment. Use of
this, primarily may be to pull or push goods, they are also used as mounts for many types of
accessories such as front end shovel, rippers, bulldozers, sidebrooms, hoes, trenches and
others. There are sizes and types to fit almost any job for which they are usable. Tractors
may be divided into 2 major types – crawlers and wheels.
• Dumpers – Dumper is a heavy duty truck with a strongly built body which is hinged at back
and is fitted with a hydraulic ram on the underside to lift the front of the body and tilt it
backward into the dumping position. A tailgate may be fitted at the rear of the body or the
body may have a chute like shape in the rear with inside corner rounded and sides tapered to
facilitate dumping which is most popular now-a-days. Useful life of dumpers is generally 8-
12 years i.e. 10,000 – 15,000 hours depending upon their capacity. The life is also expressed
in terms of kilometers i.e. 200.000 kms.
• Earth moving machines – These equipments are used to cut the earth or trees, rocks and then
move them to a distance required. Equipments like bulldozers are also used for leveling of
the ground, cleaning land of timber, stumps, spreading earth fill etc. These equipments are
very common of all the earth moving machines, a bulldozer is most useful and most the
project sites require its use in one form or the other.
• Bulldozers – Bulldozers are basically a pushing unit consisting of a tractor either crawler
mounted or wheeled to which a cutting blade is mounted at the direction perpendicular to
the direction of travel. There is no difference between a bulldozer and anglodozer except
that the cutting blade is set at an angle with the direction of travel. The size of the bulldozer
is indicated by the length and height of the blade, its shape and capacity. The size of blade
varies from 1.7mX 70 cm. (height) X0.7m3 (capacity of blade) to 3.38mX1.14mX3.7m3.
Working of dozer consists of lowering front blade to the ground. The moment dozer drives,
it cuts and pushes earth collected in blade to a desirable distance.
 • Compaction Equipment:
Tandem Roller- there is also a smooth wheeled roller with to roller wheels of approximately
the same width- one at the front and other at the rear. Compaction with this type is better.
This roller is better for rolling finishing surfaces as it produces smooth and even surface.
Bitumen Plant:
Bitumen Boiler: This is used for heating bitumen from drums. Boiler is fitted with a fire
box, fuel tube and chimney. Full asphalt drums are lifted to the top where the contents are
emptied and heated by flame or combustion gasses. The boiler is mounted on the wheels and
can be towed from one location to the other.
Bitumen Spraying Equipment: Bitumen boiler is fitted with the pump with strainer in the
suction pipe. The pump is operated either by hand or mechanically. On the delivery side
there are flexible pipe spray bars and spray nozzle. The rate of application of bitumen can
varied by adjusting the height of the spraying nozzle above the ground. Uniformity of
spraying is control by the angle at which the spray bar is kept.
Bitumen Tanker: When bulk bitumen is to be transported, tanker is used. It is mounted on a
truck or a trailer. Capacity of the tanker may range from 5000 to 15000 liters. Oil fire
burners are used to maintain the temperature of bitumen during transit.
Bitumen Pressure Distributor: This equipment is used when a specified quantity of hot
bitumen is to be sprayed uniformly for grouting or surface dressing. It is used with bulk
bitumen supply.

Estimating and requirement of the equipment:

Equipment on roadwork (or on any work) has either to be purchased, obtained on hire or transferred
from some other project. In either of the cases a fairly accurate estimate of the requirement of
equipment has to be done so as to ensure that expenditure on equipment is not wasted. This needs
planning well an advance.
Factors to be considered are:
1. What is most desirable sequence of operations involved in the work?
2. Which are the operations are to be performed by the machinery?
3. In case some or all equipment is to be transferred from other projects how the
programmes of both project to be arranged so that there is no undue to and from
movement of the equipment and at the same time the work is completed in optimum
time.
Data required:
1. Quantities of items of work: Road project is sub divided in operations like
(A) Earthwork
(B) Aggregate production
(C) Transporting Aggregate to road
(D) Compaction
(E) Wearing surface- Concrete/ Bituminous surface etc. Quantities of items are
worked out.
2. Period of completion of the project. Normally road work has to be completed in a
stipulated period particularly when the work is to be completed on contract. In such
cases the duration of the constituent operation have to be adjusted taking in to
consideration the activity interrelation and overall period of completion. While fixing of
activity duration due allowance must be made for bad weather, monsoon, loss of time
due to shifting of equipment, break down, repairs and maintenance of equipment.
3. Normally no work is possible for 3 to 4 months in a year due to monsoon. Further
considering weekly holidays normally 25 days could be considered to be available for
working. Though a working day is considered to comprise 8 hours, a part is spent in
inevitable operations like shifting, waiting etc. thus in about 200 days available, working
hours could be about 1200-1500.
 4. From above a fair estimate of requirement of equipment can be done. Over the above
this suitable provision ( to the extant of 10%) is done as stand by to take care of break
down or unforeseen circumstances.

Determine the output of a bulldozer from the following operating conditions:

Material: Sand
Swell = 20%
Haul Distance = 40m
Rated mold board capacity = 3 cubic metre (loose volume)
Operating factor 45 minutes/ hour

Solution:
Probable round trip time
Pushing 40 m @ 2,5 kmph = 0.96 minute
Returning 40m @5kmph = 0.48 minute
Loading shifting gear = 0.30 minute

= 1.74 minutes
Time per Trip = 1.74 minute
Trip per Hour = 34.5 Trips

Net mold board capacity = 3/1.2 = 2.5

Output per hour =2.5x34.5

= 86.25 m3
output per day = 86.25x8 (hours)
= 690 m3

cutting and dozing of 100,000cum of earth

= 100,000/690
=145 days
Equipment operating cost:
The cost of operating the equipment includes fuel costs, routine maintenance costs, major repair
cost, operators cost, tyre replacement cost, and overhead costs.
Fuel costs: cost of fuel consumed in one hour = cost per litre X hourly fuel consumption
Hourly fiel consumption = Hourly fuel consumption at full load X operating factor.
The fuel price litre, delivered at the site is obtained from the local suppliers at it varies from place to
place. The rate of consumption depend upon the type of engine (diesel or petrol), the state of
the engine and the working conditions.
Diesel engine fuel consumption per hour = 0.15 litres X rated HP X load factor
Petrol engine fuel consumption per hour = 0.22 litres X rated HP X load factor.
For example: the hourly fuel consumption of a crawler tractor rated with 250 HP, operating under
average conditions (load factor 70 %) and diesel costing Rs. 35 per litre., can be worked out as
under:
Diesel consumption per hour = 0.15 X Rated flywheel HP X load factor
= 0.15 X 250 X 0.7 litres
= 26.25 litres
Cost of hourly consumption = Diesel consumption X rate of diesel per litre
= 26.25 litres X Rs. 35
= Rs. 918.75
Routine maintenance costs: Maintenance costs include the cost of lubricating oil, grease, filter
batteries, minor repairs, and the labour involved in performing maintenance.
The maintenance cost including service, labour cost and minor repairs vary with the type of
equipment involved and the project environment, and these can be approximately calculated as
proportion of hourly fuel cost as follows.

Operating conditions Hourly maintenance cost

Favourable 1/4 fuel cost
Average 1/3 Fuel cost
Unfavourable 1/2 Fuel cost

Major Repair cost: Repair cost = Depreciation cost X Repair cost

Repair cost during nth year = n X Value to be depreciated / Digit sum of equipment life in years
For example: If the total value of depreciation of a wheel equipment (repair factor = 0.75) works
out as Rs. 375,000 and its life is 5 years, than the repair cost during each year of operation
(working 1500 hours per year) can be estimated as under:
Total repair cost = Total depreciation X Repair factor
= 375000 X .75
= Rs. 281250
Tyre cost for wheel equipment:
The tyre manufactures provide indication of tyre life but these should be taken as guidelines.
Hourly tyre replacement cost = 115 X tyre price X no. of tyres / Tyre life in hours

Example : If the four tyres of an equipment each costing Rs. 2500, are replaced after 800 hours and
the tyre can be recapped locally, then the hourly tyre cost calculated as follows:

= 115 X 4 X Rs. 2500 X0.8 / 800

= Rs. 115/hr
Manpower cost: An equipment requires operators, drivers and helpers for its operations. The
number of persons working on an equipment varies with type of equipment. A dumper may have
only one driver-cum-operator whereas a bulldozer will need one operator and a helper. Depending
upon the persons require per machine, the prevalent wage rates and the facilities provided by the
company, the hourly manpower costs can be calculated.

Selection of Construction Equipment: Proper selection of equipment increases the speed of

construction and makes project most economical. Some general consideration may be made for
selections of construction equipment are:
4. As far as possible only equipment available with ease should be selected. Unless and until it
is ascertained that new equipment will earn more than its cost or cab used in future also, it
should not be purchased. Economics should be worked out.
5. Choice should be restricted to standard equipment, special equipment should be selected if
job justifies its selection.
6. Topography conditions, type of soil, existing approaches and road working conditions etc.,
must be studied.
7. Less variety of equipments should be used, more variety means more skilled workers, more
spare parts requirements and more production cost.
8. It is always better to purchase equipment manufactured in our own country. This will
decrease the cost of repairs and down-time cost. It will be beneficial to the nation also. As
far as possible equipment of same make should be purchased.
9. Size of equipment should be made according to the amount of work. It is better to use more
than one equipment of small size than using of one of large size.
10. Obsolescence of the equipment should not be overlooked.
11. Equipment should be capable of doing more than one job, but it should not be versatile.
12. The technical and economic aspects should be analyzed to select the equipment.
Following aspects need detailed consideration at the selection stage:
1. Suitability for the job with specific reference to climatic and other operating conditions.
2. Size of the equipment
3. Standardization and variety reduction
4. Type of prime mover
5. Degree of utilization
6. Suitability of local condition
7. Adaptability
8. Technical considerations.
The choice of size of the equipment is indicated as either a minimum number of large size machines
or several units of medium/small size machines.
Technical consideration for selection should include the following points.
1. Strength
2. Vibration Stability
3. Resistance to wear
4. Heat Resistance
5. Reliability
6. Maintainability
Equipment can be classified as:
1. Standard equipment
2. special equipment
It depends on extent of its use, availability and cost. One equipment standard for one may be special
to other, for example a concrete mixer of specific capacity is a standard equipment for all most all
the contactor whether class A or class D but cranes or concrete mixer of very large capacity are
special to one whilst standard for other. One definition for standard equipment is that which is
easily available in the market. It is easy to repair, spare parts are easily available and can be
disposed off easily. Whilst special equipment manufactured on order and can not be disposed off
easily and cannot be repaired by all. In general special equipment can be defined as an equipment
manufactured for a single construction project or for a specific job.
Material Management : The management of materials in project is different from that in an ongoing
situation.
Most of the materials in projects are bulky and heavy.
The lead time for procurement of materials in most cases is usually much more.
The principle of EOQ has very limited applicability in project situations. Usually sequential arrival
of material is desired.
The demand of material in project is by and large highly deterministic.
Sufficient care has the be taken in the selection of vendors has significant impact on the project
performance.
The demand of materials in a project situation is highly deterministic. The gross requirement of
various material is worked out during the detailed project report stage. The primary concern in
material planning for project is that the cost of not meeting a demand is very high. As it may lead to
delay in proper completion. Hence the right time is the key word in material planning for projects.
The capital requirements are to be planned in such a way that these are available at the site just
before the erection/ installation of these. The demand of construction is known as soon as the
resource requirement for the project is finalized. These material are normally required before the
construction can start and are to be planned for availability prior to the construction phase of the
project.
The consumables are used throughout the project duration and the total requirements are known.
However the consumption rate at different period is different but deterministic. As the total number
of consumable materials may run in to hundreds, the analysis of aggregate demand pattern may be
restricted to high consumption value materials only.
Procurement is of special significance in a project situation. The net effect of delay in delivery and
supply of inferior quality of material is delay in the completion of the project. Economic
procurement is also very important as it is determinant for the viability of the project. Because of
these considerations vendor selection plays an important role.
The consumables are standard materials and are usually available from many sources. Occasionally
there is a scarcity of some of these materials. The gross demand as well as the demand profile of
these materials for the entire project duration are known, and it is desirable to enter into contracts
with the suppliers.

Apart from these discussion on the technical details and price the negotiation can centre around the
following issues:
Ordering Schedule : To match with the project network. The supplier’s network for manufacture ca
also be discussed.
• Payment terms
• Liquidated damages
• Quality specifications and procedures for checking quality
• Inspection at different stages of manufacture at the supplier’s premises.
• Incorporation of design changes while the manufacturing is in progress.
• Performance guarantee etc.
• The inventory replenishment model shows the number of cycles of replenishment during the
usage period. The initial inventory of materials at the start of the work consists of working
stock (Q) and safety stock (S).

Economic order Quantity: Two important decision to be take while repetitive materials inventory
are how much to order at one time and when to order this quantity, or in other words, to decide the
reorder the quantity level and the reorder time cycle so as to effect economy in cost of purchasing
and holding inventory. This economic order quantity (EOQ) and the numbers of orders are
determined mathematically as under:
Inventory cost C = Ordering cost + Inventory carrying cost
C = Co . N + Ci . A/2N

For cost to be minimum :

dC/dN = Co – Ci . A/ 2 . N2 = 0
N2 = Ci . A/2 . Co

And C = CoN + Ci A/2N = 1/2N (2CoN2 + Ci A) = 2Ci A/2N

Therefore
Least Inventory cost = square root of 2CoCiA

Safety Stock: It is the floating stock held to cater for changes in rate of consumption, delays in
delivery of materials from the agreed dates and under unforeseen causes, so as to prevent stock-outs
resulting in production hold-ups.
The safety stock for a given situation can be determined using statistical techniques. Generally, a
minimum safety stock can be taken as equal to consumption quantity in lead time period.
Lead Time: It is defined as the total time required for replenishment of an item of material from the
time and indent is submitted to the purchased department, to the time that ready for use materials
are received at the project stock-yard for storage or delivered at the site of work.
Reorder level: It is the level at which the stock is ordered. This is determined by adding assessed
consumption during the lead time period to the minimum stock level.
Conclusion: As can be seen the management of materials in a project is very much different that in
an on-going organization. It calls for decisions which are very much related to the specific project
situation and improper attention to this function in projects may lead to undesirable cost and time
overrun.