Construction Equipment Management &

Equipment Planning Process

Construction Engineering (CV351)

Shamsher Sadiq (Ph.D., Civil & Environment Engineering)

Email: shamsher.sadiq@giki.edu.pk
Shamsher (2021)-16th March, 2021 Construction Engineering (CV351)
 OUTLINE

• Introduction
• Planning of Equipment
• Equipment Haul Cycle
• Required Job Productivity
• Specific Equipment Selection Factors
• Planning of Equipment Utilization

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 Introduction

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 Introduction

• Profitable Equipment Management

• Knowledge of factors governing selection of equipment, estimation of cost of
equipment and productivity
• Planning and scheduling for economics of equipment utilization
• Optimum equipment replacement time
• Component of Equipment Planning
• Equipment selection, utilization and replacement
• To be economically competitive, contractor equipment must be competitive both
mechanically and technologically
• Plan and schedule activities for economics utilization of equipment
• Old machine requiring costly repairs cannot compete successfully with new
equipment's lower repair cost and higher production rates

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 Planning of Equipment

• General Points to be kept in mind- Equipment must for it self

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 Planning of Equipment

• In some cases, value of equipment > contract value – can be used for series
of job

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 Planning of Equipment

• Not possible to own all types of and sizes of equipment for a particular
project
• Cranes of different types and capacity

• Contractor engineer will make a decision which

equipment is frequently used over most of jobs-
go for purchase, rest can be rented for a
particular activity

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 Planning of Equipment

• Question to be asked:

• Project size justify the selected equipment purchasing?

• Equipment cost & Project Cost
• Small Project-High Equipment- Unfeasible

• Disposability of equipment?
• At end of useful life of equipment-should be buyer of equipment

• Status of current equipment capability?

• Before purchase of new equipment, analyze the capability (productivity, maintenance) of current
equipment
• How new purchase will be better in productivity in comparison to available equipment

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 Planning of Equipment

• Standard Equipment's

• Special Equipment's

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 Planning of Equipment

• Standard Equipment's:
• Commonly manufactured-available
• Delivery quicker-sales after services
• Can be used on more than one project
• Parts can be procured quickly and economically
• Disposed of easily and at reasonable price-life of equipment
• Project cannot be delayed due to no availability of equipment parts etc.
• Special Equipment's:
• Usually used on a single project or activity

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 Planning of Equipment

• Task of project planner to match right machine for right job

• Many construction operation can be performed by more than one type of
equipment- how to decide?
• If two equipment can give you same end result
• choose economical method of attack for given project conditions
• Quality of performance is measured by matching equipment production
against cost
• To estimate equipment component of project cost, planner must determine
machine productivity-then corresponding cost of machine- very critical for
any project

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 Planning of Equipment

• Example of selection of Equipment- Earth Moving

• Select an equipment for cut-fill operation with 300m haul distance-
following are two choices that require analysis

• In bidding this unit cost of equipment is

a part of unit cost of project.

• In case you under-estimated the cost of

equipment-overestimated the profit on
paper- real problem

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 Equipment Haul Cycle

• Total haul unit cycle time is found by summing the time required for each
of the following components of the haul cycle:
• Load—at the excavator/loader
• Haul—from the loader to the unloading site
• Dump—at the unloading site, including maneuvering
• Return—travel back to the loader
• Spot—move into loading position at the loader

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 Equipment Haul Cycle

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 Required Job Productivity

• Best selection of equipment will be one- completes the project according to

contract specifications-within time allotted at lowest possible cost
• Guideline of selection of equipment- project specifications
• Job Productivity=Machine Productivity
• Equipment should meet constraint at the job site
• Job Site Conditions
• Rocky-Steep terrain
• Accessibility-mobilization of equipment
• Temperature & elevation

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 Specific Equipment Selection Factors

1. Specific Construction Operation

2. Job Specifications (contract document)
3. Project Time Schedule
4. Job Site conditions (underfoot conditions, steep grade, working space
limitations, site access)
5. Job site location (altitude, temperature, wind, rain)
6. Balancing interdependent equipment
7. Mobility required
8. Versality

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 Specific Equipment Selection Factors

1. Specific Construction Operation

• First factor to be considered
• Equipment should be capable
• Lots of option also make decision making process tougher
• Example: Earth moving (loose, excavate, load, haul, dump)-material can be
loosened by ripping with rippers and then loaded by scraper or with bulldozer or
with excavator

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 Specific Equipment Selection Factors

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 Specific Equipment Selection Factors

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 Specific Equipment Selection Factors

2. Contract Document
• Contract document may specify only expected result. In this case equipment choice
will be left to contractor
• In some cases, construction method and equipment are specified to avoid
undesirable results
• Indirect mention such as location of construction joints in drawing will decide the
amount of concrete to be poured in single stage
• Sometimes rate of concrete placement is mentioned to avoid cold joint formation
• This will indirectly influence the selection of equipment
3. Project Time Schedule

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 Specific Equipment Selection Factors

4. Job Site conditions (underfoot conditions, steep grade, working space

limitations, site access)
• Mounting needed
• Rolling resistance govern selection of machine (e.g., soft ground, crawler mounting
is preferred)-sandy-rock….broader contact area, better traction, better stability)
• Suppose your underfoot condition of poor, select machine with greater horsepower
capacity to overcome resistance so that excavation & hauling can be performed with
a desired productivity

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 Specific Equipment Selection Factors

4. Job Site conditions (underfoot conditions, steep grade, working space

limitations, site access)
• Maintain haul roads with graders and compactors, clear sharp rock to increase travel
speed of hauling equipment-reduce cost of project

• Grade of haul road influence selection

• Steep grades demand greater hp to weight ratio, tandem powered machine
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 Specific Equipment Selection Factors

4. Job Site conditions (underfoot conditions, steep grade, working space

limitations, site access)
• Working space limitation, operating dimensions of equipment to be checked, e.g.,
headroom limitation on crane selection, then crane with telescopic boom or
conveyer or pumping can be used

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 Specific Equipment Selection Factors

5. Job site location (altitude, temperature, wind, rain)

• Climatic conditions and logistic problem vary with location
• Altitude: elevation of site above MSL limits power developed by machine- IC engine-
efficient operation- fuel/air ratio has to be maintained for combustion mechanism- if job
site is at higher altitude-atm pressure will be less-amount of oxygen available to
combustion mechanism is going to be reduced
• At higher elevation, naturally aspirated IC engines are less efficient, speed of machine is
less (Internal Combustion (IC) based Engine – HP rating-standard condition temp &
Atmospheric pressure- Society for Automotive Engineers (SAE)-prescribed rating of
machine 15 degree C and atmospheric 103kPA
• Turbochargers can manage fuel to air ratio or you have to commission more machines to
meet requirement
• High temperature more than 38 degree C, air is less dense-effects fuel/air ratio of IC
• Low temperature, lubricating oil becomes viscous-heating arrangement

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 Specific Equipment Selection Factors

5. Job site location (altitude, temperature, wind, rain)

• Temperature of materials for asphalt or concrete is critical
• Temperature below 0 degree C, surface moisture of aggregate will be frozen,
preheating needed
• Mechanism to maintain working temperature in mixing machine
• Asphalt-thermoplastic material-viscosity is function of temperature-Solution is to use thermally
insulated devices-protection of material from severe climatic condition
• Heat and wind causes evaporation in concrete- even in mixing phase-workability
will be effected-hauling and placing can further evaporate the water-can result in
plastic shrinkage cracking
• Safe Lifting capacity of crane-function of wind capacity
• Wind speed >50km/h- maybe not safe to lift
• Toppling accident can happen
• For such regions you may need to select crane with higher capacity

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 Specific Equipment Selection Factors

5. Job site location (altitude, temperature, wind, rain)

• Rainfall, precipitation, snow
• Rubber tire mounted machines has less traction on wet ground, snow surface
• Rain makes road muddy and increase rolling resistance
• Less traction on snowy surfaces for rubber tires
• Power sources: in remote location & urban area (diesel Vs gasoline
Vs electric power)
• Site access: limit type & size of equipment
• Allowable load on bridges, sizes of truck needed for transportation
• For big cranes-may many trailers are needed-mobilization cost-economics

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 Specific Equipment Selection Factors

6. Balancing interdependent equipment

• Machines work in combination- must have compatible production rate- cycle time is
not wasted (idle time is minimized)
• Typically size of truck is selected 4-5 times size of bucket-based on experience
• How many excavator & trucks are need for a particular activity as per bidding
document-balance is done by optimizing the cycle time of truck & excavator

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 Specific Equipment Selection Factors

7. Mobility required
• Mobility while performing the required operation
• Mobility from one activity to other
• Mobility from one project to other
• For example: concrete placement with truck mounted pump in congested sites
• Example of activities on u-turns on Ferozepur road
• Piles at some location
• Girders in yard
• Pile caps at other locations
• Transom at some locations

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 Specific Equipment Selection Factors

8. Versality: Equipment can be used for several activities

• Tractor with different attachments: can push scraper, bull dozer, ripper
• Just change attachment

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 Specific Equipment Selection Factors

8. Versality: Equipment can be used for several activities

• Front end loader
• Query site: handling of rock pieces-rock bucket
• Precast element lifting: forklift arrangement

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 Specific Equipment Selection Factors

8. Versality: Equipment can be used for several activities

• Combination of Front end loader-with backhoe clamshell bucket

3 shank ripper

-bucket= width of trench

Hoist attachment

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 Equipment Utilization Planning

• Selected machine-purchased machine-invested high- now equipment

should be utilized in optimum way-high productivity-less idle time-
generate profit
• Equipment should be able to recover all cost which was invested in its
purchase
• No of activities-activities that require similar equipment- equipment
utilization chart
• Critical Path Method (CPM)-PERT-Ghant chart- You will study in Construction
Management or Project Management

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 Summary

• Productivity and cost associated with equipment and contract

specifications are governing factors in selection of equipment
• Job site conditions (underfoot conditions, steep grades, working space
constraint, site access) and job site location (altitude, temperature, wind
rain) influence the selection and efficiency of equipment
• Equipment must pay for itself
• Plan & schedule activities for economic utilization of equipment

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