College Of Engineering

Department of construction technology and

management

Construction Equipment
(CEng-5193)

1 Lecture on

Introduction
March 31, 2015
2 Aims

 The course is designed to give students, a working knowledge of

different types of
 construction equipment,

 operations of various construction equipment and

fundamentals of equipment selection,

 cycle times,

 production rates and

 costs.
3 Objectives

 At the completion of this course, the student will be able to:

 Describe the different types of construction equipment and understand operations of

various construction equipment.

 Demonstrate an understanding of construction equipment selection, cycle

times, production rates and costs.

 Understand the fundamentals of engineering properties of moving earth, construction

methods focusing on equipment-intensive construction activities.

 Estimate and Perform the analysis needed to determine costs and productions of given
construction equipment.

 Enable selection of right equipment for a job with minimum cost.

4 Introduction to Construction Industry
 Construction Industry is an industry involved in the planning, execution and
evaluation of all types of civil works.
 The main players in the construction industry are:
 The Client
 The Consultant
 The Contractor
 Insurance Companies
 Banks
 Supplier
 Permitting Agencies
 Public
5 Resources for the Construction Industry
 For most of the construction projects, the resources to look into are the following;
 Institutional (reputation, Org. culture, Org. capability, management style &
experience, etc)
 Need to be cultivated, nurtured and exploited to gain a competitive
edge
 Finance (Money): the most liquid resource of a firm
 The major resource used to secure other resources
 Human (capacity and capability):
 Is the resources that actually does the job
 Physical (Material, Equipment & Plant):
 The major resources used to do the job
 Information (Network) (Availability &access)
 As the saying goes “Information is power!”
 Time and space
 Managing the time and the space available for any action is importance
for its success
6 Introduction to Construction Equipment

 It is a common fact that we find a wide variety of construction machines on

every construction sites, which make the construction jobs easy, safe and quicker.

 Good project management in construction must vigorously pursue the efficient

utilization of labor, material and equipment.

 Construction Machinery are heavy-duty vehicles, specially designed for

executing construction tasks, most frequently, ones involving earth moving.
7 Cont’d….

 It is essential to know how to utilize machines properly and to match

their
capability to specific project requirements.

 Until the 19th century and into the early 20th century heavy machines were drawn
under human or animal power.

 In 1860’s Suez canal excavation by Lessseps and his engineers by experimenting

and then making 300 steam-powered mechanical dredges work at site yielded
main canal’s 74 Million m3 excavation.
8 Cont’d….
9 Cont’d….

 Construction equipment’s and plants are one of the most predominant factors
that affect project cost and ultimately profit in the construction industry.

 Aside economy, proper use of appropriate equipment contributes to

quality, safety, speed and timely completion of the project.

 Thus we have to give a great attention for such equipment’s to get the required
out put or product.

 Construction equipment plays a significant role in the execution of modern, high-

cost, and time bounded construction projects.
10 Cont’d….

 An indispensable item of resources, construction equipment produces output at

high speed and enables completion of tasks in a limited time.

 Equipment saves manpower, a source, which is becoming scarce, costly and

more demanding day-by-day. Moreover equipment improves productivity,
quality and safety.

 The nature of production tasks, which can be performed with an equipment,

includes excavating, hauling, transporting, compacting, grading, hoisting,
concreting, pre-casting, plastering, finishing, trenching, pipe-laying, cable-laying
and so on.
11 Cont’d….
 The need for Mechanization arises due to the following reasons:
 Magnitude & Complexity of the Project
 Complexity of Projects using high grade materials
 High quality standards
 Importance of keeping the Time Schedules.
 Optimum use of Material, Manpower and Finance.
 Shortage of skilled and efficient Manpower.
12 Planning Equipment Utilization

 The task of the project planner is to match the right machine or

combination or combinations of machines to the job at hand.
Considering individual tasks, the quality of performance is measured
by matching the equipment spread’s production against its cost.
13 Planning Equipment Utilization

 Machine productivity is first of all

determined to estimate the
equipment component of project cost.

 Each level of productivity has

corresponding cost a
effort expended.associated with
the
 Analysis of expenses that a firm experiences
through machine ownership and use is
very important to understand.
14 Planning Equipment Utilization
 Although each major type of equipment has different operational
characteristics, it is not always obvious which machine is best for a
particular project task until and unless site is visited and conditions
are judged.
15 Planning Equipment Utilization
 No two projects are alike; therefore, it is important that the planner
begins each new project with a completely open mind and reviews
all possible options. Additionally, machines are constantly being
improved and new equipment is being introduced.
16 Forecasting Equipment Requirement
 There are certain type of works where man cannot work and only alternative is
to use construction equipment’s e.g. earth work compaction, construction of
bridges, working under water, dewatering, construction of bituminous/rigid
pavements etc.

 With the identification of the activities which will be carried out with the
help of equipment’s, work of equipment planning starts.

 Following are the main points planner has to decide in equipment planning.

 a) Working Shifts: By increasing the number of shifts we can reduce the number
of equipment required, as the same equipment can be used in second and
third shift. This helps in reduction in initial investment of capital.
17 Cont’d….
 (b) Number and Size of Equipment’s: For deciding the number and size of the
equipment’s following factors should be considered.

 Quantum of work,

 Working days available for completion of project.

 Number of shifts planned.

 When quantum of work is too much then bigger size equipments are selected.

 (c) Matching Units: There are certain equipments, which are used together in a team
with other equipments, like scraper with pusher Dozer, concrete batching plant with
truck mounted concrete mixers, paver finisher with road rollers, wheel loaders with
dumpers/dump trucks etc.
18 Cont’d….

 (d) Procurement Scheduling: Procurement scheduling is done

considering procurement time required and time when equipment is
required.

 The time when equipment is required is decided by the starting time of the
activity for which this equipment is required to be used.

 While purchasing an equipment, maintenance spares should also

be purchased.
19 Cont’d….

 (e) Workshop and Stores Planning: While planning for the purchase of
equipments, it is necessary to plan for the workshop and stores for carrying out
the repair and maintenance.

 (f) Man power planning: Planning for manpower in order to operate the
equipment and to carry out the repair and maintenance is also necessarily be
done sufficiently in advance.

 In case skilled and trained manpower for the operation, maintenance and
repair is not available then efforts should be made to train them before the
arrival of equipments in the project.
20 Cont’d….

 (g) Site Conditions: Site conditions play an important role in deciding the type
of equipment.

 The type of equipment selected mainly depends upon soil available,

and
valley conditions, surface and strata where work is to be carried out.

 This helps in deciding whether to use wheeled equipments or crawler type

equipments, to use dragline excavator or power shovel, to use crane or cable
ways, to use rear dump trucks or side dump trucks or bottom dump trucks etc.
21 Advantages of utilizing the construction equipment’s:

 Increase the rate of output through work progress with the best effective and
efficient methods.

 Reduce the overall construction costs especially for large contracts.

 Carry out activities which cannot be done manually or do them more

to economically and much faster.

 Eliminate the heavy manual work by human thus reducing fatigue and eliminates
various other hazards and health issues.

 Maintain the planned rate of production where there is a shortage of skilled

or unskilled labor.

 Maintain the high quality standards often required by present-day design

and specifications (technical standards).
22 2. Why Construction Equipment / Plant Management?

 One can state many reasons why construction equipment or plant management
is relevant for the successful completion of a construction project or in this
specific case for the profession construction technology and management.

 These reasons can generally fall into four major themes called

 Resources,

 Productivity / Efficiency,

 Quality, and

 Development demand related issues.

23 Resource

 A Construction project involves largely Human (Capacity and Capability), Financial,

Physical (Material, Equipment and Plant), Institutional (Management and Production
Systems), and Information (Access and Availability) resources together with the concepts
of availability and utilization of Time and Space.

 The integration of technology and management of each individual resource and their
combined outcomes are necessary for the successful completion of a construction work
or service.

 For instance, decisions regarding equipment types in use and their skilled manpower are
important factors on the performances of construction works or services.

 Therefore, knowledge and skill on how to effectively use construction equipment’s as

vital as important.
24 Productivity / Efficiency

 Equipment or Plants are designed to replace human resources where repeated

activities are mostly applicable to increase productivity or efficiency.

 Productivity or efficiency can be defined as the ratio of output to input.

 In addition, time could be saved to decrease the production time

where time value
of money can contribute to the benefit of a completed project.

 Therefore, while construction technology deals with the way how best you can
replace the human labor with technological advancement to create or upgrade
construction equipments or plants together with their usage by skilled manpower;
construction management focuses on relationship management among different
types of resources, stakeholders and activities with regard to their planning,
implementaion and monitoring for optimum output, that is productivity
25 Quality

 Use of Construction equipment’s and plants often give a harmonized and standardized
output against variations of quality that could be achieved among different skilled
manpower.

 Besides, technological advancement has brought an enhancement of quality products

using such equipment’s and plants.

 Therefore, use of equipment and plants increased the quality of materials, components
and the whole product of a construction process.
26 Development

 New technological developments initiated for the purpose of

physical
infrastructure development through either
 gaining recognition of scientific development (technological), or
 enhancing human value and living condition demands (social), or
 competitive or increasing productivity demands (economical), or
 strengthening or acquiring power and resources (political)

 that involves construction equipment’s could be one reason why we need to

consider construction equipment management vital for the discipline
construction technology and management.
27 Assignment 1

 Write the various types and functions of construction

equipments that are used to accomplish different
construction works such as excavating, hauling,
transporting, compacting, grading, hoisting, concreting,
pre-casting, plastering, finishing, trenching, pipe- laying,
cable-laying and so on.

 Distinguish between construction equipments and

construction plants.
 THANK
28
YOU!