CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT NOTES 01

NOTES - 01

EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT TIPS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERS 

AND PLANT & MACHINERY ENGINEERS

AN INTRODUCTION TO CONSTRUCTION PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

I. INTRODUCTION

The invention of wheel was in year about 3000 B.C. was the beginning of the era of civilization.

The science and technology has now advanced considerably. The rockets, spacecraft now travel at a speed of about 12000 kms per hour. Weapons like bows, arrows, and sword are now replaced with atomic bomb and missiles.

It was in year 1780, Watts developed first steam engine. In year 1893 Mr. Rudolph invented first diesel engine. In the year 1910 first 30 HP at 6000 RPM for automobile have been developed. Today we find 552 Kv diesel engines being used on 90 Komatsu 475A tractors.

II. GROWTH OF CONSTRUCTION PLANT AND EQUIPMENT IN INDIA

The evolution of construction plant and equipment is another product of the attempts of man to be a master of his environment and to shape it to his maximum benefit. Mechanized development in industry, communication, construction and agriculture has inevitably meant the advances of economic growth. All these are dependent on moving the earth and mineral deposits from surface of earth or below it, and quite often underneath the water in universe and the ocean.

The country thus had only a few construction and mining equipment etc. in pre-independence period. The oldest place of equipment finding its origin in 1913 is steam power driven equipment, the crane.

In the post independence period, native skill soon developed to a degree of specialization in various fields to augment the development resources.

III. WHAT IS CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT

Most of construction activities were and are still done by use of manual labor. In fact, as we will study in the lesson, the use of manual labor is economical on many construction activities. But there are limitations. Archimedes said, "Give me a lever and point to support it, I will move the earth."Engineers always aim to use mechanical advantage and velocity ratio to get maximum output with available input”.

The same principles are used in construction equipment in a sophisticated way. We use prime mover and power instead of manual labor. In short, construction equipment can be defined as machine to give desired/designed output with available input and use simple devices as pulley, lever wheel and the axle in one way or other.

IV. NEED FOR CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT

The problem of unemployment in India is drawing pointed attention from every one at present. Doubts are raised as to value of mechanization of project to country from view point of overall economy. A word of caution is necessary before going in for large mechanization. We must find employment for partially utilized vast resources of unskilled labor particularly in rural areas.

Mechanized construction is indispensable under certain conditions for quick, efficient and quality oriented execution of the projects. If the scope of mechanization is limited to proper sphere and does not interfere with the interests of manual work, the country would gain by judicious use of machinery.

Excavation for foundation, long leads compaction to specification and excavation and tunneling in rock are the spheres in which mechanization seems indispensable even for medium sized jobs. Under water excavation can be done by draglines. Blasting below water table needs modern drilling and special explosive techniques. Haulage over a distance of about 500 feet cannot be attempted on any large scale without help of transport vehicle.

Appendix 'A' (at end of this blog)shows the works that can be tackled by machinery and manual labour for road making work.

MANUAL LABOR AND TRUCK VERSUS EARTHMOVING MACHINERY

Donkeys-transport can work to about few furlongs and work can be attempted with bullock carts with load up-to one mile. The manual labor and truck transport is cheaper in initial cost but becomes more costly on running expenses with the result that on large jobs it pays to go in for modern earthmoving equipment. The conclusions evident from study are as under-

i. Large initial investment is required for earthmoving machinery which can be economically advantageous only when fully utilized. Comparatively little investment is required for manual excavation with truck transport and labor.

ii. The labor strength employed and the construction colony for manual work will be nearly fifteen times than required for earth moving machinery. The employment for manual work will be mostly unskilled labor, whereas that for earth moving machinery will be mostly skilled.

iii. The unit rate of earth work based on total expenditure falls progressively as the earthmoving equipment utilized for longer period of its life. The unit rate for manual labor remains almost steady.

iv. For job involving large quantities of earth work spread over life time of equipment machinery work would be much cheaper than manual labor.

v. In this specific study, it would not pay to go in for earth moving machinery for less than 25 million cubic feet of earth work unless the salvage value of equipment can be realized by its use and/or re-sale.

Continuity of construction work by earthmoving machinery is essential to achieve low construction cost. For manual work continuity or discontinuity does not affect the construction rates appreciably.

Non technical critic does not realize the strength of labour requirement to do earth work manually. If work of Hirakund dam was to be executed manually alone, the strength required would have been nearly 3,00,000. That would make a job impossible to set up or manage.

VI. TYPE AND NATURE OF EQUIPMENT

A. Earthmoving machinery

B. Road making machinery

A. Earthmoving Machines

Equipment used in heavy construction especially engineering projects, which require moving millions of cubic feet of earth work. Earthmoving machinery can be divided into two functions according to function.

- Excavate the earth.

- Removal of earth material.

Removal of earth material from bottom of body's water is performed by draggers.

On irrigation projects, depending on type of work and nature of quarry material, the earthmoving machinery is grouped as below:

i.     Tractors, scraper unit

ii. Excavator, damper unit

iii. Loader tipper unit

iv. truck with manual labor

B. Road making machines

i. Concerting and bridge making machinery

ii. Asphalt Road construction machinery

iii. Inspection units

We shall study about the function of each in detail in my next blog.

VII. I.S. SPECIFICATION

The purposes of I.S. specification is known to everybody. Earthmoving and road making machinery is also manufactured and classified according to I.S. specifications. Some of the important I.S. specifications are given in Appendix 'B'.

VIII.EARTHMOVING EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURED IN INDIA

As stated earlier, the most of earthmoving machinery was imported till 1966 when India started its manufacture in collaboration with few foreign manufacturers. Some of the foreign manufactured equipment was no doubt of good quality - especially Caterpillar and Allied Chalmer make, but it always posed problems for spare parts, apart from drain on foreign exchange. The skill and training for carrying out repairs was also lacking. The down time was more.

The experience on use of Russian make/French make equipment was very poor. Much of their equipment at Govt. projects and other project in Maharashtra had to be disposed off before its life was over. Foreign manufactures, at time blamed owners for bad maintenance which was again a point of discussion and dispute.

Now in India we are manufacturing most of the equipment in collaboration with the foreign manufacturers. We can say our indigenous equipment is equally good. We are also exporting some of the equipment to foreign countries. However, after sales service of Indian equipment is still lacking. The equipment manufacturer after selling equipment seldom bothers to enquire about the performance of equipment and supply the parts. Since the availability for spare parts is poor, many companies have come up to manufacture parts at cheaper rates. Customers are happy with the cheap cost and immediate availability of spare. They forget the damage that it will cause to machinery, and its critical components. The failures occur again and the cycle is repeated. Let us not blame equipment suppliers alone for spare parts, because some fault lies with users who feel that spare parts are available like a hot cake from oven. We shall discuss in detail about the spare parts management and inventory control in our next blogs.

IX. Construction Equipment is not the only subject of mechanical engineers. Civil engineers also need to be acquainted with the subject. Often many civil engineers who have studied the performance of equipment come out with some valuable suggestions which did not strike even to mechanical engineers. Civil engineers always look at the rate of production. He wants production at minimum cost so that he can control the rates of contractors. If the user has no equipment, there is a tendency of a contractor to quote high rates. The possession of equipment by civil engineers also serves to meet immediate needs especially when there is no time to call tenders.

Mechanical engineers feel that their job is to repair and maintain the equipment. Mechanical engineers are equally responsible for more production at economic cost. A good co-ordination and amicable relations between the two engineers can lead to success of the projects.

APPENDIX A

Works that can be tackled by machinery and manual labor for road works

SR. NO.	ITEM	MANUALLY	USING MACHINERY
1.	Earth work	In all normal road constructions	--
2.	Compaction of earthwork.	Manually upto 1 mtr height of embankments or in cutting	By mechanical compaction above 1 mtr height of embankment
3.	Collection of metal under different sizes	For sizes of 40mm	All sizes below 40m
4.	Spreading metal	Manually	--
5.	Compaction of metal	--	By using road roller
6.	Collection of bitumen	In drums beyond 250 km from refinery	In bouzers upto 250 km from refinery
7.	Spraying of bitumen	where drums are used	Mechanised spraying where bowsers are used
8.	Heating and mixing bitumen & metal	--	By using mixers
9.	Spreading of bituminous mix	Manually when there is cold mix	By mechanical paver where there is hot mix
10.	Compaction of bituminous carpet	--	By using rollers

Notes: i. Use of machinery for construction of C.D. works bridges etc. is not included in the above analysis. However, it can be generally said that concrete mixers, vibrators are used for this construction.

ii. Experience in Maharashtra is that any attempt to crush metal of size 40 mm and above by using machinery becomes more costly. The rates with manual labour are much cheaper, apart from providing local employment.

 

  

ANNEXURE- B

TABLE GIVING THE REFERENCE TO INDIAN STANDARD SPECIFICATIONS

OF CONSTRUCTION MACHINES AND EQUIPMENTS

Sr. No.	Title	Indian Standard No.
A. INDIAN STANDARDS FOR EARTHMOVING MACHINES AND EQUIPMENTS
1.	Glossary of terms & classification of Earth-moving machinery part 1 General Terms	4988 – 1969
2.	Part 2 Dozers	4988 - 1968 (part 2)
3.	Part 3 Motor & Towed Scrapers	4988 - 1968 (part 3)
4.	Part 4 Excavators	4988 - 1968 (part 4)
5.	Part 5 Motor Graders	4988 - 1968 (part 5)

C. INDIAN STANDARDS FOR FOUNDATION ENGINEERING & SOIL COMPACTION MACHINES & EQUIPMENTS

1.	Glossary of terms relating to Pile Driving Equipment	6427 – 1972
2.	Mobile Air Compressor for Construction purposes	6430 – 1972
3.	Pile Driving Hammer	6426 – 1972
4.	Pile Frame	6428 – 1972
5.	Pneumatic Tyred Roller	5501 – 1969
6.	Sheeps Foot Roller	4616 – 1968
7.	Smooth Wheeled Diesel Road Roller	5502 – 1980
8.	Vibratory Plate Compactor	5889 – 1970
9.	Vibratory Roller (first revision)	5500 – 1977

D. INDIAN STANDARDS FOR LIFTING MACHINES AND EQUIPMENT

1.	E.O.T. cranes	3177 – 1977
2.	Mobile Cranes	4573 – 1982
3.	Tower Cranes	6521 – 1972
4.	Safe Working Loads for Cranes	6511 – 1972
5.	Glossary of terms	5532 (Part -1)-1986 (Part -2)-1986 (Part -3)-1986
6.	Electric Power Driven Winches for Lifting and Hauling	9507 – 1979

E. INDIAN STANDARD FOR CONCRETE MIX MANUFACTURING AND

TRANSPORTATION MACHINES AND EQUIPMENT

1.	Concrete batching and mixing plant	4925 – 1978
2.	Concrete finishers	7251 – 1974
3.	Concrete mixers, batch type	1971 – 1968
4.	Concrete pavers	7245 – 1972
5.	Concrete spreaders	7242 – 1974
6.	Concrete transit mixers and agitators	5892 – 1970
7.	Concrete vibrating tables	2514 – 1963
8.	Concrete vibrators (Immersion type)
9.	Form vibrators for concrete	4656 – 1968
10.	Hand operated concrete mixers	5891 – 1970
11.	Pan vibrators	3366 – 1965
12.	Performance of Screed board concrete vibrators, method of test.	6923 – 1973
13.	Portable swing weigh-batchers for concrete (single and double bucket type)	2722 – 1964
14.	Roller Pan mixer	2438 – 1963
15.	Table vibrators for consolidating concrete	7246 – 1974
16.	Testing performance of batch-type concrete mixers, Methods for Testing	4634 – 1968
17.	Use of immersion vibrators for consolidating concrete, code of practice	3558 – 1983
18.	Vibration machine	10090 – 1982

F. INDIAN STANDARDS FOR TRANSPORTATION AND HANDLING MACHINES

AND EQUIPMENT

1.

Volumetric Ratings for dumper bodies

1.  10859 – 1984

G. INDIAN STANDARDS FOR ROAD MAKING AND TUNNELING MACHINES

AND EQUIPMENT

1.	Battery Locomotives for use in mines	9123 – 1979
2.	Hydraulic Props	8421 – 1977
3.	Man-riding cars used in mines	9494 – 1980
4.	Mine cars	8066 – 1976
5.	Hot Asphalt Mixing Plants	3066 – 1965
6.	Hot tar and bitumen distributor	2093 – 1974
7.	Mobile hot mix asphalt plant (Light duty)	5890 – 1970
8.	Mobile Road Cranes, fully slewing	6717 – 1972
9.	Tar and bitumen heaters	2094 – 1974
10.	Paver finisher	3251 – 1965
11.	Cold Asphalt Macadam Mixing Plant	5435 – 1969
12.	Emulsion spraying machines for roads	4198 – 1967
13.	Hand operated drum asphalt mixer (first revision)	2434 – 1973
14.	Integral stems for percussive drilling	7913 – 1975
15.	Rope threaded Percussive long hole drilling equipment	9026 – 1978