Planning of materials in Construction Project management

PLANNING OF MATERIALS

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Outline:

■Definition■Essence of Materials Management■Objectives and functions■Process and stages of Planning■Case Study■Technologies in Material Management


Definition

■ Material planning includes planning purchasing work, supply planning, and how material handling should be carried out at the construction site.


Essence of Materials Management■ Materials management is an important element in project

planning and control. Materials represent a major expense in construction, so minimizing procurement or purchase costs presents important opportunities for reducing costs.

■ Materials management is not just a concern during the monitoring stage in which construction is taking place. Decisions about material procurement may also be required during the initial planning and scheduling stages.


Functions of Materials Planning

Purchasing the materials

Procuring and receiving

Storing and inventory control

Supply and distribution of materials

Quality assurance


Process of material management


Material Planning

The planning is a very important process to increase the productivity, profit, and assisting the time to complete the construction projects. The productivity of the construction project will be hanged if the material planning process is not implemented properly.


Material Procurement and Delivery

The materials for delivery to and from a construction site may be broadly classified as :

(1)Bulk materials, (2) Standard off-the-shelf materials, and (3) Fabricated members or units.

The process of delivery, including transportation, field storage and installation will be different for these classes of materials.


Material Procurement and Delivery

■ Bulk materials refer to materials in their natural or semi-processed state, such as earthwork to be excavated, wet concrete mix, etc. which are usually encountered in large quantities in construction.

■ Standard piping and valves are typical examples of standard off-the-shelf materials which are used extensively in the chemical processing industry.

■ Fabricated members such as steel beams and columns for buildings are pre-processed in a shop to simplify the field erection procedures.


Case study

Freight delivery for the Alaska Pipeline Project


Inventory control

Inventory control can be defined as, “which ensures the

supply of required quantity and quality of inventory at

the required time and at the same time prevent

unnecessary investment in inventories”

It decides about the types of ordering system, fixing the safety stock limits, fixing up the reorder level & maximum / minimum stock level.


Technologies in construction Material Management

There are several technologies which are used in

Material management and control. Two of them are:

Bar Codes Applications to Material Management

RFID-Radio Frequency Identification


Bar Codes Applications

Bar code applications in construction are mostly intended to provide

accuracy in data collection, to save time in the data collection process.

■It saves time, money and labour while improving the accuracy of

inventory.

■Typically, bar codes are used for materials and inventory

management. Bar codes provide the advantage of relatively error free

data collection, which improves productivity and avoid errors.


RFID-Radio Frequency Identification

A Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system is an automated data

collection system similar to bar code. RFID applications in construction are

mostly intended to provide accuracy in data collection, to improve productivity

and to save time in the data collection process.

ADC (Automated Data Collection) technology:

■Uses radiofrequency waves to transfer data between a reader and a movable

item to identify, categorize, track..

■Is fast and does not require physical sight or contact between reader/scanner

and the tagged item.

■Attempts to provide unique identification and backend integration that

allows for wide range of applications.


RFID Tags



References:■ Olafur Brynjolfsson, George Karathodoros-

Material planning in construction projects - http://ascelibrary.org/

■ http://pmbook.ce.cmu.edu/


http://ascelibrary.org/



Education

Planning of materials in Construction Project management