Principles of Inventory and Materials Management - Assignment Example

Construction Management I. Introduction The construction business involves precision in terms of technology and human factors. Its is a given fact that good project management in construction must adhere to means and methods to efficiently use labour, materials and equipment. Of the three factors mentioned, labour productivity plays a vital role and must be given close and continual attention by those responsible for enforcing cost and quality control of constructed facilities. As in all labour intensive business, human resource management often presents formidable challenges to managers. Unlike technologies or equipments, management has to deal with personalities, labour regulations, health and safety. Failure of the management to provide safe and healthy working environment often leads to more accidents and diminished productivity, work slippage and significant delays which often results in losses. However, quality failures are not only attributable to human resource alone but may also be a result of poor material handling, including procurement, inventory control, shop fabrication and field servicing.1( Tersine, R.J. 1982) The use or the none use of new equipment may also be a factor for poor productivity. In some cases, the failure of the construction firm to adopt recent innovations in technology removes the company from the mainstream construction activities thereby reducing its competitiveness in terms of work speed and efficiency. With a strong technological base, there is no reason why the construction industry cannot catch up and reassert itself to meet competition wherever it may be. Individual design and/or construction firms must explore new ways to improve productivity for the future.2( Peurifoy, R.L. 1970) In our case scenario where the company is experiencing poor productivity and high labour turnover, the need to investigate and get to the root cause of the problem should be made. II. Statement of the Problems a. Poor productivity and Fast turn-over A site subcontractor who have been contracted by my company for so many years is currently having quality failures. During the previous years, the same subcontractor serviced our company without problems. However, in the past few years, this contractor have not be performing well. Several sites on which it is currently working on have been experiencing quality failures requiring re-works and causing significant delays. Based on initial reports, the subcontractor is experiencing poor productivity and high labour turnover in its site preliminaries team. They have had four team managers in the last four years and the team has twice walked off jobs during that period. Further reports state that the preliminaries team Head Office base is in two portakabins in the Head Office car park. b. Accidents A major accident on one of the sites lead to the loss of a sub-contractor’s operative lost a leg. In another site, a scaffold collapse but no one was hurt. III. Methodology As Head Investigator for a main contractor, I should conduct a process documentation on the current workflows and make a thorough review of the same. Current work processes may be reviewed through on site ocular observation and interviews, review of company records and reports, gathering information through facilitating group work flow identification sessions and validating processes by direct observations. Video and pictorial analysis may also be made to reinforce the validity of data gathered. 4. Conducting the Investigation a. Productivity Issues Productivity in the construction industry is often broadly defined as output per labour hour. Labour productivity constitutes a large part of the construction cost and the quantity of labour hours in performing a task in construction is more susceptible to the influence of management than are materials or capital. Note however that labour productivity is not a measure of the capabilities of labour alone. It involves the overall effectiveness of an operating system in utilizing labour, equipment and capital to convert labour efforts into useful output. It is a given fact that contractors have a freehand to use its own system to measure labour productivity at a site. However, it is a good practice to set up a system, which can be used to track productivity trends over time and in varied locations for purposes of comparison in terms of efficiency. In the case of the preliminaries team, poor productivity should be viewed in terms of outputs versus the capacity of the team, taking into proper consideration the size of the project in question. Moreover, personnel or labour productivity should be taken in consideration with the following factors affecting human resources. Chris Hendrickson and Tung Au3 defined these characteristics as follows: 1. Quality of Work - caliber of work produced or accomplished. 2. Quantity of Work - volume of acceptable work 3. Job Knowledge - demonstrated knowledge of requirements, methods, techniques and skills involved in doing the job and in applying these to increase productivity. 4. Related Work Knowledge - knowledge of effects of work upon other areas and knowledge of related areas, which have influence on assigned work. 5. Judgment - soundness of conclusions, decisions and actions. 6. Initiative - ability to take effective action without being told. 7. Resource Utilization - ability to delineate project needs and locate, plan and effectively use all resources available. 8. Dependability - reliability in assuming and carrying out commitments and obligations. 9. Analytical Ability - effectiveness in thinking through a problem and reaching sound conclusions. 10. Communicative Ability - effectiveness in using oral and written communications and in keeping subordinates, associates, superiors and others adequately informed. 11. Interpersonal Skills - effectiveness in relating in an appropriate and productive manner to others. 12. Ability to Work Under Pressure - ability to meet tight deadlines and adapt to changes. 13. Security Sensitivity - ability to handle confidential information appropriately and to exercise care in safeguarding sensitive information. 14. Safety Consciousness - has knowledge of good safety practices and demonstrates awareness of own personal safety and the safety of others. 15. Profit and Cost Sensitivity - ability to seek out, generate and implement profit-making ideas. 16. Planning Effectiveness - ability to anticipate needs, forecast conditions, set goals and standards, plan and schedule work and measure results. 17. Leadership - ability to develop in others the willingness and desire to work towards common objectives. 18. Delegating - effectiveness in delegating work appropriately. Using appreciative and non-invasive inquiry methods, such questions should be answered during focus group discussions conducted during the investigation proper: 1. What were the factors, which boosted productivity of the company in the previous years? How do these factors affect the morale of the members of the team? 2. In the previous years, how much workload was given to the team, which make it productive? How does this load vary from the present set-up? What effects do these changes have on the outputs of the members of the team? 3. In the previous years, how was the relationship between members of the team developed to make it workable? What changes have occurred in the preceding years, which altered the composition of the team and its interpersonal relationships? What effects do these changes have in terms of work productivity? 4. In the previous years, what technologies were involved in the work conducted on the site? Have there been changes in these technologies employed as of the present? Have these changes affected the performance of the team? In terms of number of team members vis a vis the extent of work required, is the time provided for such work enough in order for the team to delivery the optimum output? 5. In terms of working conditions, how many working hours is required of the preliminaries to team to finish the job? Have there been changes in terms of time allotment to work in the previous years and in the present? 6. In terms of working conditions, are the members of the team provided with a workplace conducive for the work they are supposed to perform? Have there been any changes in terms of working conditions in the previous years? 7. In terms of salaries and wages, have there been changes compared to previous years? Where trend tends to go down instead of going perpendicular to each other, then you must look into the effects of change in status of work in the previous years, which made the company product, and the status of current work with reduced degree of productivity. To illustrate: Where record of company A productivity line for the past three years shows a decline in productivity rate, it is worth looking into the cause of such decline: Where there is a trend of diminishing returns in terms productivity, it is worthy to look into the existence of non-productive or counter-productive activities. Productive versus Non-Productive Activities Productive labour yield should be examined closely with non-productive activities of the construction company. Non-productive activities include those activities being performed in connection with the construction project but does not directly contribute to the direct labour hours devoted to the completion of a project. For example, the labour hours spent on rework to correct unsatisfactory original work represent extra time taken away from potential labour hours. The labour hours related to such activities must be deducted from the potential labour hours in order to obtain the actual productive labour yield. Materials management also affects productivity. In the case of the preliminaries team, the ineffective materials management may affect project planning and control. Materials represent a major expense in construction, so minimizing procurement or purchase costs presents important opportunities for reducing costs and increasing productivity. Poor materials management can result in large and avoidable costs even during preliminaries. The availability of materials may greatly influence the schedule in projects with a fast track or very tight time schedule. To illustrate: Productive time Unproductive time  Administrative delays  Inefficient work methods  Labor jurisdictions and other work restrictions Personal time 40% 20% 20% 15% 5% Total 100% b. Health and Safety Issues Health and safety in construction management is a major concern of the company. Under the Provision for health and safety “no person shall arrange for a contractor to carry out or manage construction work unless he is reasonably satisfied that the contractor has allocated or, as appropriate, will allocate adequate resources to enable the contractor to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed on him by or under the relevant statutory provisions.”4 The same law so provide also that at the start o the construction phase “every client shall ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the construction phase of any project does not start unless a health and safety plan complying with regulation 15(4) has been prepared in respect of that project.”5 In investigating the nature of the accidents, documentations must be taken through focus group discussions. The following questions must be answered: 1. What safety measures the company has implemented? 2. Are all employees issue protective gears to ensure safety in the construction site? What are these protective gears? Are these gears compliant with existing regulations? 3. What equipments are being used in the project site? Who ensures the proper maintenance of these equipments in order to prevent accidents? 4. Who is in charged of implementing these safety measures? What are the qualifications of the person in charged of implementing safety measures? 5. Is there any monitoring strategies employed to ensure that employees comply with measures implemented by the company? 6. With regards to strength of materials used as scaffoldings, who is in charged with ensuring quality and safety of the same? 7. In terms of safety and health monitoring, how often is this conducted? 5. Conclusion Data and evidences gathered from interviews must be validated with existing records of the company and the reports previously filed. Along with video or photo documentation, these data should be taken into consideration in arriving at a conclusion at the end of the investigation. Bibliography 1. Bourdon, C.C., and R.W. Levitt, Union and Open Shop Construction, Lexington Books, D.C. Heath and Co., Lexington, MA, 1980. 2. Caterpillar Performance Handbook, 18@+(th) Edition, Caterpillar, Inc., Peoria, IL, 1987. 3. Glenn A. Sears, Richard H. Clough, Keoki Sears Construction Contracting. April 2005 4. Daniel W. Halpin, Ronald W. Woodhead, Construction Management. January 1998 5. Chris Hendrickson and Tung Au. Project Management for Construction Fundamental Concepts for Owners, Engineers, Architects and Builders. First Edition originally printed by Prentice Hall, 1989 6. Donald Barrie, Boyd C. Paulson. Professional Construction Management; Including CM, Design-Construct and General Contracting. January 1992 7. Michael T. Callahan, James E. Rowling, Daniel G. Quackenbush. Constructing Project Scheduling. January 1992 8. Cordell, R.H., "Construction Productivity Management," Cost Engineering, Vol. 28, No. 2, February 1986 9. Lange, J.E., and D.Q. Mills, The Construction Industry, Lexington Books, D.C. Heath and Co., Lexington, MA, 1979. 10. Nunnally, S.W., Construction Methods and Management, Prentice-Hall, Englewoood Cliffs, NJ, 2nd Ed., 1987. 11. Peurifoy, R.L., Construction Planning, Equipment and Methods, 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1970. 12. Tersine, R.J., Principles of Inventory and Materials Management, North Holland, New York, 1982. 13. HEALTH AND SAFETY The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 14. A.E. Kerridge, "How to Develop a Project Schedule," in A.E. Kerridge and C. H. Vervalin (eds.), Engineering and Construction Project Management, Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, 1986. 15. S.W. Nunnally, Construction Methods and Management, Second Edition, Prentice-Hall, 1986 Read More