P.John Peter 1,
N.Suresh Kumar 2, Dr M.Muthudayar 3
1PG student- Department of Civil -
Kalasalingam University, Krishnan Kovil, Tamilnadu, India.
2Assistant
Professor - Department of Civil - Kalasalingam University, Krishnan Kovil,
Tamilnadu, India.
3 Project Director- Nhai,
Karaikudi, Tamilnadu, India.
The construction
industry has experienced a large increase in capital investment not only from
the domestic budget, but also from foreign financial sources, especially for
basic infrastructure projects, over the past few decades. The major factor
affecting the schedule of the project is the construction delays in large
infrastructure projects. There is always a pressure in infrastructure projects
to get it completed within the time at its best quality within the available
budget has made the construction companies to rely up on a variety of heavy
machineries. The unreliability of the construction equipment has demanded the
need of effective management of the construction equipment. It involves many
factors right from the selection of the appropriate equipment till its
replacement. The discussion with company carrying out Highway mega projects
revealed the fact that the construction equipment are Sensor paver , vibratory
roller, compactor, grader, Hot Mix Asphalt Plant, Crusher, Excavator Etc. The
main objectives of this study are the maintenance activities carried out on
equipment, measurement of productivity of equipment operations, identification
of factors affecting productivity, quantification of the factors identified and
to suggest possible improvement measures for reducing the loss in productivity.
Data was collected from the site and type of equipment used in the project was
observed, direct effect of equipment on factors in causing delay and the type
of breakdowns of equipment and their effects. In addition to the quantitative
data collected from site, interviews were conducted with experts and site
engineers to find the effect of factors that were not reflected in quantitative
data collection. Based on this study, the parameters affecting effective
management of this strategic equipment, the type of maintenance adopted for
various equipment and causes for the idle time of the equipment and its impact
on productivity of the projects is identified.
