Construction Materials Management during delivery from the factory to the site

Abstract

"Materials management is an important function in order to improve productivity in construction project. Materials management defined as functions which include planning and materials take off, vendor evaluation and selection, purchasing, expenditure, shipping, materials receiving, ware housing and inventory, and materials distribution. The result of improper handling and managing materials on site during construction process will influence the total project cost, time and quality. (1999) stated that cost for materials handling may range from 30-80% of total construction cost. In addition, Dey (2001) indicates that almost 60% of the total working capital of any industrial organization consist of materials cost. Therefore, there is a need for efficient materials management in order to control productivity and cost in construction projects. In a survey of workforce motivation and productivity on nuclear power projects in the United States, Borcheding and Garner (1981) showed that non availability of materials led to a loss of Six hours per individual craftsperson per week.
Many authors defined the term of wastage. Construction waste as defined by Ekanayake and Ofori is any material apart from earth material which needs to be transported elsewhere to the construction sites or used within the construction site itself for the purpose of land filling, incineration, recycling, reusing, or composting rather than the intended specific purpose of the project due to material change excess, nonuse, or noncompliance with the specifications or being a byproduct of the construction process.
Waste production on construction sites is often due to inadequate storage and protection, poor or multiple handling, poor site control, over ordering of material, bad stock control, lack of training, and damage to material during delivery Udeaja, and N. Tait. Other researchers categorized these causes into four categories, according to Lingered et al. procurement, handling, operation, and culture, while Ekanayake and Ofori grouped factors generating material waste into design, procurement, handling of material, and operation.
The challenge of the material delivery process is to provide the planner reliable information on material availability for project tasks. This means that the material needs of each task have to be known. Materials delivered are mainly topsoil, hardcore, sand, aggregate, cement and ready mixed concrete. Chamuriho and Lema."