Construction Technology and Management

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5D Planning, Scheduling and Control of Construction Projects by Integrating Project Management Software and GIS
(AAU, 2017-12) Sitota, Girma; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.)
Construction industry can be deemed as the most vital driving force of a country. Construction of vast projects such as township, stadiums, and dams is a challenging task both in terms of managing complexities of the project and addressing the demands of all stakeholders. Its success or failure largely depends on cost effectiveness, time-bound delivery, quality and amount of resources available throughout the lifecycle of the project. This clearly turns the focus towards effective construction project management. Today’s demand of construction industry requires highly accurate planning, scheduling and management of the process of a project which can enable the overall optimization of cost, time, and resources. With the advances in information technology, its use is being constantly explored in the area of construction planning and monitoring. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the methodology of integrating Geographic Information System (GIS) with construction project management to provide a better solution for optimization and real time monitoring of the progress of a project. GIS is a computer based tool and being used extensively to solve various engineering problems involving the use of spatial data. The technology provides capabilities to solve problems involving creation and management of data, integration of information, visualization and cost estimation to which most of the construction management software are lacking. In spite of the growing popularity its complete potential to the construction industry has not been realized. Integration of GIS and Project management might assist a planner in a better perception of a project as well as in the integration of other parties’ activities in the planning process. It will provide a common basis of understanding and communication among stakeholders. This helps in reducing construction errors occurring on sites and thereby reduces the amount of administrative time. In this research paper a review of up-to-date work on the applications of GIS technology in construction industry is presented. Methodology to generate 3D view of a building and to represent construction schedule within GIS environment is also discussed. With this, integration of GIS and Project Management is developed using AutoCAD, MS-Excel, ArcGIS, and Visual Studio to assist construction managers in controlling and monitoring a construction progress. With time as the fourth dimension, the progress of construction task can be displayed as 4D (3D + time) view. The 5D (3D + time + cost) model of progress monitoring is beneficial to all stakeholders and can be opted as the future of planning and monitoring in the fast developing construction industry. A case study of one story building is selected for the purpose of presenting the integrated tool for progress monitoring. Ultimately, an easy to use Graphic User Interface (GUI) named as “5D Construction Monitoring Application” is developed to enable project participants have an idea of the current status of a project at run-time. The paper explores the potential of GIS environment in developing a construction project information system for rate analysis; and safety and quality control recommendation. It also suggests that the proposed GIS based methodology may replace manual methods used to extract information from the available database and can be easily updated as most of the information is in digital format. Successful project control is a challenging responsibility, but the job becomes easier when it is complimented with visualization of information. The propositions presented herein could facilitate and accelerate this trend, and as well provide means of measuring the success of implementation of 5D planning in construction projects and be a basis for further research.
Assessing the Efficiency and Challenges with Implementing Accessible Building Facilities for Persons with Disabilities in Public Building of Addis Ababa
(Addis Ababa University, 2020-07) Betelhem, Derese; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.)
People pass though being elderly, pregnant women, children and with a temporary sickness or injury and will be in need of help from others to maneuver in built environments. Thus, public buildings should be accessible and barrier-free to both able and disabled people. Disabled people find it difficult to gain access into and operate freely without assistance in many public buildings in Addis Ababa. The aim of this descriptive research was to examine the extent to which the persons with Disability facilities have been incorporated in the designs and construction of public buildings of Addis Ababa, to identify the challenges with the implementation of accessible Building Facilities, challenges faced by of PWDs and to asses possible improvement solutions To achieve the study‘s objectives, a comprehensive literature review, a questionnaires survey and observation were carried out. The total population of grade one consultant (44) from federal construction minister of Addis Ababa in the year 2019 was taken to respond on the questionnaires. The study also sought to find out major challenges that person with disability are facing by purposively selected 6 organizations, which are working on disability and 30 PWDs were given the questionnaires based on their disability type. In addition the study took inventory of facilities available for disabled people in purposively selected ten critical public buildings. The inventory covered the identification and ascertaining the functional state of the facilities. Findings from the research shows that almost half of the respondents who were responsible for taking decision on the design of built environment has got little or fair knowledge about the inclusive, accessible, universal buildings and disability concerning laws. Therefore most the building being provided are not disability-friendly. Even, if there are consideration of the disability in design the frequently considered is mobility. And some of the challenging factors for implementing accessible buildings are ranked as follow; lack of enforcement of the law, lack of public awareness about the law and weakness in the provisions of the law. Public education, review of the disability law and active involvement of disability groups in decision making were some of the recommendations made.
Assessment of Cause and Impacts of Local Contractors’ Time And Cost Performance in Ethiopian Roads Authority Projects
(AAU, 2016-12) Rahel, Kassaye; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.)
Infrastructure projects, such as road constructions, are one of the most important projects in Ethiopia. Growth in this sector is critical for growth in national income as it is among the largest sectors that generates employment within the country as well as a key driver for economic development of Ethiopia. Ethiopian Roads Authority has administered many projects at the federal level involving local contractors on the projects. However, projects executed by contractors are facing critical problems with respect to time and cost performance. There are several factors that are contributing to these time and cost performance problems of local contractors. Accordingly, this research attempts to identify the major causes of poor time and cost performance of local contractors, consequential impact in the Ethiopian road construction industry; which can serve as the way forward for future work in coping with this performance problem. A thorough literature review and desk study was done, through which a number of time and cost performance factors were identified in global and local construction industry scenarios. To obtain expert opinions from the sector, in total forty nine (49) factors and 15 possible impacts were identified and made part of the survey questionnaire and the survey was conducted with stakeholders from contractors, client, and consultants. In addition, case study/desk study of 6 completed road construction projects at federal level were investigated. As a result of the study, inadequate planning and scheduling, poor project management system by contractor and late possession of site by the client are identified as the most important factors causing poor time and cost performance of local contractors. Among the subsequent impact of these local contractor poor time and cost peformnace on the construction industry; it discourages investment on road construction projects by the public authorities and it creates adversarial relationship among the stakeholders are identified as the most likely. It is also recommended that the client (ERA) gives due attention to grant contractors timely possession of site and local contractors to deploy experienced professionals in the area of project management.
Assessment of Performance and Critical Success Factors of Rural Road Construction in South Ethiopia; A Case Study of Universal Rural Road Access Program (Urrap) In Wolaita Zone
(Addis Ababa University, 2020-11-11) Adnew, Ayssa; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.)
Connecting rural areas each other and to main roads is vital for Ethiopia as larger part of its’ population are rural dwellers. To accelerate combating of poverty in these areas, Government was working to increase rural road network. The purpose of this research is, therefore, to present the status of performance and associated factors of rural road construction under universal rural road access program in Wolaita Zone. The study has applied three round Delphi questionnaire techniques to adapt the weights of criteria used to measure performance and focus group discussion to group critical success factors in respective categories. Questionnaires were distributed to respondents who have been participating in the projects to rank 0 for least to 3 for highest performance towards each sub criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability, which later was composed to calculate the performance. Responses from 78 participants were analyzed and the results show that rural road construction under universal rural road access program in Wolaita Zone is successful by scoring 1.85 out of 3. But in terms of relevance and sustainability, the program is less than successful by scoring 1.52 and 1.21 respectively. Regarding success factors, top twenty critical success factors were identified and five are grouped under Client including ‘Timely payment’ which is the first critical success factor, the next five and ten are grouped under Consultant and Contractor related critical success factors respectively.
Assessment of Quality Management Practices of Ethiopian Contractors Focused on Building Construction Projects
(AAU, 2018-03) Biniyam, Asefa; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.)
Quality Management has increasingly been adopted by construction companies as an initiative to solve quality problems and to meet the needs of the final customer. This research deals with the assessment of quality Management practices of Ethiopian contractors focusing on building construction projects and with emphasis on grade one contractors registered in Addis Ababa and renew their licenses. The objectives of the research were to investigate how the concept of quality and quality management is adopted in the construction process, to identify the major factors that are mostly affecting the quality of building construction during the construction phase and to propose measures for effective quality management practice. Different literatures were assessed to show the concept of quality and quality management in the construction industry and the factors that affect quality management practices. Those issues were also assessed in Ethiopia situation by using interview and questionnaire. The inter view was conducted with different professionals in order to help the questionnaire design. The questionnaire survey was performed on different selected Ethiopian contractors to assess their practices. The research finding indicated that most respondents were familiar with the concepts of quality and quality management but its application was relatively low. Several authors also pointed out that most of the hindrances to the application of quality management practices are lack of information in the area. Further to this, different success factors are identified for the success of quality management practices.
Assessment of Quality Management System Practices on ISO 9001:2015 Certified Contractors in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
(Addis Ababa University, 2021-09) Mahlet, Kebede; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.); Addis, Mesfin (Mr.) Co-Advisor
Since the past twenty years, ISO 9001 standard has shown its capacities to bring down cost, increase efficiency, and fulfill clients in the organizations. Even though ISO 9001:2015 standard has demonstrated its advantages to various areas in all over the world, there is still discussion among researchers and practitioners concerning the effectiveness of applying ISO 9001:2015 in construction projects. The objective of this research is to assess the current practice and benefits of implementing ISO 9001 Quality Management System in Addis Ababa construction companies, to identify the problems faced by construction companies in implementing ISO 9001 Quality Management System and to identify the strategies adopted by the ISO certified construction companies in overcoming or minimizing the implementation problems. As part of the approaches to achieve these objectives, the study used different literature reviews. Questionnaire and interview approach has been selected to collect data for this research. The key findings of this research showed that the QMS has improved the overall organization performance in terms of documentation as well as productivity. The general approach for improving processes and products is quality improvement. Quality control activities are carried out to minimize defects during processing. Quality assurance is a process of meeting international standards to assure product and process quality. Audits and reviews are used to improve the quality of a company's quality management system. Although aspects such as quality manuals, quality procedures, and customer satisfaction are mentioned in the main components, more focus is needed. It also showed that they have benefited from implementing the QMS, however there was still room for improvement in attending the key performance indicators and fully integrating the ISO principles and requirements within the construction industry.
Assessment of Supply Chain Management in Public Building Construction Projects in Addis Ababa
(Addis Ababa University, 2017-05) Betelhem, Kebede; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.)
A poor management on construction projects can lead to significant negative impacts with low productivity, cost and time overrun, conflicts and disputes resulting in claims and time consuming litigation. Previous studies pointed out that an efficient management of the construction logistics process can be a way to lift up the construction productivity. Proper management of supply chain would result in lowering costs, short delivery time, low inventory level and improve reliability which would improve the competitive position of organizations. This research assesses the perception of the construction industry stakeholders on the need and importance of supply chain management on selected public building construction projects, identify and analyze the current practices and challenges in the supply chain management process. The study subjects are currently active public projects in Addis Ababa which are being administered by the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing. The main tools used for the collection of data included questionnaires and desk study as they are used to identify the various efforts that have been made in the past and to examine the challenges of supply chain management. Frequency analysis and relative importance index (RII) are used to examine the results from the questionnaire and findings are presented in charts and tables. The findings show that the construction industry stakeholders perceive that supply chain management collaboration has helped in the construction industry as it improves the quality assurance and increases profitability. The study also indicates that the potential factors that are important for supply chain collaboration are improved customer service, increased profitability and improved quality insurance. On the other hand, late and incorrect payments and inaccurate data and engineering drawings not fitting the use are indicated as the major challenges for a successful supply chain network. Furthermore, it was found that most of the stakeholders do not apply the integrated approach to supply chain management.
Bid Evaluation Process on Non-Residential Public Building Project, Case Study on Selected Public Building Projects in Addis Ababa
(AAU, 2018-10) Fitsum, Gebru; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.)
In the public construction procurement process, the tendering phase of a project and selecting the most appropriate main contractor is an initial milestone for project success. Public procurement process in Ethiopia currently is facing many problems that hinders the process from having effective and efficient result. There are problems that are related to public building project procurement process that are found in the literature review, but to make the finding more precisely related to nonresidential public building procurement in Addis Ababa, a pilot survey of an interview on the process factor conducted to Public Property Administiration and Procurement Agency (PPAPA) specifically department of procurement directorate and professionals from few construction management consultant made to conclude the gap identification. Then questionnaires have been developed and distributed to construction sector professionals who are actively working for on the construction sector. In addition to see the trend in setting bid qualification criteria and their strict use on bid evaluation process, project case sudies have been studied on eight non-residencial public building projects under construction in Addis Ababa. Procurement process factors are identified through interview and questionnaires, and then the response has been analyzed to rank the factors based on their relative weight using frequency and severity index analyses as perceived by professionals responding the questionnaires. The study showed that favouritism in providing influential information to bidders, inappropriate project scope definition by client, selecting lowest bidder by avoiding technical score form further evaluation in the process, inappropriate project packaging by client, setting subjective criterion on bid document by consultant and clients are some of the most influential process factors considered crucially by the respondents for bid evaluation process in non-residential public building project current practice in Addis Ababa. This study provides supportive practical solution for public client to enhance and improve their contractor selection processes in order to have successful completion of construction projects that would meet their requirements and increase their satisfaction levels.
Cash Flow Forecasting Using Monte Carlo Simulation Method for Building Construction Projects
(AAU, 2018-06) Robel, Kassahun; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.)
Construction industry has the biggest role in the nurturing of country’s development and prosperity. It gives tremendous basic benefits with the interrelationship with other industries to the citizens of a country with vast undertakings. Having continual and intensive transactions, Construction industry also needs plenty amount of finance for the desired designs of buildings, roads, dams and irrigation projects and the like to transform them into their physical state and to begin their operations then after. In relation to these huge financial transactions though, the construction industry suffers the largest rate of insolvency of any sector of the economy. Many construction companies fail because of poor financial management, especially inadequate attention to cash flow forecasting. Accordingly, many have also been trying to forecast cash flows with the help of models through which they can easily forecast with relative accuracy. This research has worked on cash flow forecast of a case study building construction project using Monte Carlo simulation method. The thesis identified and ranked the Systemic cash flow Risk variables through the intensive Literature Review and structured questionnaires. Accordingly, the Top ten Systemic Cash flow Risks are found to be Receiving Advance Payment, Materials and Equipment Shortage, Delay in Receiving Certified Interim Payment Documents from Consultant, Poor Design & Inaccurate Bid Items, Consultant’s Instructions/Change Orders, Buying Equipment and Machineries, Retention, Price Fluctuation, Delays in Payment Issuance from Client, and Inflation in Resources used. Upon selection of Seven Systemic cash flow risks and Project Specific risks selected only based on applicability to the case study project, analysis of the project was done to determine and forecast the probabilistic cash flows using Monte Carlo Simulation Method Tool i.e. @Risk 7.5. As a result, the thesis revealed that the probabilistic cash flow results have resembled to the actual cash flow of the case study building. Thus, confirming Monte Carlo Simulation as a powerful and applicable method for similar and related cases by incorporating systemic and project specific risks.
Challenges of Finishing Works on Integrated Modulus System (IMS) Building Technology: A Case Study on Projects under Construction in Addis Ababa
(Addis Ababa University, 2020-12) Yididiya, Tesfaye; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.)
In Ethiopia prefabrication was introduced by a technical assistance from the former Yugoslavia. Government in 1980’s, former Prefabricated Building Parts Production Enterprise PBPPE is now under the Ethiopian Construction Works Corporation Building Technology and Construction Sector (ECWC BTCS). Though the company has changed its name, it is still using the same system at the time of installation of the plant in the 1984 without updating the technology and a major renovation work on the production plant. Obviously, this posed a challenge on the adaptability of the Integrated Modulus System (IMS) with time as technologies develop and the standard of living improves especially, with the finishing touches of a building. That is what this research tries to address the problem that arises with the issue of an updated technology on the building construction sector of our times. The study was made by conducting a detailed observation and analysis on three projects namely ICT G+7 Incubation Center, former Addis Ababa Meles Zenawi Leadership Academy AAMZLA (now Ayat Mothers and Children Hospital MCH) and Kotebe Metropolitan University Administration Building which are under construction and employ IMS building construction system to identify the inconveniences that comes with the beginning of finishing works on a site. A through interview was also conducted to further strengthen the issue at hand. The results of the study show that the building system has regressed in our country as compared to the international practice, as difficulties arises in coping with finishing works that needs a lot of piping and wiring in our days of construction period. These difficulties had led to an additional spending in terms of cost, time and quality of the projects under consideration. And finally a recommendation is forwarded for the concerned bodies that the system needed to be updated before this technology is lost with the decaying power of time to get a better result that comes with the use of a controlled production of building elements or prefabrication.
Comparative Analysis on Building Construction Labour Management Practices of Local and Foreign Contractors in Addis Ababa
(Addis Ababa University, 2020-07) Mesfin, Bekele; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.)
Labour management in building construction has an essential impact on controlling manpower related problems. Ineffective construction labour management is always a source of claims, conflicts, unproductivity, cost overrun, and delay affecting overall performance of the construction projects causing imperfect competition among local and foreign construction contractors. This study was aimed at conducting a comparative analysis of building construction labour management practices between local and foreign contractors in Addis Ababa. It is important to identify the trend gaps between these contractors, and work for improvement. The principal tools used to conduct this research are literature review to select the most common building construction labour management practices identifying 39 factors leading to affect management practices, and experiences of other countries; two separate semi-structured survey questionnaires for contractors at head offices and at project site, and semi-structured interview with senior Foreman (Craftsmen). Using the Kish sampling technique a total of 112 respondents (i.e. 40 Contractors, 40 Engineers, 32 Foreman (Craftsmen)) has been involved in the study from both foreign and local construction contractors. The study has used the SPSS software of 20.0 version to analyze the responses from survey questionnaire and calculated RII to prioritize the leading factors. The study has revealed major problems of building construction labour management practices from both local and foreign contractors affecting their performance. According to the results of the study; lack of HRM personnel, technical selection criteria, lack of scheduled training, minimum labour wage scale and labour-relation are found to be the major factors affecting contractors’ performance. Comparative study of management-related and labour-related problems also has been done. Finally, relevant recommendations for the conclusions made, and future research areas are forwarded.
Comparative Analysis on Local and International Administered by Comparative Analysis on Factors Affecting Performance and International Contractors in Road Projects Administered by Ethiopian Roads Authority Performance of Road Projects Ethiopian Roads Authority
(AAU, 2016-11) Azeb, Getahun; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.)
Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) representing the Government of Ethiopia manages road construction projects in Ethiopia. Local and International contractors are carrying out substantial portion of these road construction projects. However, most of the road projects are suffering from factors negatively affecting the performance of both Local and International contractors. Identifying the major factors affecting the performance of Local and International contractors plays essential role in devising appropriate measures to improve the performance of contractors to complete projects within the desired performance requirements. A total of (37) factors that influence performance of Local and International contractors and a total of (15) factors that particularly influence the performance of International contractors were identified based on the literature review. The identified factors were categorized into groups depending on types of performance process and statistical analyses of their significance were carried out based on the questionnaire survey with senior professionals from both groups of contractors. The outcome of these analyses showed that all respondents agreed that the performance of the contractors were influenced by all the factors indicated in the questionnaire and the top ten factors which significantly affect performance were then identified. Recommendation towards improvement of the current performance for Local and International contractors and ERA are illustrated, which include: Local contractors shall ensure that they have enough capital base and proper cash flow and capacity building of high level professionals and intermediate skilled personnel to be given prior attention; International contractors shall have project knowledge of the specific country they plan to work with; and ERA shall establish independent right-of-way team and stipulate the approval of claims with the time-frame so as to facilitate the progress of works. Future research is recommended, focus in studying the effect of the identified performance factors both on the contractors and road projects administered by ERA.
Development of an Approximate Construction Time Prediction Models During the Project Planning Phase. A Case Study of Selected Private Mixed Use and Public Office Building Projects in Addis Ababa.
(Addis Ababa University, 2021-09) Miliyon, Fikre; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.); Selam, Yazew (Mr.)
Time, Cost and quality are key performance indicators of construction projects. However, failure to rely on standard duration prediction model lead towards delay of construction projects, which is currently an observed situation in the construction sector. Therefore, the Key objective of this study is to examine and validate the Bromillow’s Time-cost (BTC) model and the Love et al.’s Time-Floor (LTF) model to estimate contract durations for private mixed use and public office building projects in Addis Ababa. The study also propose an alternative duration prediction model by considering potentially influential project scope factors identified from literature by checking their appropriateness and comparing their prediction performances. The LTF model formulates the project duration in terms of gross floor area and floor numbers, while the BTC model formulates in terms of cost. Research data were collected from grade one consultants for private mixed-use buildings and from Addis Ababa City Administration Construction Bureau (AACACB) and Federal Government Buildings Construction Project Office (FGBCPO) for public office buildings. IBM SPSS statistics 26 and WEKA tool 3.8.5 were used to develop and validate the developed construction duration prediction models. Applying linear regression method, the study developed Bromillow’s Time-cost (BTC), Love et al.’s Time-Floor (LTF) and proposed ‘best-fit model’ indicating that the gross floor area is the sole predictor of duration. The model validation result also shows that BTC is superior model over linear regression models. Further, a multilayer perceptron neural network (MLP - NN) predictive model to the same data was applied to develop construction duration prediction models. As a result, (MLP - NN) model result shows significant improvement of the accuracy of the construction time prediction over linear regression models with mean absolute percentage error of 22.2% in private mixed use and 16.3 % in public office building projects. The practical implications of this study can help stakeholders participating in the construction industry to get multiple benefits such as client satisfaction, efficient and effective use of resources, minimizing occurrence of claims and healthy relationship among stakeholders in the construction business sector.
Development of Maintenance Prioritization Guideline for Historical Public Institution Buildings in Addis Ababa
(Addis Ababa University, 2017) Meresa, Mekonnen; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.)
This research deals with preparation of maintenance guidelines that enables the prioritization of one historical building over the other. It also deals with identifying the optimal maintenance type appropriate for historical buildings of public institutions in Addis Ababa. The objectives of the research were to prepare maintenance inspection checklist, to inspect and evaluate the maintenance condition of selected buildings and to develop maintenance optimization model for one of the inspected historical buildings, i.e., Menelik II School. Different literatures were reviewed to prepare the inspection checklist and understand trends of developed countries to record maintenance condition of buildings. Visual inspections in conjunction with the developed condition inspection checklist were used to evaluate the maintenance condition of eight historical buildings of public institutions. The research found that six out of the eight selected historical buildings were under „moderate‟ maintenance condition while the rest two buildings are in „good‟ condition. Moreover, the best possible maintenance decision was identified for one of the selected historical buildings, namely, Menelik II School. The maintenance decision was chosen by developing Markov decision process through prescribing appropriate maintenance alternatives along with their detailed engineering cost estimates and by estimating deterioration probabilities from Monte Carlo simulations for the different maintenance decision alternatives. Linear programming was formulated for the decision process to get the optimal maintenance alternative at different conditions of the historical building under budget and time constraints. The maintenance decision model, developed for Menelik II School, suggested to „donothing‟ when a building component is found in an excellent state; to do activities prescribed under „preventive maintenance‟ for building components that are found under good maintenance condition; to execute specified items of work for „repairing defects‟ and „preventive maintenance‟ when building components are classified under moderate condition. Lastly, the decision model recommends to „replace building components‟ based on the developed specification for building components that are in „poor and failed condition.
Effectiveness of Quality Management System (ISO 9001- 2008) Implementation in Ethiopian Construction Consultants
(Addis Ababa University, 2019-02) Selamawit, Tigestu; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.)
The construction industry in Ethiopia has faced problems in delivering projects. Time overrun, cost overrun and insufficient quality are common for many projects. These problems are caused by a number of factors such as poor project cost estimation, price escalation of construction materials, poor project planning, poor project follow-up, poor design quality, human resource problem, and poor financial and equipment management. Due to this, customer satisfaction is rare for many projects. Engineering consultants are among the major construction parties responsible for critical activities and performance of projects. Therefore, this research attempts to introduce effective Quality Management System implementation approach to achieve predetermined objectives set by the consultants in delivering projects to satisfy customers. It is about developing a Quality Management System which adequately fulfills the requirements set by ISO 9001 2008 standard. Quality Management System is a tough approach which advance the way of doing things through introducing standard procedures to the company activities to achieve the best result. Procedures are developed for the company activities based on the ISO 9001 2008 standard requirements to have consistent way of doing things and make continuous improvement on the procedures to maximize the output. The aim of this research is to identify the effectiveness of implementation of Quality Management System in Ethiopian construction consultants and challenges in the application of the system and to recommend improvement actions that will make the system effective. To attain this objective, the study specifically explores the current involvement of the construction consultants in utilizing ISO 9001 2008 standard QMS, effectiveness of implementation of ISO 9001 2008 QMS in Ethiopian Construction Consultants, Quality Management System implementation challenges and measures to implement the system effectively. The study also attempts to introduce QMS principles, standard requirements and tools to establish the system. Consultants attempt on the implementation of QMS is evaluated according to the ISO 9001 2008 standard requirements.Both quantitative and qualitative analysis has been done for the survey. The results of this research have confirmed that the performance of Ethiopian consultants with respect to effective implementation of ISO QMS is poor. It is due to lack of adequate knowledge on activities to make the system effective, the difficulty to interpret the standard requirement, lack of top management commitment and engagement of employees, lack of technical expertise to establish and control the implementation of the system, lack of intensive internal audit, and lack of exhaustive surveillance audit made by the certification agent. The survey results also show that the involvement of construction consultants in the country on QMS is negligible. From the total number of 350 consultants less than 3% of construction consultants have been certified for the system. This is because QMS benefits are not clearly understood by the consultants. However QMS strongly improve the project performance as well as customer satisfaction through providing standard processes for company activities and allowing continuous improvement to these operating processes. Based on the findings this study proposed area of efforts for the improved implementation of the system.
Feasibility of Using Selected Addis Ababa Basaltic Crusher Dust as Partial Cement Replacement Material in Concrete Production
(Addis Ababa University, 2018-01) Hamid, Ebrahim; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.)
The production of coarse aggregates generates up to 25% Crusher by-product. Crusher by-product contains 15% to 25% fine materials called crusher dust. In most of aggregate production plants found in Ethiopia, dry screening to separate the excess fines from crusher by-product is not adopted. Hence crusher by-product containing high amount of fines becomes controversial to be used as manufactured sand, on the other hand there are economic and environmental issues speculated in relation to the use of River sand and Portland cement products. Consequently Efforts have been made in the concrete industry to use crusher dust as partial replacement of fine aggregates and cement. This research work examines the feasibility of using raw basaltic crusher dusts as a partial replacement of OPC and PPC cement in concrete production. Here OPC and PPC were partially replaced by Basaltic Crusher Dust as 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% to prepare blended cements and produce commonly used C-25 and C-30concretes. Then tests were performed to examine the effects of basaltic crusher dust replacements on consistency and setting time of cement paste; compressive strength of cement mortar; workability of fresh concrete and compressive strength and water permeability of hardened concretes. Additionally it was attempted to survey the possible economic and environmental advantages derived from using basaltic crusher dust as a partial cement replacement material. From the results obtained, it was noticed that basaltic crusher dust can replace 5% of PPC and 10% of OPC with comparable concrete compressive strength and water penetration resistance. However, basaltic crusher dust containing up to 20% clay shows higher loss in compressive strength of cement mortar and concrete compressive strength. Furthermore it was observed that partial replacement of basaltic crusher dust with OPC or PPC is more favorable in C-25 than C-30 concrete. Replacing crusher dust were also found to reduce environmental and related problems created in lesser use of crusher by-product and crusher dust produced during aggregate production. Finally it was able to observe that using basaltic crusher dust as partial cement replacement material by 5% and 10% results in saving 2.7% to 6.4% cost of concretes with comparable properties.
A Guide to Improve Building Commissioning In Ethiopian Construction: Case Studies on Selected Public Institution Projects in Addis Ababa
(AAU, 2018) Michael, Birhanu; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.)
Commissioning (Cx) new buildings and retro-commissioning existing construction facilities are becoming a quality assurance measure in the construction industry in many countries. The purpose of the commissioning process is to verify the performance of the systems and to provide documentation evidence that all equipment and systems are installed and functioned according to the design intents, standards and requirements of the client. However, building commissioning (BCx) has never been systematically and strategically promoted in the ‘program’, ‘design’, ‘construction’ and ‘acceptance’ stages. This has not been properly addressed. Very often, Cx is overlooked by owners, architects and engineers, contractors and operators mainly due to mis-conception on Cx as a “less technical and lower level task”. As a result, commissioning process is implemented differently from project to project, firm to firm, and sometimes polarized by “personal expertise”. This paper aims to explore the current scenario of building commissioning in the Ethiopian construction industry and develop a potential framework to improve building commissioning for construction projects in Ethiopia by conducting case studies on selected public institution building construction projects in Addis Ababa. The research findings indicated that, building commission is vital to confirm the final outcome of a project is in compliance with the design and specified requirements and Cx should be handled as integral part of project life-cycle. Also problems during commissioning are mostly interrelated with problems during construction stage and some of these problems are significance in affecting the handing over of the project and tend to recur from project to project. The framework aims to provide a more holistic view and better insight on building commissioning for the Ethiopia context by eliminating these unattended problems. This study also intends to generate a guideline for the construction practitioners on the common activities of commissioning that needs to be planned even during the construction stage to improve projects performance.
Identification of Problems on Road Maintenance and Assessment of the Effects of Poor Road Maintenance on Road Function (in the case of Federal Roads of Ethiopia)
(Addis Ababa University, 2022-03) Ermias, Eyob; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.); Addis, Mesfin (Mr.) Co-Advisor
To facilitate the socio-economic growth of one’s country, the importance of well-conditioned road networks with the proper road maintenance practice is very significant. However, most of the federal roads are not in good condition, even more than one-third of the federal roads are in poor and very poor condition (not safe for driving). This study focused on the identification of the existing problems of road maintenance and assessment of the overall effects of poor road maintenance on road function. The objectives of the study were achieved through a literature review, desk study, interview and questionnaire survey to identify the most significant problems of road maintenance and the most frequent effects of poor road maintenance on road function. Accordingly, a total of thirty-seven (37) top-ranked problems are acknowledged as the most significant problems on road maintenance under four categories, namely client-related, consultant-related, contractor-related and other problems and a total of eleven (11) top-ranked effects are acknowledged as the most frequently occurring effects of poor road maintenance. Among them, the study finding indicated that procurement delay, insufficient road condition survey with lack of appropriate project prioritization mechanism and slow decision-making process under client-related problems; staff unavailability on the site, insufficient data collection and condition survey before road maintenance and delay in decision making under consultant-related problems; shortage of equipment, equipment allocation/ management problems and lack of acquiring new and recent technology equipment under contractor-related problems and people in power have a little understanding on the effects of poor road maintenance, road maintenance is politically unattractive and lack of interest by professionals to participate in road maintenance works under other problems are the top-ranked problems on road maintenance. On the other hand, reduce the riding comfort, shorten the service/design life of the roads and increase vehicle operating costs are the top-ranked frequently occurring effects of poor road maintenance on road function. Thus, all the concerning stakeholders are recommended to give all due attention towards the most significant (acknowledged) problems while undertaking any road maintenance to alleviate the problems and minimize their effects.
The Impact of Design-Bid-Build Procurement Method on Performance of Public Building Construction project in Addis Ababa
(Addis Ababa University, 2020-12) Mohammed, Usmail; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.)
Occurrence of extensive delay and additional cost happen on construction projects were due to lack of availability of proper selection of project delivery methods made by project team members. For the project proposed, the project delivery chosen by a given client can affect the project performance outputs. This study sought the impact of DBB systems on project performance. Methodology used was questionnaires, interview and case study projects. The respondents were selected using purposive sampling. The result found that the selection criteria of procurement delivery system are identified and ranked namely certainty of final price, certainty of completion date, demand of quality, competition price, controllable variation, administration burden and risk allocation. In addition, currently there is lack of research in government building projects regarding impacts of DBB procurement system on project performance relative to DB. Thus, the comparison assessment undertaken between DBB and DB to recommends the better procurement system in government owned building projects of study area. A case study of both DBB and DB of public building projects in Addis Ababa were studied. The results shows that cost per m2 of design bid build(DBB) is higher than design build of building projects because the DB cost per m2 is reduced by maintaining lower initial contracted unit cost than DBB method. From analysis of case study projects, DB delivery system public building project are better than DBB building projects in terms of time and cost growth because DBB more subjected for design change, design error, variation order, error and discrepancies in design document and quantity increase which in turn causes cost and time overruns in public building project of study area. Therefore, it concludes that time and cost growth in design build is minimized than traditional design bid build of public building projects. It is recommended that client and other concerned bodies of stakeholders in the building construction project should be utilized and adopts alternative DB procurement methods to minimize the impact and problems of DBB procurement method on project performance.
Impact of Human Capital Development on Road Contractors Performance
(AAU, 2017-11) Tigist, Ayele; Abebe, Dinku (Prof.)
The Construction industry provides infrastructure that supports the other sectors of the economy. Unfortunately, the industry is saddled with numerous challenges varying from internal weaknesses to external threats that affect and influence its performance. The success of any organization and any industry depends on the human capital available. Human capital is getting wider attention with increasing globalization and also the saturation of the job market due to the recent downturn in the various economies of the world. The study is aimed at assessing the impact of human capital development on performance of road contractors. The research focused on Category 1 / GC 1 contractors and their performance on asphalt road projects specifically in the ERA and AACRA Projects. A questionnaire survey approach involving 36 professionals in various construction companies were used. The questionnaire sought to elicit response from the sample by adopting open and close ended questions. Subsequently, the response data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, relative importance index and using SPSS software. The findings revealed that the managements in almost all surveyed companies were willing to invest resources to ensure personnel development. But, lacks of detail evaluation after giving the human capital development were identified as the critical challenges for the performance of the contractors. Project performance was also examined against time and cost and the research showed that the lack of human capital development is one of the main reason for projects to complete with overruns. Thus the study re-echoed the need for well-designed and accepted training policy and systematical evaluation and impact identification mechanism for the improvement of skills, knowledge and professional development in the construction industry.

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