SAMPLE RESEARCH PROPOSAL

APPLICATIONS OF O.R. TECHNIQUES FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE IN CONSTRUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND Construction is an activity, which cuts across almost all sectors of the economy. It is an activity, which transforms various resources into economical and social infrastructure and facilities. It includes all phases of the process of transformation viz.- planning, designing, financing, procurement, construction, operations etc. The construction sector is an essential contributor to the process of development. Roads, dams, irrigation works, factories and other construction works are the physical foundations on which the development efforts and improved living standards are established. It usually accounts for three percent to eight percent of a developing country s !ross "omestic #roduct. In the conte$t of liberalization of the Indian economy, domestic and foreign investment is likely to flow into various infrastructure pro%ects in a big way. This is more so, taking into consideration the conferring of industry status to the construction sector by the !overnment of India. &luctuations in construction demand affect the economy in many ways. They affect the demand for labour and materials as well as the lag time taken to supply the industry s output. 'ackward and forward linkages affect the working of a wide range of operations. In fact, construction industry has been ranked among the top four out of twenty economic sectors in terms of inter sectoral linkages.( These linkages together with a high, )value added output ratio, indicates that construction provides a substantive growth stimulus throughout the economy. Its importance as an agent for development is enhanced by its ability to provide gainful employment for a large number of people.* 1.2 THE NEED FOR QUALITY +uality is receiving attention around the world on an unprecedented scale. Rising customer e$pectations and competition are setting new benchmarks for ,uality in every sector. Customer e$pectations for better ,uality products and services will increase as the world gets better traveled and ,uality awareness is constantly raised. The need for suppliers to give assurance that the product or service they provide will meet customer re,uirements will increase. Third party certification, which indicates that a supplier has a ,uality system in place, will give added confidence to the customer.

NICMAR, Employment Projection in Construction Sector 1995-96 to 2 p$ %$

2

!- 5, NICMAR Pu"lic#tion, Mum"#i, 1996,

Accor&in' to N#r#y#n, ($)$, (oint A&*isor, Ministry o+ St#tistics , Pro'r#mme Implement#tion in t-e .-ir& N#tion#l Con+erence on Construction, Ne/ 0el-i, 2 1 t-e construction in&ustry employs #lmost t-irty one million /or2 men, /it-in t-e t-ree million construction entities o+ l#r'e, me&ium #n& sm#ll si3e /-ere, #'e ol& tr#&itions #n& st#te o+ t-e #rt tec-nolo'y co-e4ist to meet t-e &em#n&$

Client s e$pectations for better ,uality products and services pervade all sectors. The construction sector is no e$ception. In fact, ,uality management is even more crucial in a construction pro%ect owing to the high investment and the wide range of e$pertise and trades involved. In construction ,uality assurance represents increasingly important concerns for pro%ect managers. "efects or failures in constructed facilities can result in very large costs. -ven with minor defects, re-construction may be re,uired and facility operations impaired. Increased costs and delays are the result. In the worst case, failures may cause personal in%uries or fatalities. Indirect costs of insurance, inspection and regulation are increasing rapidly due to these increased direct costs. !ood pro%ect managers try to ensure that the %ob is done right the first time. +uality management is thus an integral part of the construction sector. 1.3 MANAGEMENT THROUGH SCIENTIFIC TECHNIQUES .cientific or ,uantitative techni,ues also known as /perational Research techni,ues are management techni,ues, employing mathematics as an aid in arriving at a rational decision in situations where there are large numbers of likely alternative solutions. /perational research does not necessarily aim at the establishment of a solution that is better than the practice already in hand. It s stated ob%ect is to find the best possible solution to a problem. This may not always be practicable, but the aim is always evident in the work. The title of the science includes the word )research because this is, in fact, what the operational researcher is doing into the manager s task. The concern here is not so much with what has been done, or what is being done, but rather with how the particular %ob should be done in order to obtain the optimal result. .cientific techni,ues assist in the managerial function of decision making by not only providing solutions to the e$isting problems but also by providing the most optimum solution thus simplifying the burden of decision making by the manager. 0n important feature of these scientific techni,ues is that they can be employed in any field of management, at any circumstances and for any problems. Thus scientific techni,ues are a boon to the management fraternity and its proper understanding and utilisation would yield the best results for a given problem. .cientific techni,ues are more commonly utilised in the manufacturing sector and their scope in the other sectors, especially the construction sector is very much limited, mainly due to the fact that these techni,ues are more appropriate for the organised sectors and the construction sector is a highly unorganised sector. 1.4 OBJECTIVE OF STUDY The overall ob%ective of the study is to analyse the applications of /R techni,ues for ,uality assurance in construction. In particular the study will e$amine i. the important /peration Research techni,ues applied in the manufacturing sector and try to implement the same in the construction field with greater emphasis on the applicability of these techni,ues in the improvement of ,uality in the construction sector.

ii. how to reduce the limitations of the sampling method, commonly used in practice to determine the ,uality of the product, with the help of ,uantitative techni,ues such as .tatistical +uality Control 1.+C2. 1.5 IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY +uality 0ssurance .ystem is an important ingredient of any construction pro%ect. The issue becomes critical in large infrastructure construction pro%ects under e$ecution. The checking of ,uality at various stages of such large volumes of construction work becomes more difficult and demanding. The common practice of ,uality control is to conduct sample testing and conclude on the basis of the results obtained. This sampling method has limitations. &irst issue is about the applicability of the samples to the whole volume. The other issue is about minimum specified values of strength and hardness. These minimum specified values do not assist us in %udging the actual values obtained during the sample tests, which have large variations above the minimum, prescribed. 0ll these issues need investigation and method of %udging the utility of values obtained during testing. /perational research methods including ,uantitative techni,ues such as statistical ,uality control may provide solution to these issues. 'ut the approach re,uires large test data to analyse and to come up with some pattern. 0pplication of /R techni,ues in the day to day operations leads to the improvement in the work performance and helps to optimize costs and time factors in the organization. This eventually would lead to the overall performance improvement of the company, thus improving the overall ,uality of work. .ome of the operational research techni,ues have given e$cellent results in the manufacturing field. .imilar attempt is made to see if these methods can be applied to the construction sector for beneficial study. 1.6 METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY The study re,uires a detailed understanding of /perational research techni,ues and their applicability for various situations. It also re,uires a detailed understanding about the ,uality assurance measures employed presently in the construction industry. The following method of study will be adopted for conducting the study. i. 3iterature reviews regarding /perational research techni,ues and ,uality were collected and studied from the published materials available on the sub%ect. Interviews with e$perts in the field of operational research techni,ues and ,uality were made to obtain a practical and realistic view about the topic. The websites related to operational research techni,ues and ,uality was accessed and relevant information was collected. In an effort to apply the operational research techni,ues in construction to improve the ,uality of construction, case studies were undertaken and various data were collected from the companies4

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pro%ects, chosen for the study. The data collection was mainly through personal investigation. 1. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 0lthough scope of /R techni,ues are enormous, the study will have following limitations5 i. 0pplications of all the operational research techni,ues are not suitable in construction as certain techni,ues are mainly suitable for the manufacturing sector. The operational research techni,ues are mainly employed in the manufacturing sector and they are scarcely utilized in the construction sector. This scarcity is reflected in the availability of literatures on the topic. Time and monetary constraints limits the depth of penetration of the study. The data re,uired for the case studies are confidential data of the companies and the non-availability of the necessary data has limited the study to a certain e$tent.

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1.! SCHEME OF THE STUDY The study will consist of si$ chapters. C"#$%&' I will be an introductory chapter. This chapter highlights the importance of construction sector. It also deals with the importance of the concept of ,uality and introduces the reader to the concept of scientific management. C"#$%&' II will be an introduction to /perations Research techni,ues. It will provide insight to the various fields of applications of these techni,ues. This chapter will also trace the growth of ,uantitative techni,ues from its origin to the present situation and the concept of mathematical models that are the basics of operational research techni,ues. C"#$%&' III deals with linear programming techni,ues of operational research and the transportation problem of operational research. It e$plains the techni,ue with suitable illustrations. This chapter also will be dealing with models that help to optimize the transportation cost. C"#$%&' IV deals with forecasting methods of operational research, statistical ,uality control 6 ,uality assurance in construction. &orecasting techni,ues helps to predict the future re,uirements based on the past trends. This chapter will also provide information about statistical ,uality control charts and sampling methods 6 the importance of ,uality in construction sector. C"#$%&' V will be two case studies. The first case study will be about Ready 7i$ Concrete #lants owned by The 0ssociated Cement Companies 10CC2, located at 'angalore. 0n effort will be made to implement the operational research techni,ues in the day-to-day operations of the plants, through this case study. The second case study will be a highway pro%ect near #une, e$ecuted by 74. 0shoka 'uildcon 3imited. .tatistical ,uality control is applied in this case study. C"#$%&' VI will be summary findings, conclusions and recommendations.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Give a select bibliography on the topic/area of study.