Logistic Problems Generated by Crossrail and Their Solutions - Coursework Example

Logistic Problems Generated by Crossrail and their solutions Word count 2,280 Word count (without 2,116 Abstract The crossrail project implementation will pose many logistic problems some of which are difficult to solve. The nature and type of logistic problems range from the general logistic problems experienced for construction projects to problems experienced in major construction projects such as the crossrail project. These factors are as a result of city planning, transport, suppliers of material and equipment etc. to be able to solve these problems it is necessary to identify the root cause of the problem and try to tackle it so that it does not come up again. Crossrail has managed to realize some of these problems and has already provided solutions to them. This paper will give a brief introduction to crossrail and its intended advantages, it will then discuss the logistic problems that will be generated by the construction work, and it will follow by outlining solutions to these problems before making a conclusion. Introduction Crossrail is an ambitious project to build a major railway link in central London. The name is used to refer to the first two routes which are under the responsibility of Crossrail Limited. It is based on a different and new east-west tunnel with a central section from Paddington to Liverpool street station. This project was approved in 2007 after a very long time of debate. The crossrail act received royal assent in July 2008 (Crossrail, 2011). The services offered will complement the enhanced north-south Thames link route. Ten-car trains are expected to run at frequencies of up to 24 trains per hour in each of the channels through the central tunnel section. In the original plan the first train was scheduled to run in 2017 but in a comprehensive review in 2010 that saw the saving of £1 billion changed the initial plan to 2018. Fig. 1 Crossrail route Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CrossrailLine1Map.svg#filehistory Crossrail benefits The benefits of constructing the cross rail are many. The first benefit is easing transport problem in London which has been a huge headache for London. The second benefit is that it will provide better access to the capital for over 750,000 workers who are said to commute daily into London. Lastly the project is also aimed at providing job opportunities to many people who will be employed in the in the construction process and after the completion of the project to manage the various services offered by the train service. It is estimated that crossrail will generate up to 14,000 jobs when the construction reaches peak (Crossrail, 2011). Fig 2 source: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=158506&page=7 Fig 3 source: http://www.thameslinkprogramme.co.uk/cms/pages/view/33 Fig 4 source: http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/flickr_api/set_list.php?page=2&uid=72157627734615808&title=Crossrail%20Royal%20Oak%20Portal Fig 5 finished product Source: http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/flickr_api/set_list.php?page=2&uid=72157627734615808&title=Crossrail%20Royal%20Oak%20Portal Logistics in construction Logistics refers to the efficient transfer of goods and services from the source of supply through that manufacturer to the consumer in a cost effective manner that will provide service to the customer (Rushton, Croucher, & Baker, 2006, p. 6). Logistic management tries to minimize costs by providing a cost effective system across the whole process and ensuring the evaluation of facilities and issues that may have any impact on logistic costs and make the product conform to the customers’ requirements. Many construction projects ranging from the small projects to the major projects like the crossrail project face many logistic problems that contractors work hard every day to avoid. The proper management of logistic issues will either lead to the successful implementation of a project or lead to its failure. Research has shown that effective logistic management has rarely been applied in construction projects. This has been attributed to the specific nature of the construction industry (Snaashari, et al., 2010, p. 8). In construction ventures logistics management includes mobilizing the various resources that include man, material and machine, ensuring that they are in the right place in the right quantities and at the right time, providing conditions that enhance quality, safety and efficiency in the entire project. Therefore logistic functions in construction projects can be seen to comprise of the following, specifying supply of resources, acquiring the resources, logistic planning and scheduling, site layout, transportation, warehousing, handling and monitoring and control (Ala-Risku & Karkkainen, 2005, p. 1). The crossrail project just like any major construction project will generate so many logistic problems some of which may pose a big challenge in finding solutions to mediate them. There are a variety of problems beginning with the procurement of resources, to the delivery of the resources to the construction sites and the handling of those resources at the various construction sites to help in the effective implementation of the entire project. The management of logistic issues will have a major impact on the entire project and depending on how these issues are handled; they will lead to the fruitful completion of the project or a failure in the project. Logistic problems generated by Crossrail The first logistic problem that may be generated is that of transportation of resources from the warehouses to the construction sites. Central London is a busy place just like any other city and faces congestion. The main construction works began in 2010 and this include a 21 kilometre of twin bore tunnels that are constructed underneath central London with major stations at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel and Isle dogs. All these places are busy places within London and will pose a huge problem to any major construction work that is to be undertaken in central London (Crossrail, 2011). This means that in order to speed up the transportation of the construction materials and the manpower to these construction areas alternative routes that can be used to deliver resources and materials on time. This project for it to succeed will require the disruption of the normal functioning of the of the transport facilities which are already strained and congested and therefore this will only worsen the situation (Kooragamage, 2010). The second problem is the supply of resources to ensure that the project remains on course and is completed at the expected time. The supply of resources especially construction materials is highly dependent on funding for the entire project. The project having received royal assent can be assumed to have full support of the government and funding can be assumed not to be a problem. In the recent past the problem of funding for this project has been an issue that has raised controversy and this will affect the supply of resources. Such a major project requires supplies in time to reach the construction sites. It is important that such materials are procured in the early enough form reputable suppliers who will sustain the entire project and not those who will fail on the way. This will require strict guidelines on who can supply materials when, where and in what quantity (Yeow, Nickolson, & Morrison, 2006, p.3). A third problem can be as a result of warehousing and storage. Major construction projects face this as another big challenge in the running of projects and crossrail is not any exception. The project is aimed at making huge improvements in the transport sector facilitating access to central London and easing congestion in the cities. The planning of any city leaves very little room for any other activity with every place being designated for specific activities. In order to avoid delays in the delivery of materials to construction sites, it is often necessary to have storage at the construction site. This requires that room be made around the site so that materials can be stored and access to them can be easy. For construction projects being done in the city, this could be a problem that may eventually lead to late delivery of materials that will slow down the construction process (Snaashari, et al., 2010, p. 8). The fourth problem is that of late delivery of construction materials to the different sites that construction is on-going. London just as any other city has designated one way streets only, dedicated public transport routes and dedicated pedestrian routes or zones. This means that longer routes may be taken in order to get materials to construction sites. This is because some routes may not be accessible which may prove to be of help as they provide shorter routes to construction zones (Kooragamage, 2010). The moment these routes are inaccessible it means that other routes have to be sought to facilitate the movement of materials to constriction zones. The longer the materials take to reach the construction sites the longer the work stalls and this means that the work may be rescheduled for another time. This is not good for any project as it wastes time and effort and will lead to late completion of the entire project, which also means additional costs (Kooragamage, 2010). The fifth problem is the removal of waste and excavated material form the construction site. During the construction process there will be a lot of waste and other excavated material that need to be safely removed from the site to dumpsites. Crossrail is being faced with this problem of ensuring efficient removal of waste and excavated materials. This is a logistical problem as various means have to be found to integrate efforts in ensuring that work does not come to a standstill because of the waste and the excavated material that keep pilling at the construction sites. Mediating measures/Solutions All these logistic problems identified above can be solved with the right measures and strategies on the part of the logistic managers at the construction site. The crossrail has initiated a variety of mechanisms to address some of these problems that pose a huge problem to the successful implementation of the project. The project is still at its initial phases and the problems are not so profound. But as the project progresses with many activities ways need to be sought to ensure that these problems are addressed. Some of the strategies of overcoming these challenges are explained below. The first problem to do with transportation has elicited concern and crossrail has tried to find a way of overcoming this challenge. To solve the problem of transportation cross rail so it necessary to hire DHL an international leader in the logistics industry to assess and come up with ways in which the problem of transporting materials and machines to constructions sites can be done efficiently (Crossrail, 2011). The only way this problem could be solved is through the designation of a specific route to be used for the transport of the materials. Through assessment such a route should be shorter and easily accessible to the construction site. All traffic can be diverted to other areas until the construction at that specific site is complete. The second problem of supply of resources can be easily solved through following the best procurement practices in the industry. It is essential that before any materials or equipment is procured, an analysis of the supplier is made to ensure that they are in a position to supply materials to the construction site until the end of the contract. The logistic managers should identify the materials needed for the completion of the project and then estimate the volume that is needed for the successful completion of the project or section. Once this is known supplier selection and ordering can be made on the basis of the schedule. If delays are made in purchasing it means that a project of this magnitude will be affected by factors such as inflation, cash constraints among others that are likely to have a big impact on its schedule (Halpin & Senior, 2010,p. 94). The third problem is warehousing and storage and this can be solved through the designation of specific sites that could be in the outskirts of the city where space can be found. On the other hand ordering can also be done on what is needed urgently so that very little will be left for storage. This could work for materials but equipment will require a space designated for their storage. This is where the government may come in to provide land or other places for temporary storage of the equipment until the project is completed. The problem of late delivery must be addressed if any project has to successfully adhere to its schedule. This problem can be addressed through having a storage facility near the construction sites. This will facilitate the quick delivery of any material to the construction sites. This can be addressed with the above mentioned strategy of looking for storage facilities. Crossrail in addressing this problem is trying to work harder to eliminate the need for using the road in delivery of materials and equipment. To facilitate faster delivery and avoid the congestion experienced in the city it has proposed the use of rail and water for faster delivery of materials and also as a way to avoid straining the already strained roads in the city (Sutherland & Boughtflower, 2011, p. 9). The last problem concerning waste removal can be done effectively by using rail and water as has been done by Crossrail. The waste could also lead to congestion in the city and therefore the only way to prevent this is through the use of water and rail that is not congested. This problem is especially significant at the beginning of the project but as the project progresses waste and excavated material will be very little (Sutherland & Boughtflower, 2011, p.28). Conclusion It has been seen that crossrail will generate many logistic problems with time as the construction proceeds. Some of these problems are easy to mediate while others require strategies that will incorporate many stakeholders to achieve them. In order to be successful the logistic managers need to look at these problems and ensure that they are addressed accordingly so that the project is successful. List of references Ala-Risku, T., & Karkkainen, M. (2005). Material delivery problems in construction projects. International Journal of Production Economics, 1-11. Crossrail. (2011). Crossrail appoints DHL to minimise impact of construction on central London. Retrieved November 23, 2011, from Crossrail Limited: http://www.crossrail.co.uk/news/press-releases/crossrail-appoints-dhl-to-minimise-impact-construction-on-central-london Crossrail. (2011). Crossrail: Benefits. Retrieved November 23, 2011, from Crossrail Limited: http://www.crossrail.co.uk/railway/benefits Crossrail. (2011). Crossrail: Getting approval. Retrieved November 23, 2011, from Crossrail limited: http://www.crossrail.co.uk/railway/getting-approval/ Halpin, D. W., & Senior, B. A. (2010). Construction Management. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons Publishing. Kooragamage, R. (2010). Optimising and Managing Transport Logistics for Major Projects in congested city Environment. Retrieved November 23, 2011, from EPSRC: http://engd-usar.cege.ucl.ac.uk/profilepreview/view/id/60 Rushton, A., Croucher, P., & Baker, P. (2006). The hand book of logistics and distribution management. (3rd ed.). London: Kogan Page Limited. Snaashari, E. A., barangi, B. K., Knight, A., Hurst, A., Alaghband, A., & Barangi, S. K. (2010, September). Construction materials Logistics management in Building Projects in Iran: the purchasing Process. Retrieved Novemeber 23, 2011, from Cobra: http://www.rics.org/site/download_feed.aspx?fileID=7774&fileExtension=PDF Sutherland, G., & Boughtflower, A. (2011, February). Crossrail central-logistics. Retrieved November 23, 2011, from CrossRail Limited: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:SwU4XUIiYqYJ:www.triangle.eu.com/check-file-access/%3Ffile%3D2011/02/Crossrail-Central-LogisticsV1.ppt+logistic+problems+in+crossrail&hl=en&gl=ke&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShLHP2ytsOL-06ycu_YTedEFFI95YxdqKoYYrapkqdcPwKJOb Yeow, H. C., Nickolson, D., & Morrison, P. (2006). Moorhouse foundation designed for future crossrail wins DFISs international oustanding project award. Retrieved November 23, 2011, from DFI: http://www.dfi.org/2005aOPA.pdf Read More