Since
1989, Global Consulting Group has been providing engineering,
infrastructure development, and consultancy services, across the world.
In 2007, the group bought an educational consultancy in India to help
strengthen its core market sectors in the country.
Today, the Indian chapter of the business spans across eight offices in
the metropolitan cities of India and employs more than 130
professionals. The Global Consulting Group in India provides expert
advice in diverse fields ranging from conceptualizing, infrastructure
set-up, brand building, and start-up operations,
Recently the group bagged a contract to establish six universities in
different parts of the country from a China based firm, Xhianshi
Corporation. The first project will come up at Manesar, in the National
Capital Region. Spread over 60 acres, the Manesar project will have
twelve blocks of eight floors each. The total built-up area would be
approximately6 million square feet.
Global Consulting Group has to complete the project by May 2011. The
group has appointed Mr. Rajiv Sood, their best Project Manager for the
Manesar project. Rajiv is an IIT graduate with an MBA from a reputed
B-school. Prior to the Global Consulting Group, he has worked for City
Infra having expertise in the field of infrastructure projects. Rajiv
took this as a challenge and aggressively met deadlines for the civil
construction. He delivered seven blocks with four floors each, by May
2009.
On one afternoon, Hemant, his ex-colleague form City Infra, visited
Rajiv. Hemant found Rajiv in midst of thoughts. Rajiv told Hemant that
he is stuck with a problem. He had to take a decision on Electrical
Conduit to be used in this project. He has to purchase around 3000 km
of electrical conduits, along with necessary accessories, for the
Manesar project. Until yesterday, he was to take a decision between two
alternatives i.e. Metal Conduit and PVC Conduit. Rajiv told Hemant that
he has been just visited by an executive of India Pipes, manufacturers
of High Density Poly Ethylene Pipes (HDPE). He has to decide among
three alternative conduits - Metal Conduit, Poly-vinyl chloride pipe,
vis-à-vis HDPE pipes. He also clarified with Hemant that the electrical
conduits go in to ceiling at the time of casting and in the walls
before plastering. The decision needs to be taken today, as he is going
out of country for one month and the project may suffer. Hemant
suggested that Rajiv do a comparative study. Rajiv prepared the study
as below:
|
| |
| |
Metal Conduit |
PVC Conduit |
HDPE Conduit |
Standard Lengths |
3 m |
3 m |
100 m or as required |
Eco-friendly |
Yes |
Emits harmful Carcinogenic element |
Yes |
Corrosion Resistant |
Though galvanized but prone to corrosion |
Yes |
Yes |
Transportation and Handling |
Heavy so handling is tough and transportation is costly. |
Light in weight so easier to handle and
will be cheaper to transport than the metal conduits |
Comes in coils, so is cheaper to transport |
Accessories (Joining Coupler, Long Bend
,
Junction Box, Deep Junction Box etc.) |
Required |
Required |
Less number of accessories required as it comes in longer lengths |
Wastage |
Approx. 8% wastage |
Approx. 8% wastage |
Approx. 1% wastage |
Designed Life |
10-20 years |
10-15 years |
50 years |
Strength |
Most sturdy |
Less than the metal conduit |
Same as PVC conduit |
Installer Friendly |
Tough to install, More labour and time required to install. Grounding is also required. |
Easier than the metal conduit |
Fast installation as less no. of accessories to be installed |
|
Rajiv
further said that the chance of seepage is more in case of PVC conduit
as the number of loose joints is more. Rajiv also told that 1% of PVC
conduit is always found blocked because of the seepage from joints
hence could not be used. |
Rajiv
has a budget constraint too. He has to optimize the financial resources
available to him and deliver the very best option. To do so, he also
did a cost analysis to improve his decision-making. (See the chart
below) |
|