Question

Your company is planning to bid a contract to lay 60,000 square yards of asphalt pavement to improve the Carolinas airport runway. You have been asked to estimate the duration and direct equipment cost of the project. The contract specifications require that the pavement be 3 inches thick after compaction. The mix design is such that you estimate the asphalt to weigh 3,100 pounds per cubic yard when loose and 3,900 pounds per cubic yard after it has been compacted. You have searched your records and have extracted the following data for productions and resource availability:

• The company has one asphalt batch plant that is able to produce a maximum of 1,000 tons in an 8 hour day.

• The company has one asphalt paver available for the job. Records show that it is able to pave 5,600 square yards in an 8 hour day.

• The company is able to rent any number of haul trucks. These have a capacity of 8 cubic yards (loose) and you estimate that they will be able to make one round trip per hour from the batch plant to the paver and back.

• The company owns a number of asphalt rollers and will send as many as needed to the job. Each roller is able to compact 2,800 square yards of 3 inches thick asphalt in a day.

  Your equipment costing policy is as follows:

  • All equipment is charged to a job on the basis of a full 8 hour day. Parts of a day are rounded up when calculating equipment cost.

  • The whole crew stays on the job for the full duration of the job.

  • The asphalt plant is to be charged out to jobs for the duration of the job at a rate of $7,000 for

    an 8 hour day.

  • The paver is charged to jobs at a rate of $1,200 per day for an 8 hour day.

  • You rent trucks for $360 per 8 hour day.

  • Your rollers cost $240 per 8 hour day.

    Assignment

  • Calculate the duration of the project in days.

  • Calculate the total direct equipment cost.

  • Identify the resource that dictates project duration.

  • Prepare a memo to your boss that summarizes your results as shown in Table 1 below.

    item	Value or Name
    Duration of the project
    Total direct equipment cost
    Resource that dictates project duration

   

Answer 1