Advanced Material Handling for tall buildings
Real Estate

Advanced Material Handling for tall buildings

What are the best machines to handle men and materials when building tall? “We use equipment such as high-rise table lifting systems, tower cranes, scissor lifts, man material hoist lifts and construction lifts to carry massive bundles of steel, cement, tiles and other construction ...

What are the best machines to handle men and materials when building tall? “We use equipment such as high-rise table lifting systems, tower cranes, scissor lifts, man material hoist lifts and construction lifts to carry massive bundles of steel, cement, tiles and other construction material on high-rise construction sites,” says Navin Raheja, MD & CMD, Raheja Developers. According to Pratik Kataria, Director, Sainath Developers The House of Kataria, his teams deploy tower cranes, elevators and material hoists to move men and materials vertically, and conveyor belts to move materials horizontally. With this equipment, materials can be moved to high altitudes swiftly and securely. “We choose from tower cranes (free-standing/anchored, floor climbing, self-dismantling), passenger/material hoists, scissor lifts, service lifts, man lifts, jump forms for core walls, curve hoists, rope suspending platforms and concrete pumps,” says K Satyanarayana, Managing Director, Starworth Infrastructure and Construction Limited (SICL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Puravankara Ltd. “Our choice of equipment depends on the specific needs of the project, implying the type of building, its height, the cost viability and duration of the project. We also consider the safety requirements, including visibility of operations by the operator, automation, and safety locking limits.” “We use tower cranes, hoists, scissor lifts, high-rise table lifting systems and construction lifts to handle materials when we construct tall buildings, depending on the specific needs of the project,” adds Anoop Kumar Bhargava, CEO & Director, Empire Centrum. “To lift and shift construction materials like reinforcement and concrete at higher levels, we use tower cranes (jumping crane, hammerhead crane, self-climbing mast type, monkey crane, luffing), concrete pumps and concrete pipe lines, boom placers, man material hoists, stirrup making machines, binding wire tying machines, window cradles, construction suspended cradles and screens,” says Madan Mistry, Head - EPC, Omkar Realtors & Developers. “Also, we use monolithic construction systems like Mivan(aluminium shuttering), tunnel formwork for repetitive construction in high rises, and achieve almost 100 repetitions with one system and a slab cycle ranging from five to seven days.” Emerging technologies Technologies and devices to handle materials at heights are constantly evolving and improving, such that every iteration offers “some enhancements in safety, efficiency and effectiveness, and reduces the risk of material damage or waste”, says Bhargava. “Among the newer technologies to handle materials at height, we wouldconsider automated programming operated panels in tower cranes andhoists, robotic painting and plastering machines, robotic brick/blocklayers, laser-operated floor concreting machines, mechanised rope-suspended platforms, precast technologies, hydraulically operatedjump form system for core walls, self-compacted concrete and compositestructures,”shares Satyanarayana. Bhargava adds drones and climbing robots to this list. Drones can be deployed for inspection or transportation, while climbing robots perform maintenance and inspection tasks. Drones and climbing robots can access areas that are difficult or impossible for humans to reach, allowing for more thorough inspections and maintenance. New technologies and devices to handle materials at heights include aerial work platforms (self-propelled or trailer-mounted, small scissor lifts to large boom lifts), vacuum lifters (possibly attached to cranes, forklifts or other machinery), modern scaffolding systems and rope access systems, lists Kataria. Cost-benefit analysis Advanced solutions necessitate a high initial investment and higher operational and maintenance costs. But these machines are safer than conventional methods and enable faster construction and, therefore, enable the faster realisation of cash flows and large volumes of construction. Over their effective life, continually used advanced solutions compensate their initial investment far better than conventional methods, provided they are properly maintained, opines Mistry. He estimates the payback period of advanced material handling solutions to be about five years with proper utilisation and, thereafter, the equipment can be used for free for the next 10 years. While it is difficult to quantify the cost savings with the usage of advanced equipment, Satyanarayana points out that there will be asubstantial improvement in productivity and efficiency, and lower power consumption and repair and maintenance costs. Heestimates that advanced technologies may demand 10 to 15 per centadditional investment and the corresponding interest cost depending on the type and size of the structure and the specific construction technology chosen (conventional/precast/composite). Eventually,advanced technologies will yield a better return on investment (RoI) for the investor/developer. Raheja recommends the deployment of construction technology as it is not very costly in terms of the overall output and efficiency, and does not wear down too fast. “It’s used for a long time; thus, its price justifies its usage and it has a strong reselling capacity as well,” he says. “Using technology can reduce the engagement of manual labour to a large extent, improve work efficiency and the assiduous input handling at construction sites, which in tandem leads to faster home deliveries and possession clearances.” Advanced tech-powered machines, even if expensive, help to save resources and expedite work, which ultimately leads to faster sales and a higher RoI, opines Kataria. “Their cost is usually justified in the longterm. That said, a lot depends on the size of the development. If the area under construction is huge, such costs are usually seen as a blessing to increase the construction pace but if the area is small, the logistics associated with implementing these solutions may be seen as cumbersome.” Overall, the gains from deploying advanced solutions can outweigh the costs over time, particularly if the technology or device is used frequently and in large-scale projects, sums up Bhargava. That said, the costs and benefits of any advanced solution must be carefully evaluated. Why conventional material handling methods don’t help build tall? Conventional methods of moving men and materials don’t work when building tall. Here’s why. The taller the structure, the heavier the material that needs to be lifted, to the point that the weight could potentially exceed the capability of conventional material-handling machines, points out Pratik Kataria, Director, Sainath Developers The House of Kataria. “Traditional material-handling machineries like elevators used to transport material are bulky and require a stable base, so their deployment and manoeuvrability in confined areas, particularly in metropolitan areas, can be challenging.” Conventional material-handling equipment like forklifts, conveyors, front-end loaders, pallet jacks and hand trucks are of no use in constructing tall buildings because of space and lifting constraints, adds Anoop Kumar Bhargava, CEO and Director, Empire Centrum. Among traditional methods, K Satyanarayana, Managing Director, Starworth Infrastructure and Construction Limited (SICL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Puravankara Limited,counts equipment like medium-capacity concrete pumps, hoists with manual operations, and a mechanical braking system as well as scissor lifts and man lifts. These are best avoided in high-rise structure projects, in view of their limited purpose, low productivity and inability to ensure 100 per cent safety. “Construction lifts can be avoided at high-rise building sites because they are relatively small compared to the heights of the construction that will take place,” suggests Navin Raheja, MD & CMD, Raheja Developers. “Construction lifts are a ‘white elephant’ investment in the face of the many other translocation machine options that exist for the movement of raw materials.” Conventional material handling equipment like a pulley and winch have capacity and safety constraints, and do not support volume construction, adds Madan Mistry, Head – EPC, Omkar Realtors & Developers. “Also, conventional shuttering material is limited to 8-10 repetitions and takes time to make besides being associated with a longer slab cycle of 15-20 days.”

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