A Statistical Analysis Of Construction Equipment Repair Costs Using Field Data & The Cumulative Cost Model.

Abstract

The management of heavy construction equipment is a difficult task. Equipment managers are often called upon to make complex economic decisions involving the machines in their charge. These decisions include those concerning acquisitions, maintenance, repairs, rebuilds, replacements, and retirements. The equipment manager must also be able to forecast internal rental rates for their machinery. Repair and maintenance expenditures can have significant impacts on these economic decisions and forecasts. The purpose of this research was to identify a regression model that can adequately represent repair costs in terms of machine age in cumulative hours of use. The study was conducted using field data on 270 heavy construction machines from four different companies. Nineteen different linear and transformed non-linear models were evaluated. A second-order polynomial expression was selected as the best. It was demonstrated how this expression could be incorporated in the Cumulative Cost Model developed by Vorster where it can be used to identify optimum economic decisions. It was also demonstrated how equipment managers could form their own regression equations using standard spreadsheet and database software.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 28, 1998
Accession Number
ADA346875

Entities

People

  • Zane W. Mitchell Jr

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Civil Engineering
  • Computer Programs
  • Computers
  • Construction
  • Construction Equipment
  • Cost Models
  • Data Analysis
  • Data Science
  • Databases
  • Economic Models
  • Information Science
  • Regression Analysis
  • Spreadsheet Software
  • Statistical Algorithms
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Surveys

Readers

  • Government Contracting/Procurement.
  • Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
  • Software Engineering