ASSESSMENT of FACTORS AFFECTING MATERIAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICE and ITS IMPACT on BUILDING CONSTRUCTION in CASE of ADDIS ABABA CITY

Abstract

Materials management practice is a procedure that coordinates planning, assessing the requirement, sourcing, purchasing, transporting, storing, and controlling of materials, minimizing wastage, and optimizing profitability by reducing the cost of materials. Materials used during construction activities are wasted, which greatly raises or increases the cost of the project, decreases the profitability of the contractor, and has a negative effect on the environment. The objectives of this study were to identify the factors that cause poor practices of material management ,to assess the impacts of those factors affecting the practices of material management ,and to determine the strategy and measures for proper material management practices in Addis Ababa building construction projects. The study was conducted in Addis Ababa City. For the purpose of sample size selection, the purposive sampling technique was used. A questionnaire survey was used to collect the data,descriptive and exploratory data analysis were used. The Relative Importance Index (RII) was used to know the degree of the variables by utilizing Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). To know the internal consistency of the questionnaire Cronbach’s alpha test coefficient was used. Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used to the respondent’s correlation in ranking variables. The shortage and changes of construction materials quality required, lack of communication, incomplete drawing and undefined scope regarding material identification mentioned, inappropriate material demand planning, availability of materials and lack of conformance to requirements, loss of materials because of improper supervision, material inefficient on site were the most significant factors that cause poor practices of material management in building construction project. On the other hand, the impacts of factors affecting practices of material management were budget overrun,delayed payment to contractor, time overrun, bad public relation and poor quality of a completed project. Finally,employing skilled and experienced material management labor, creating good supply chain management ,organizing and control strict procurement system, correctly select the right material sources, uses of material management soft wares were identified as strategy and measures for proper material management practices. The study recommends that all members of construction teams are advised to use material management soft wares for facilitating procurement, collaboration and knowledge management since material management soft wares provides a basis for developing effective materials management practices on construction projects.It also recommends that the construction companies are advised to reduce the effect of the cost overrun in construction projects by using effective resources (human, technical and material) management system within construction projects since most of the causes of cost overrun are related to poor resources management.