GCC INFRASTRUCTURE CONSTRUCTION. 3 areas to lower your costs while increasing your production.

Times have changed and FAST. What was set as a booming year back in January and February of 2020 for Pipeline and Infrastructure Construction in our region has been turned on its head. Not just restriction due to health concerns but also a crashing oil price. We cannot dwell on the past, it is what it is. Now we must look for savings, limit our exposure (including health risks) while not impacting our production targets.

Our number 1 goal at Oryx Consulting is to help you Build a Better Project. We mean that to our core. We do not succeed unless our customers succeed, it's that simple. I want to share 3 areas of infrastructure construction where bulk savings can be made. These savings revolve around removing people, reducing waste and removing equipment. We have been sharing our thoughts on removing people from operations for years now. During these current times we are being TOLD by authorities to distance or remove people from the workplace, like working from home. Unfortunately in the construction industry working from home is a not an option.

Since 2005 when I first started working in the GCC Region, it blew my mind to the amount of personnel on a project. In my case Pipeline Projects. The catch cry since I can remember is, "they are cheap." For years I have been trying to educate that while the rate of a worker in this region is cheap compared to other parts of the world, it is the other or hidden costs. The costs people fail to cover in their calculations. Some costs are quantifiable like extra transportation and accommodation. But what about the increase in risk or the rework factors? Are these being quantified?

Regardless of what we have been saying for years the fact of our present situations remain the same. Less people on busses. Less people in lunch rooms, offices and meeting rooms. How are people and companies addressing this? More busses? More offices? Well I can tell you what the smart contractors are doing. They are looking to technology to address the issues they find themselves in. Choose the right equipment and you will be pleasantly surprised by the onward positive effects you will have on your operation. Below is the 3 areas where the most savings can be had in our region within the infrastructure construction space.

• Stringing
• Trenching
• Backfilling

These 3 key areas have the biggest economic advantage to your project bottom lines. Introducing the right equipment or even attachment can have significant effects on reducing people and equipment from your projects. Removing people does not just effect salary costs. What about accommodation, transportation, country of origin flights, training, visas, risk and so on? The same can be said for equipment. Its not just the hire costs. What about fuel, maintenance, GET, breakdown, transportation? Addressing your construction operation to reduce these 2 fundamentals will result in savings, as sure as night follows day.

Stringing: This is something I cannot help but get mad about all too often while driving down any road, anywhere in the region. It could be the Emirates, Saudi or Kuwait. The location does not matter. You could be stringing pipe for a pipeline or you may be stringing precast concrete for power infrastructure. Whatever your industry it will look a little something like this. Rough Terrain Crane with a crew of usually 6, a supervisor, operator and 4 labourers, 2 on the truck and 2 on the ground. Heck this could also be for moving the concrete road barriers around on your construction site, the crew looks the same.

By introducing a vacuum lift or even a mechanical lifting aid specifically for the material being lifted you can reduce your crew to 2. Yes, from 6 to 2 people. One simple attachment can have such a significant impact to your bottom line and instantly! Just have a think about the reduced risk by not having people getting on and off trailers or working from the trailer. While you are considering this also consider the increase to production by not slinging the product. This is not wishful thinking. This is a fact that a great portion of the world have used day in and day out for many many years.

Maybe you are installing underground power cable. Have you thought about how you string your cable? Does it involve stationary drum stands, hundreds of rollers, a winch and a bus load or 2 of labourers? Have you investigated the lift, move and deploy technology available today? What would removing 80% of your workforce for cable installation look and feel like? What would removing months off your project look like to your bottom line? Can you even imagine for a moment the extra work you could undertake in a year? Either way you look at it, savings are savings. If you are not looking for them chances are your customer is.

Trenching: This is a subject that I really cant believe we are still talking about in this day and age. Back in 2005 we ran fleet of trenching machines with the company I worked with in the Emirates. They were old but they were extremely effective. Chain trenchers and bucketwheels. Now fast forward 15 years and I can honestly say the region has stepped backwards. Since returning in late 2017 I have not seen 1 bucketwheel. I have seen chain trenchers in the region yet I still go to large scale pipeline projects and see fleets of 20 plus excavators bashing away digging trench.

I have a hard time believing that anyone with a brain and a calculator cannot run the basic numbers out. What makes it even more frustrating for me is how small the excavators are being used. I have witness 25 tonne class machines digging trench for 56" pipe. This is not a joke. Rock breakers on 25 tonne class machines burning fuel and moils on limestone. I am sorry but if you are reading this and this is you, give it away. You are in the wrong industry.

While there is plenty of limestone and rock in the region there is also a tonne, and I mean a tonne of sand. A bucketwheel trencher, just one will dig up to 3 kilometres of trench in a day depending on the trench size. Heck you could even build yourself a "cup cutter" chain for your chain trencher to double or triple your production. In sand trench, 1 bucketwheel will replace up to 10 x 25 tonne class excavators. What could you do with the money saved by reducing your fuel bill by 2000 litres per day or say 60,000 per month? Once you get that figure out of your head then we can talk about maintenance, GET, transport, accommodation and all the other ancillary costs.

Backfill: Whether you are looking to use imported material or screen the trenched material there is equipment available that will change your world. Padding machines are becoming more recognised in the pipeline industry over here in the GCC Region. While these are amazing machines and lower your backfill costs dramatically are you sure that your saving as much as you should. What I mean by this is selecting the right size machine for your application.

Production rates throughout are region are low when compared to other parts of the world. Buying a machine capable of 4 times your projects production is flawed thinking. It's also very expensive. Generally machines are sized for trench or pipe sizes. While this is true a padding machine has a volume per hour they are capable, dependant on the screen size. Now a smaller machine or even a towed padder will more than keep up with your production. Padders, like trenchers, are expensive to run. They have hundreds of moving parts that all require maintenance. You must lower your costs where you can.

Something very unique to our region here is the availability of sand, lots of sand. Sand was the backfill media prior to padders and will remain so in the region for a long time yet, I am sure. The trick is to efficiently get the sand into the trench with the least amount of people and equipment. I looked at one project in Saudi that was using sand for the backfilling. As true as I write this, the company was using 22 trucks and machines for the backfilling operation. It was a large 56" pipe and production was around 250 meters per day, that was it.

We could replace this operation with 6 pieces of equipment. 4 of our new Slinger Trailers as the centre of the operation. The Slinger Trailers load at the source, transport and backfill. One machine, one operator and no waste or double handling. Maybe your project is water pipes or drainage pipes that need backfilling with aggregate. A track mounted Slinger will make light work of any of your backfilling needs. Control of your product and placing material in correct lifts without the need for labour is how you win with your projects. A Slinger in these backfill situations would expect to achieve rates up to 15 times faster than traditional methods.

Summary: Either way you look at it, just these 3 areas of infrastructure construction will change your world. Knowledge of this equipment is instrumental in the tendering stage. Imagine tendering a job with half the labour? Imagine your pricing if you could reduce fuel by 60,000 litres a month? Imagine your hire charges of ancillary equipment if you could half your construction time? Knowledge is power and now is the PERFECT opportunity to be addressing the savings you deserve.

We are based in the Emirates and it is our mission to lower your costs and increase your production. We have been building pipelines since 1996 and now dedicate our lives to helping others. This is not new technology. It is technology that has been used all over the world to save time and money while increasing safety and production. We are here to help, we are here to show you how to make the savings. We are here to guide you and your projects in the right direction. It all starts with savings.