Matching Items (50)
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- All Subjects: engineering
- Creators: Sullivan, Kenneth
- Creators: Engineering Programs
Description
The price based marketplace has dominated the construction industry. The majority of owners use price based practices of management (expectation and decision making, control, direction, and inspection.) The price based/management and control paradigm has not worked. Clients have now been moving toward the best value environment (hire contractors who know what they are doing, who preplan, and manage and minimize risk and deviation.) Owners are trying to move from client direction and control to hiring an expert and allowing them to do the quality control/risk management. The movement of environments changes the paradigm for the contractors from a reactive to a proactive, from a bureaucratic
on-accountable to an accountable position, from a relationship based
on-measuring to a measuring entity, and to a contractor who manages and minimizes the risk that they do not control. Years of price based practices have caused poor quality and low performance in the construction industry. This research identifies what is a best value contractor or vendor, what factors make up a best value vendor, and the methodology to transform a vendor to a best value vendor. It will use deductive logic, a case study to confirm the logic and the proposed methodology.
on-accountable to an accountable position, from a relationship based
on-measuring to a measuring entity, and to a contractor who manages and minimizes the risk that they do not control. Years of price based practices have caused poor quality and low performance in the construction industry. This research identifies what is a best value contractor or vendor, what factors make up a best value vendor, and the methodology to transform a vendor to a best value vendor. It will use deductive logic, a case study to confirm the logic and the proposed methodology.
ContributorsPauli, Michele (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis advisor) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Committee member) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
ABSTRACT Facility managers have an important job in today's competitive business world by caring for the backbone of the corporation's capital. Maintaining assets and the support efforts cause facility managers to fight an uphill battle to prove the worth of their organizations. This thesis will discuss the important and flexible use of measurement and leadership reports and the benefits of justifying the work required to maintain or upgrade a facility. The task is streamlined by invoking accountability to subject experts. The facility manager must trust in the ability of his or her work force to get the job done. However, with accountability comes increased risk. Even though accountability may not alleviate total control or cease reactionary actions, facility managers can develop key leadership based reports to reassign accountability and measure subject matter experts while simultaneously reducing reactionary actions leading to increased cost. Identifying and reassigning risk that are not controlled to subject matter experts is imperative for effective facility management leadership and allows facility managers to create an accurate and solid facility management plan, supports the organization's succession plan, and allows the organization to focus on key competencies.
ContributorsTellefsen, Thor (Author) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Thesis advisor) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Committee member) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Over the past couple of decades, quality has been an area of increased focus. Multiple models and approaches have been proposed to measure the quality in the construction industry. This paper focuses on determining the quality of one of the types of roofing systems used in the construction industry, i.e. Sprayed Polyurethane Foam Roofs (SPF roofs). Thirty seven urethane coated SPF roofs that were installed in 2005 / 2006 were visually inspected to measure the percentage of blisters and repairs three times over a period of 4 year, 6 year and 7 year marks. A repairing criteria was established after a 6 year mark based on the data that were reported to contractors as vulnerable roofs. Furthermore, the relation between four possible contributing time of installation factors i.e. contractor, demographics, season, and difficulty (number of penetrations and size of the roof in square feet) that could affect the quality of the roof was determined. Demographics and difficulty did not affect the quality of the roofs whereas the contractor and the season when the roof was installed did affect the quality of the roofs.
ContributorsGajjar, Dhaval (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis advisor) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Committee member) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The National Research Council developed and published the Framework for K-12 Science Education, a new set of concepts that many states were planning on adopting. Part of this new endeavor included a set of science and engineering crosscutting concepts to be incorporated into science materials and activities, a first in science standards history. With the recent development of the Framework came the arduous task of evaluating current lessons for alignment with the new crosscutting concepts. This study took on that task in a small, yet important area of available lessons on the internet. Lessons, to be used by K-12 educators and students, were produced by different organizations and research efforts. This study focused specifically on Earth science lessons as they related to earthquakes. To answer the question as to the extent current and available lessons met the new crosscutting concepts; an evaluation rubric was developed and used to examine teacher and student lessons. Lessons were evaluated on evidence of the science, engineering and application of the engineering for each of the seven crosscutting concepts in the Framework. Each lesson was also evaluated for grade level appropriateness to determine if the lesson was suitable for the intended grade level(s) designated by the lesson. The study demonstrated that the majority of lesson items contained science applications of the crosscutting concepts. However, few contained evidence of engineering applications of the crosscutting concepts. Not only was there lack of evidence for engineering examples of the crosscutting concepts, but a lack of application engineering concepts as well. To evaluate application of the engineering concepts, the activities were examined for characteristics of the engineering design process. Results indicated that student activities were limited in both the nature of the activity and the quantity of lessons that contained activities. The majority of lessons were found to be grade appropriate. This study demonstrated the need to redesign current lessons to incorporate more engineering-specific examples from the crosscutting concepts. Furthermore, it provided evidence the current model of material development was out dated and should be revised to include engineering concepts to meet the needs of the new science standards.
ContributorsSchwab, Patrick (Author) / Baker, Dale (Thesis advisor) / Semken, Steve (Committee member) / Jordan, Shawn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The goal of this research study was to identify the competencies the Project Manager (PM) will need to respond to the challenges the construction industry faces in 2022 and beyond. The study revealed twenty-one emerging challenges for construction PMs grouped into four primary disruptive forces: workforce demographics, globalization, rapidly evolving technology, and changing organizational structures. The future PM will respond to these emerging challenges using a combination of fourteen competencies. The competencies are grouped into four categories: technical (multi-disciplined, practical understanding of technology), management (keen business insight, understanding of project management, knowledge network building, continuous risk monitoring), cognitive (complex decisions making, emotional maturity, effective communication), and leadership (leveraging diverse thinking, building relationships, engaging others, mentoring, building trust). Popular data collection methods used in project management research, such as surveys and interviews, have received criticism about the differences between stated responses to questions, what respondents say they will do, and revealed preferences, what they actually practice in the workplace. Rather than relying on surveys, this research study utilized information generated from games and exercises bundled into one-day training seminars conducted by Construction Industry Institute (CII) companies for current and upcoming generations of PMs. Educational games and exercises provide participants with the opportunity to apply classroom learning and workplace experience to resolve issues presented in real-world scenarios, providing responses that are more closely aligned with the actual decisions and activities occurring on projects. The future competencies were identified by combining results of the literature review with information from the games and exercises through an iterative cycle of data mining, analysis, and consolidation review sessions with CII members. This competency forecast will be used as a basis for company recruiting and to create tools for professional development programs and project management education at the university level. In addition to the competency forecast, the research identified simulation games and exercises as components of a project management development program in a classroom setting. An instrument that links the emerging challenges with the fourteen competencies and learning tools that facilitate the mastering of these competencies has also been developed.
ContributorsKing, Cynthia Joyce (Author) / Wiezel, Avi (Thesis advisor) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
ABSTRACT There has been plenty written on the topic of process management in business. This study focuses more on the need to research and develop a model to establish "balance" in process. Reengineering process and investing capital into current technology does not improve the outcome of process alone. The actual process activity coupled with human interface combined with technology determines the outcome of processes, however they do not indicate whether it is a balanced process or not. Wherein the word balance really means sustainable for long periods of time and easily reproduced by others. This study argues for the need of new research in the topic matter and its affects on company profitability, sustainability over long periods of time and tenure with employee.
ContributorsJeffers, Anthony (Author) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Thesis advisor) / Badger, Bill (Committee member) / Okamura, Patrick (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The following document addresses two grand challenges posed to engineers: to make solar energy economically viable and to restore and improve urban infrastructure. Design solutions to these problems consist of the preliminary designs of two energy systems: a Packaged Photovoltaic (PPV) energy system and a natural gas based Modular Micro Combined Cycle (MMCC) with 3D renderings. Defining requirements and problem-solving approach methodology for generating complex design solutions required iterative design and a thorough understanding of industry practices and market trends. This paper briefly discusses design specifics; however, the major emphasis is on aspects pertaining to economical manufacture, deployment, and subsequent suitability to address the aforementioned challenges. The selection of these systems is based on the steady reduction of PV installation costs in recent years (average among utility, commercial, and residential down 27% from Q4 2012 to Q4 2013) and the dramatic decline in natural gas prices to $5.61 per thousand cubic feet. In addition, a large number of utility scale coal-based power plants will be retired in 2014, many due to progressive emission criteria, creating a demand for additional power systems to offset the capacity loss and to increase generating capacity in order to facilitate the ever-expanding world population. The proposed energy systems are not designed to provide power to the masses through a central location. Rather, they are intended to provide economical, reliable, and high quality power to remote locations and decentralized power to community-based grids. These energy systems are designed as a means of transforming and supporting the current infrastructure through distributed electricity generation.
ContributorsSandoval, Benjamin Mark (Author) / Bryan, Harvey (Thesis director) / Fonseca, Ernesto (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The U.S. Army Medical Command has been testing a leadership based structure to increase the performance of delivering construction and facility services in its system of $600M of construction and 26 major hospital facilities in the U.S. The organizational requirement was to minimize the management and oversight of contractors and simultaneously increase project performance. The research proposes that a leadership based structure can supplement the perception, preplanning, and risk minimization capability of a contractor's project manager, thus increasing the project performance (on time, within budget, and meeting expectations) and decreasing client management requirement. The projects were delivered in a best value and low price environment. The major impact of this research was that proactive management by contractors was more effective than traditional management such as direction, control, and inspection by client's professional representatives. The results based on data collection and date analyses validated that a leadership based structure can increase the performance of an organization and reduce its management requirement.
ContributorsMalhotra, Neha (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean T. (Thesis advisor) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Committee member) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010
Description
This thesis presents a kit of materials intended to present students with a glimpse of what engineering entails by guiding them through building engineering projects similar to what is in the real world. The objective of this project is to pique the interest of children by introducing them to lesser known engineering related topics, and increasing their literacy of terms and methods engineers use to solve problems. The effectiveness of the kit’s content and teaching methods was tested in a classroom of 6th graders and was measured using the responses from surveys handed out. I found that kit did in fact positively lead to a change in the way the students perceived engineering, and it taught students about new engineering related topics. Students were capable of completing difficult tasks of wiring and coding successfully through the use of detailed instruction. However, the instructions were seen in two opposing views of either being too overwhelming or more guidance was necessary.
ContributorsQuezada, Hebellyn Arleth (Author) / Aukes, Daniel (Thesis director) / Kellam, Nadia (Committee member) / Engineering Programs (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
The relationship between video games and education is something that has been studied extensively in academia. Based upon these studies a new concept was created, gamification. Gamification is the next step in video game research to analyze why video games enhance learning. The interest and research into this concept have developed so much so that it has become its own topic area for research. This study is looking to analyze the effect that gamification has on not only learning, but also self-efficacy. Through a choose your own adventure game, the knowledge and self-efficacy of participants will be examined to observe the differences when learning difficult engineering concepts with and without gamification. It is expected that participants that experienced training through gamification will demonstrate deeper learning and higher self-efficacy than trained through a video. Furthermore, it is anticipated that some video trained participants’ self-efficacy will increase; however, their comprehension will be less than participants trained through gamification. The results of this study can help promote the interest in researching gamification and education, while influencing educators to corporate gamification elements when designing their courses. Moreover, this study continued through adaptation and integration into a statics forces class, investigated if the same results can be found within a classroom setting.
ContributorsKanechika, Amber (Author) / Craig, Scotty (Thesis director) / Roscoe, Rod (Committee member) / Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05