CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The Nigerian building and construction industry continues to occupy an important position in the nation’s economy even though it contributes less than the manufacturing or other service industries, (Aibinu and Jagboro, 2002). The contribution of the building and construction industry to national economic growth necessitates improved efficiency in the industry by means of cost effectiveness and timeliness, and would certainly contribute to cost savings for the country as a whole. It is also common knowledge that the implementation of the construction project in the industry is usually accompanied with poor quality delivery and delivery time delay and cost increase as well as owner dissatisfaction (Hafez, 2001). Thus, the efficient use and management of material have an importance influence on a company’s profit and can delay project construction (Abdul Rahman and Alidrisyi, 1993). The researchers will examine the impact of material management on project delivery in Nigeria.
Material management is a planned procedure that include, the purchasing, delivery, handling and minimization of waste with the aim of ensuring that requirement are met (Illingworth and Thain, 1998). According to Culvert (1998), a detailed material schedule and co-ordination of the requisition and order of material are important in assuring material availability. Efficient material planning is a key to high productivity on site. Material planning embraces quantifying, ordering and scheduling-. Productivity will suffer if the material planning process is not executed properly (Kaming, Olomolaiye, Holt and Harris, 1997).
Kwik (1994) stated that another issue (which is sometime beyond management control) is material shortages, for example yearly cement shortages have long been a topic of debate within the construction industry. Bell and Stukhart (1987) investigated a total concept for a Material Management System (MMS), which combined and integrated the take-off, vendor evaluation, purchasing expediting, and warehousing and distribution functions of material. The system resulted in improved labour productivity, reduced material surplus, reduced material management, manpower and cost saving. A1-Jibouri (2002) described a computer simulation model, which helps to solve the problem of order and deliveries of materials in real life by keeping a predetermined list of order and delivery time of all the materials on site. The delivery of each kind of material then takes place automatically at the specified time.