United States Department of Transportation
ROSA P serves as an archival repository of USDOT-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other information authored or co-authored by USDOT or funded partners.
As a repository, ROSA P retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.
i
The Economic Feasibility of the Application of Statistical Concepts and Methods to the Control and Acceptance of Highway Materials and Construction
-
1970-10-01
[PDF-2.80 MB]
Details:
-
Corporate Creators:
-
Corporate Contributors:
-
Subject/TRT Terms:
-
Resource Type:
-
Right Statement:
-
Geographical Coverage:
-
Corporate Publisher:
-
Abstract:This report represents the findings of an investigation made to evaluate the economic feasibility of placing responsibility for Quality Control on the Contractor and of the use of statistical procedures for acceptance of highway materials and construction. Since, unlike other large industries, statistical Quality Control is not generally practiced in the highway industry, the probable costs of such a system were estimated by projection of current costs of Contractors and Producers who are currently maintaining voluntary testing programs. Estimates based on data obtained from 49 concerns in 15 States indicate that the cost of an acceptable degree of Quality Control of highway materials or construction by the Contractor or Producer would average about 4 percent of contract price. Available information indicates that the current total engineering expenditures by State Agencies on Federal Aid projects is in the order of 10 percent of contract price. Comparisons of relative costs based on these numbers and on different proportions of Quality Control effort shared by the Contractor and the State Agency indicate that the optimum Quality Assurance System would be Quality Control by the Contractor with acceptance testing by the State Agency. The dollar cost of such a system is estimated to be about 20 percent less than that of current procedures. The economic benefits in terms of the degree of Quality Assurance obtained by this system as compared to the existing system are estimated to be even more favorable. A related activity was a study of the relative size of Buyer's and Seller's risks using current acceptance procedures as compared to those which would be associated with a System of Coordinated Quality Control, revised specifications, and statistical sampling plans. This study indicated that the lowest risks for the same level of testing effort would be realized when a state of Statistical Control of production and construction processes was obtained.
-
Format:
-
Funding:
-
Collection(s):
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
Download URL:
-
File Type:
