DIMENSIONS VOL.12, ISSUE 3, MAR 2020

A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. L td

IN This Issue

• FROM THE MD’S DESK

• EDITOR’S NOTE

• MILESTONES

• BENDABLE CONCRETE

• AVOID THE 4Fs SYNDROME

SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION

KNOWLEDGE SHARING

BIRDY LESSONS

PEB TERMINOLOGY

MANAGEMENT TOOL – KANBAN

RAISED PAVEMENT MARKERS

THERMAL IMAGING / SOCIAL

DISTANCING TO CONTROL

COVID -19

WHY ARE BUILDINGS WITH

SHEAR WALLS PREFERRED IN

SEISMIC REGIONS?

• APPENDIX Cover page photo: Manjushree, Baddi

THE ISSUE OF DIMENSIONS IS FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

The country is in ‘lockdown’ mode, initially

one week and subsequently three further

weeks. An appropriate and timely decision

take by the government to combat and

stop the spread of deadly COVID-19 virus.

All of us are confined to our respective

abodes. Please abide by GO.

By the time this issue of “Dimensions”

reaches you, there will still be 14 days of

lockdown.

Is Lockdown a bane or a boon? Have you

mulled over this aspect?

Some of the bane points I can think of are:

Families living in small

accommodation feel cooped

up.

Restricted movement within

confined space.

Stepping on each other’s toes

within the house.

Challenges to control bottled up

energy of young children.

Convincing children that parents

are at home not on holiday but

have work to do.

Let us look at the brighter side of the

prevailing situation.

I am of the opinion the lockdown has been

equally a boon too.

During my frequent conversation with

some of you, whenever I asked general

knowledge or engineering related

questions or enquired about your reading

habits or hobbies you pursued, the most

common or universal answer I got has

been “No time, sir”.

Now that all of us have 14 more days of

time how do you plan to spend this time

apart from time spent on sleeping, eating

and ablution.

Please utilise the available time usefully;

spend time with your family and children

(within the house), gaining knowledge,

learning a new language, playing a

musical instrument, pursue a hobby.

This is a golden opportunity; you will never

get this back (unless of course we have

another deadly virus 😱).

Take care of yourself and your family. Stay

inside and stay safe.

Since all talk these days is about COVID-19

virus, we give below an observations made

by Jerome Roos about the spread of the

virus.

Jerome Roos says:

This very interesting finding hints at the

potential seasonality of Coronavirus:

community-to-community outbreak had

initially been limited to “a narrow east-west

distribution roughly along the 30-50 N”

corridor at consistently similar weather

patterns (5-11°C and 47-79% humidity).”

If you have any such

observations/suggestions, do join the

Innocentive.com challenge to help out in

controlling the pandemic.

FROM THE MANAGING DIRECTOR’S DESK EDITOR’S NOTE

DIMENSIONS VOL.12, ISSUE 3, MAR 2020 2

A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. L td

Birthdays

April Birthdays

DIVYA K, Bangalore

HO, 7th April

MURALI M, Bangalore

HO, 10th April

MOHAMMED

SHARUKH, Zuari Rain Forest, 10th April

PALANI PRASAD M,

JAYABHERI THE CAPITAL, 27th April

DEBENDRA DAS, USL –

NIMAPADA, 20th April

MAHENDRA GODBOLE,

Carl Bechem, 28th April

HARSHITHA G V, PES

University, 30th April

Birthday Celebrations, in BC –

Before Covid (shaking Hands allowed in those days):

Thejesha’s birthday was celebrated

on the 4th March. Vijaymahantesh

wishing Thejesha on the birthday

Naveen C wishing Thejesha on his

birthday

Mary wishing Roy Zacharias on his

birthday, on the 16th.

In Happier Days

ANP with granddaughter Vanessa

sightseeing in Bangalore in early

March

News from the Sites

SIC Chetan (of Manjushree, Baddi)

with Rudresh L at Nayana Devi, near

Ananthpur , Himachal Pradesh

Prize for correct answer to Question asked in the newsletter

The prize for the correct answer asked

in the previous issue of Dimensions

went to Guruprasad B S of Himalaya

Drugs, Tumkur

GURUPRASAD B S,

Himalaya Drugs,

The prize cheque

MILESTONES

DIMENSIONS VOL.12, ISSUE 3, MAR 2020 3

A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. L td

Nemmadi Franchisee Training

Program

Nemmadi appointed a Franchisee for

South Chennai; training for 3 members

was done from 7 to 14 Mar.

Anwar demonstrating the measuring

of distances with Laser Measure

R Suresha showing how the verticality

of a wall is checked

Divya having an introductory talk with

Pradeep

Megha explaining about Marketing

aspects to Pradeep

Dipali explaining about methodology

of writing snag descriptions

Pradeep checking hollowness of wall

tiles

Karti checking the quality of door

frames

Sathish practicing laser measurement

Uday Prakash explaining about the

path forward

R Suresha giving the closing address to

the group

Karthi receiving the Nemmadi Kit from

A N Prakash

Pradeep being given the packet

Sathish receiving the packet from A N

Prakash

Group photo before winding up of the

week long program

DIMENSIONS VOL.12, ISSUE 3, MAR 2020 4

A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. L td

Know Your Project:

PES University

Prabhath V, PESU

At PESU, it was proposed to have 3

basketball courts, each of dimension

as given below.

Dimensions of a Basketball court

The proposed size of the structure for

housing the basketball court was 62M

X31.75M. Beam span was 33 M and

clear height was 12.6M (triple height).

Staging in progress for the roof.

The beam size was 1.25M X 1.9M with

each beam requiring 78.375 m3 of

concrete. Each beam had a steel

reinforcement of 17MT. The total

weight of each beam being 202.625

MT.

Shuttering design was made by

structural consultant AEDBM.

Cup-lock staging started

Arrangements of cup lock will be as

shown in the picture above: Below the

beam support will be of 750 mm X

750mm grid and below Slab support

will be 1500mmX1500mm grid.

Close-up of staging

Cup lock system shuttering is made

with NB-40 Circular hollow sections –

YST 310 grade, 4mm thick, of weight

4.37KG/M. On either side will be 40mm

circular hollow sections of 3.2mm

thick, 3.56 KG/M, medium sections.

Checking of reinforcement in progress

Steel Reinforcement of beams tied

before start of side shuttering.

Concreting in progress

M40 SCC suggested by the Consultant

AEDBM was used; concrete was done

in 3-layers of 600mm depth, each

layer well compacted. Total volume

of Basketball roof is 1450 m3 of

concrete, which is executed by 4 Line

pumps and 1 Boom pump.

Later: De-shuttering of roof completed

DIMENSIONS VOL.12, ISSUE 3, MAR 2020 5

A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. L td

BENDABLE CONCRETE

SURESH B L, HO

Making Bendable Concrete

The product is 400 times more

bendable than conventional

concrete, yet has similar strength and

is also far less polluting.

Unlike conventional concrete, engineered

cementitious composite (ECC) can

bend under pressure without

rupturing.

Unfortunately, concrete is a brittle

material: Placed under stress, it

cannot bend very far before it

fractures. Some pavements that are

being poured now will crack within a

few years and require expensive

repairs. New concrete will be mixed,

and the cycle will start again.

But a better solution is in view. It is

possible to make concrete more

ductile — that is, bendable without

fracturing. Bendable concrete makes

infrastructure safer, extends its service

life and reduces maintenance costs

and resource use.

Civil infrastructure very rarely fails

because it lacks compressive strength.

Most failures occur because structures

do not have enough capacity to

carry tensile load — the ability to

deform or stretch without rupturing –

even though steel reinforcements

often are added to concrete to

prevent catastrophic structural failure.

Cracks in concrete can reduce a

structure’s usable life. They also weaken it and make it less resilient

against natural forces, such as

earthquakes or tornadoes, or man-

made forces, such as bomb blasts in

terrorist attacks.

Repeated infrastructure repairs and

rebuilds use enormous quantities of

materials and energy. Studies have

shown that the carbon and energy

footprints of frequent repair events,

and the social and economic costs

they generate, far exceed those

associated with initial construction.

We all pay these costs in time stuck in

traffic jams, higher taxes and polluted

air.

Making concrete bend

To develop ductile concrete, idea was borrowed from nacre, also known

as mother of pearl — the iridescent

material on the inside of abalone

shells.

Mollusks make nacre from aragonite,

a natural form of calcium carbonate,

which by itself is extremely brittle. But

nacre is ductile because of its

architecture at the nanoscale, which

looks like a brick wall. The “bricks” are

thin layers of aragonite platelets, and

the “mortar” between them is a

natural polymer that is very elastic.

The polymer holds the rigid aragonite

layers together, but allows them to slip

from side to side under stress. This

structure makes nacre both strong

and flexible.

Concrete is a composite mixture that

normally consists of gravel and sand

particles bound together with

cement. To design ductile concrete,

we imitated nacre’s “give” by

dispersing tiny fibers inside the

composite. When properly controlled,

the interfaces between fibers and

cement recreate the controlled

slippages in nacre.

Nacre, the

coating on the inside of abalone shells, is

highly ductile, allowing the shell to resist

impacts without fracturing. It protects

abalone from sea otters that try to break

shells open by banging them on rocks.

We call the resulting ductile concrete

engineered cementitious composite (ECC) or strain-hardening

cementitious composite. It can

deform up to 3% to 5% in tension

before it fails, which gives it 300 to 500

times more tensile strain capacity than

normal concrete. This allows a slab of

it to undergo a lot of bending without

fracturing into pieces, earning it the

nickname of flexible or bendable

concrete.

Uses for bendable concrete

Making concrete bendable addresses

several of conventional concrete’s

key flaws. First, suppressing brittle

fracture prevents the formation of

wide cracks that allow water and

other aggressive agents like road salt

to penetrate easily into concrete structures and attack their reinforcing

steel.

Bendable concrete also enables

structural elements to absorb a lot of

energy.

How bendable concrete can heal

itself

Our concrete composite can also

learn new tricks. For example, when it

is damaged, the hairline cracks that

form can undergo healing just

through exposure to water and air.

Self-generating reactions create

healing products through continued

hydration and carbon mineralization,

binding crack surfaces together in

much the same way that our skin

heals from a paper cut. Self-healing

concrete can make structures such as

roads and bridges more durable.

Bendable concrete also can adjust its

own thermal capacity, so that it stores

more heat when the outside

temperature is high, keeping building

interiors cool. Encapsulated micron-

sized wax-like materials within the

concrete change from solid to liquid

form, like tiny ice cubes melting into

water, when temperatures reach

levels that are uncomfortable for

humans.

ECC is being now made to neutralize

pollutants, thereby helping to

maintain clean air in urban

environments. Embedded nano-

titanium particles in the composite

break down pollutants into harmless

substance via reactions catalyzed by

sunlight.

These autonomous and adaptive

functional features can contribute to

the development of future smart cities with infrastructure that responds to

environmental changes. The goal is to

create a new generation of smart,

bendable concrete that will help build

and maintain a resilient, sustainable

and healthy living environment.

Reference: Article by Victor Li, Professor of

engineering at the University of Michigan.

DIMENSIONS VOL.12, ISSUE 3, MAR 2020 6

A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. L td

AVOID THE FOUR Fs SYNDROME

Shankara C S, Himalaya

Most training & learning (including

counselling and performance

discussions) doesn’t last.

No stickiness. We attend a seminar or

come out of a performance

discussion and vow to transform our

lives but two days later it’s back to

business as usual – seeing the

negative, playing the victim and

being cranky. I have identified four

main reasons why people resist

change and often don’t take the

steps to elevate their career and their

lives even when they have the

opportunity to do so. With greater

awareness of these four factors you

can make better choices .When you

make better choices you are certain

to experience better results .

First F FEAR: People fear

leaving their safe harbour of the

known and venturing off into the

unknown.

Most of us don’t like trying something

new – it brings up our discomfort. The

key here is to manage your fear by

doing the very thing that frightens

you. Do it until you are no longer

scared. Please remember that behind

every fear wall lives a precious

treasure.

Second F FAILURE: No one wants to fail. So most of us don’t even

try. Sad. We don’t even take the first

step to improve our health or deepen

our working relationship. In my mind

the only failure in life is the failure to

try.

And I deeply believe that the greatest

risk you can ever take is not to. Take

that small step and do it fast. Failure is

just an essential part of realizing

success. THERE CAN BE NO SUCCESS

WITHOUT FAILURE!

Third F FORGETTING: Sure we

leave the seminar room after an

inspirational workshop ready to

change the world. But then we get to

the office the next day and reality sets

in.

Difficult teammates to deal with.

Unhappy customers to satisfy.

Demanding bosses to appease. No

time to act on the commitments we

made for personal and professional

leadership. SO WE FORGET THEM. Here

is a key to success: Keep your

commitments on top of your mind.

Heighten your awareness around

them. Better awareness – better

choices. Better choices – better results .Keep yourself promises front and

centre. Don’t forget them. Talk about

them a lot. Write about them each

morning on your journal.

Fourth F FAITH: Too many

people have no faith. They are

cynical “This leadership training and

personal development stuff does not

work “or “I am too old to change“.

Cynicism stems from disappointment.

Cynical and faithless people were not

always like that. They were filled with

possibilities and hope as kids. But they

tried and perhaps failed. And rather

than staying in the game, recognizing

that failure is the highway to success,

they shut down and grey cynical.

So these are the four

F’s of why we resist transformation and

showing real leadership in our lives.

Understand them and you can

manage and overcome them.

Ordinary people can craft

extraordinary lives. You truly can get

to greatness .Trust me. But you have to

start. And how will you know if you

don’t even try.

Thanks to: Robin Sharma, considered to be

one of the top 5 leadership experts in the

world.

DIMENSIONS VOL.12, ISSUE 3, MAR 2020 7

A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. L td

SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS

SRIDHAR K E, NEMMADI

Recycled metal

Builders rely heavily on metals such as

aluminum and steel, which are

durable, lightweight and versatile.

But there’s a challenge:

A lot of energy goes into mining and

manufacturing the metal, which takes

its toll on the environment. Keep in

mind; ore is a finite resource that

already shows signs of being in short

supply.

Recycling provides a feasible

alternative, by lowering the energy

used in the overall manufacturing

process.

And the best part?

Metals keep their properties, even

after being recycled multiple times –

that’s an infinite number for aluminum

and steel!

This means that 75 per cent less

energy is used every time that steel,

for example, is repurposed.

Recycled metal tends to be strong,

durable and long-lasting, as well as

water and pest resistant. It doesn’t

need to be replaced frequently, so it

can be used to construct roofs,

bridges, roads, building facades and

roofs.

5 Most Commonly Recycled Scrap

Metals and their Sources

Scrap metal recycling is a wonderful

way to reuse resources and avoid the

high economic and environmental

costs of mining. Because metal is

present in many products and items

that we use in our everyday lives,

scrap metal is plentiful. Even so, much

more recycling could be done than

what is currently actually happening.

Only about 30% of metals are

currently recycled, meaning that 70%

of metals could be recycled, but aren’t.

Learn more about the 5 most

commonly recycled scrap metals and

their sources so that you can make

sure that you’re recycling as much as

possible. The more awareness about

recycling there is, the more scrap

metal can be recycled, reducing our

impact on humans on the

environment.

Iron

This metal, once used commonly for

pipes, gas heaters and more can be

found in older items around the home

or industrial site. Because iron is highly

corrosive, newer, more resistant

metals such as steel have replaced

iron as the top pick for many items.

But, it is still useful for scrap metal. It

can be melted down and used for

creating new items.

Steel

Steel is one of the most widely used

metals in large appliances and

products. Cars, chairs, shelves and

household appliances are just a few

of its many uses. It is also often used

for construction purposes. You’d be

surprised to know that many cans you

find in the supermarket are also made

of steel. Both steel and iron have

magnetic properties, making them

some of the easiest metals to recycle.

This is because impurities are easily

separated from the metal with the use

of a strong magnet.

Aluminum

Aluminum is popularly known for its

use in making aluminum cans for

beverages. However, this versatile

metal can also be found in car parts,

window pieces, siding, gutters, doors and more. This common metal is also

frequently recycled. It’s especially

known for its quick turnaround time

from scrap metal to consumer

product or packaging.

Brass

This heavier metal is a combination of

zinc and copper. It is popular for

making light fixtures, bathroom fixtures

(faucets), door handles, keys and

other plumbing pieces. Brass typically

commands a higher price than other

common metals due to the presence

of copper, which is quite valuable.

Copper

Copper is a valuable metal that commands good prices as a scrap

metal. It is used in a variety of

applications such as pipes, electrical

components, and electric wires. This is

the third most used metal in

manufacturing, which shows how

common it is.

While there are many other metals

that can be recycled as scrap metal,

these are the ones you’re most likely

to find in your home or business.

Scrap Metal you can recycle after a

Home Remodel

It doesn’t matter if you’re replacing

your kitchen or adding a bathroom to

your master suite. There are a wide

variety of materials used—and

materials thrown away. One of the

most common materials used in home

remodeling is scrap metal. From

modern shower walls to office

furnishings, scrap metal is in many

different parts of the home as sturdy,

durable material and can provide a

modern touch.

Focusing on where we put our debris

while we fix up our homes should be

part of the remodeling process.

Recycling all types of metal is

beneficial to the environment in

multiple ways. As a result, this is

something we should consider

contributing to regularly.

This isn’t just about reusing old

materials either. When we discard

certain metals carelessly, there are

chemicals (like mercury and lead)

that can leak into nearby soil and

water systems. This can lead to the

contamination of drinking water.

Recycling metals can also conserve

energy. It takes much more energy to

create metal from raw materials. Instead, using recycled materials to

build a wide variety of things requires

much less. So, try and reduce

greenhouse emissions, conserving

energy, and contributing to a

healthier environment.

Source: Ecology Recycling &

Transportation Services

DIMENSIONS VOL.12, ISSUE 3, MAR 2020

A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. L td

KNOWLEDGE SHARING – SITE: K DINESH

Naveen Kumar N

During BBMP’s inspection at site for the

purpose of issuing the

commencement certificate, it was

noticed that the Building width as

constructed was 230mm more than

that given in the sanction plan.

Instead of 16.73 mts, we had

constructed 16.96 mts.

BBMP refused to issue

Commencement certificate due to

the deviation from sanction plan.

ROOT CAUSE

Actual site dimension was 915.12 sq

mts , whereas land record and

sanction plan area was showing

891.58 Sqmts. The net

difference or excess area is 23.54

Sqmts.

The Architect prepared all GFC

drawing based on actual site

dimensions, but by keeping the

setback dimensions as per sanction

plan, which cause an increase in

building width by 230 mm.

MITIGATION PLAN

The building width was reduced by

230 mm in the basement roof and

retaining wall by doing structure

modifications at the West side of the

retaining wall as per Structural

Consultant’s suggestions.

(Refer: In the below shown Site layout

plan, highlighted in Green and Red -

colored lines & Section.)

Extended the existing Retaining wall

column width to 230mm by doing Hilti

lockset fixed Reinforcement, formwork

and RCC done for all the 6 columns

and existing retaining wall columns.

Reinforcement was connected to slab

and beam (Refer: Yellow color box in

Site layout plan). BBMP re-inspected

this work and issued Commencement

certificate to further carry out the

structure works.

IMPACT FROM THIS ISSUE

(a) Rs. 1.80 lakhs spent on

structural modifications.

(b) Overall Time lost - 39 days.

LESSONS LEARNT:

Any dimension or figure given

anywhere in the drawing should be

cross-checked. For example, in this

case, if the area shown in the sanction

plan is x sq.mts., then check if the

actual area is less or more.

SUGGESTION:

Add a point in the SOP checklist to

take care of such issues.

Discussion: Nothing damages

someone’s professional credibility as

quickly as an error, even a minor one.

While a simple calculation error or

typo can seem trivial in the scheme of

things, it implants doubt into your

customer’s mind. The customer now

thinks if this person can make these

simple errors, they can also make

larger errors. No matter the root

cause, errors suggest a lack of caring

or attention. Conversely, people

notice attention to detail. Even in

areas that are seemingly less

significant, such as how products are

packaged.

It is the same at a site. Any dimension

given in a drawing should be tested

from all possible angles and check

should be done to see if the Client,

Architect or any other Consultant has

made any blunders or errors. This is

because it is finally the PMC’s

responsibility that all should end well.

DIMENSIONS VOL.12, ISSUE 3, MAR 2020 9

A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. L td

BIRDY LESSONS

Divya K, Nemmadi

In the article ‘Are you a Goose or a

Gull’ published in the last issue of the newsletter, it was mentioned that if we

look to the animal kingdom for models

of leadership, we find that we can

learn from the behavior of many

species, in particular birds. The lessons

are there for the taking if we pay

attention. In that article we had

looked at the behavior of seagulls

(bad) and geese (good) and

compared them.

This time let us look at two good

examples, where birds could teach us

valuable lessons – the common

rooster and the exotic flamingo.

Rooster

A rooster begins his day with a ‘cock-a-doodle-doo’. Your

child too should learn to wake up

early every day and be filled with joy.

He should internalize the mantra, ‘I am

going to maintain my happiness no

matter what happens today,’ that will

help him or her start every day on a

positive note.

You must have heard the proverb: The

early bird catches the worm. The

statement advises us to act in time.

The bird that rises earlier than the

other birds goes in search of prey and

it gets as many worms as it requires.

But the bird that arrives late may not

get a single worm and may have to

go hungry. Similarly, a person who is

late in doing his duties may not get

the desired results. When we postpone

our duties or acts, we lose the

opportunities of success.

We should work hard, and in time. If

we are lazy, we will not attain success.

When we try to work hard at a later

stage, it may be is of no use. So, we

should be careful in life from the

beginning. Life is full of competition.

Those who come first will win. We

should remember the fact that there

are other people who start everything

early and they naturally get the best

and the earliest benefits.

Those who delay in their actions are always the

losers. This proverb is a good piece of

advice to those who are late or do

not act promptly.

Flamingo

For a bird, traveling hundreds or thousands

of miles between its breeding and

non-breeding ranges is difficult. It is a

perilous journey, one that not all birds

survive. So why do birds migrate?

What reasons send millions of birds

into the risky skies every spring and

fall? There is more than one single

reason for different birds to migrate,

but it all comes down to survival, not

just for each individual bird, but also

for the families they hope to raise.

What if No Birds Migrated?

Without a reason to migrate, birds

would have even more challenging

lives than making these excruciating

journeys. If no birds migrated, food

supplies in their ranges would be

rapidly depleted during the nesting

season, and many chicks and adults

would starve. Competition for nesting

sites would be fierce, and predators

would be attracted to the high

concentrations of breeding birds and

easy meals of vulnerable nestlings. It is

for those two reasons - food and

breeding that many birds migrate, but

those reasons are far more

complicated than they seem.

People usually avoid changes and

prefer to stay in their comfort zones,

but once you get the courage and

take the first step to change, your life

will become much better. A few

benefits of change are:

1. Personal growth: You grow and

learn new things every time something

changes even if that did not lead you

to where you wanted to be.

2. Flexibility: Frequent changes make

you easily adapt to new situations,

new environments, and new people.

3. Improvements: We all have things in

our lives we’d like to improve—

finances, job, partner, house, etc. All

of us know that nothing will improve

by itself. We need to do things

differently to make that happen.

4. Life values: Changes make you re-

evaluate your life and look at certain

things from a different perspective.

5. Strength: Not all changes lead you

to pleasant periods of life.

Unfortunately we do not live in fairy

tale and sad things happen, too.

Overcoming the tough period will

make you stronger.

6. Progress: Changes trigger progress.

Things move forward and develop

because of them.

7. Opportunities: One never knows

what each change may bring. When

you turn from your usual path there

will be plenty of different opportunities

waiting for you.

8. New beginnings: Each change is a

turning page. It is about closing one

chapter and opening another one.

So next time you get the temptation

to avoid or resist the change, aim

instead to initiate the ones that will

lead you to where you want be.

And remember—if there were no change, there would

be no butterflies!

Thanks to the Blog by Ani Alexander

DIMENSIONS VOL.12, ISSUE 3, MAR 2020 10

A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. L td

PEB TERMINOLOGY

Article suggested by ANP

Since Pre-Engineered Buildings are

quite common these days, it is

important to lean what the terms

mean, some of which are given here:

Bird Screen: Wire mesh used to

prevent birds from entering the

building through ventilators and

louvers.

Built-Up Section: A structural member,

usually an "I" shaped section, made

from individual flat plates welded

together.

Bumper: An energy-absorbing device

for reducing impact when a moving

crane or trolley reaches the end of its

permitted travel, or when two moving

cranes or trolleys come into contact.

Sag Member: A tension member such

as rods, straps or angles used to limit

the deflection of a girt or purlin in the

direction of its weak axis.

Sandwich Panel: A panel used as

covering consisting of an insulating

core material with inner and outer

metal skins.

Seaming Machine: A mechanical

device that is used to close and seal

the side seams of standing seam roof

panels.

Self-Drilling Screw: A fastener that

combines the function of drilling and

tapping.

Self-Tapping Screw: A fastener that

taps its own threads in a predrilled

hole.

Shop Primer Paint: A temporary

coating designed to protect the steel

during shipping and erection until the

building exterior and interior finish

coverings have been installed. This

coating may or may not serve as a

proper prime coat for other finishing

paints.

Soldier Column: An intermediate

column used to support secondary

structural members; not part of a main

frame or beam and column system.

Standing Seam Roof System: A roof

system in which the side laps between

the roof panels are arranged in a

vertical position above the roofline.

Wind Column: A vertical member

designed to withstand horizontal wind

loads, usually in the end wall.

Thanks to Bhagwati Steel Building

DIMENSIONS VOL.12, ISSUE 3, MAR 2020

A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. L td

MANAGEMENT TOOL - KANBAN

Rudresh L

Personal Kanban

If you were a caveman (or

cavewoman), the work you needed

to do may have been quite simple.

For example, for a caveman it may

have been – Hunt, cook, eat, sleep

and then repeat. Not for modern

humans, life is too complicated and

requires special tools to do things

efficiently. This time we will discuss

about one such tool – KANBAN.

Even though Kanban is widely used in

IT and software, it can be applied to

all knowledge work wherever there is

a workflow involving knowledge

discovery/ value addition till it is

delivered to its intended customer.

This applies even to things that we do

in our day-to-day lives, which can be

done much more efficiently just by

implementing the Kanban principles.

This adaptation of Kanban for

personal use is called Personal

Kanban.

What is Personal Kanban?

Personal Kanban is a simplification of

the original Kanban method and was

created by Jim Benson and Tonianne

DeMaria Barry. It can be used by

individuals – knowledge workers,

students, professional home makers,

etc., – to improve their own personal

efficiency in completing work they

need to do and become much more

productive.

We all have a bunch of things we

need to accomplish. Being optimistic

by nature, we tend to take on more

things than we can handle. Paying a

bill, shopping for groceries, little – and

big – personal projects, the list goes

on. We WANT to do them but we

procrastinate, postpone, forget – until

we can’t. We have too many things

we need to do, we take on too many

things (too many balls in the air), and

the result? – nothing gets

accomplished. Things get pushed out,

forgotten or, worse, done poorly!

Personal Kanban to the rescue!

This is where Kanban – or Personal

Kanban – shines. Personal Kanban

has just 2 basic principles – (a)

Visualize your Work (b) Limit your work-

in-progress

1. Visualize your Work

It is said that 90% of the information processed by our brain is

visual, and we tend to process images

60,000x faster than text. So, having

something that is visual always works

for us humans and Kanban is

essentially a visual management

process.

In Personal Kanban – you visualize

your work on a Kanban board. A

basic Kanban board consists of 3

columns, “To Do” (or “Options”),

“Doing” and “Done”.

The first step is to list all the tasks that

you have in your mind and those you

would want to complete in the “To

Do” column. When you decide to

execute any specific task from your list

of items, you move it to the “Doing” or

“In progress” column. Once it is done,

you move it to the “Done” column.

The Done column lists all completed

tasks. Seeing everything we’ve

accomplished presented on a visual board marked as “Done” gives us a

strong sense of motivation to keep

going and keep accomplishing!

2. Limit your work-in-progress

This is the critical rule. We all have too

much to do. We believe we can

successfully multitask – take on

multiple work items and complete all

of them to everyone’s satisfaction.

However, the latest research shows

that the human brain is not adept at

multitasking! The more we try to

multitask, the worse our quality of work

becomes.

Kanban encourages you to limit the

amount of work you do at any time,

and finish what you have already

started before taking up anything

new. “Stop Starting! Start Finishing!” is

the Kanban mantra. It helps you

(forces you!) to select the most

important – and not just the most

urgent – work and complete it first.

On the Kanban board, you define the

maximum number of tasks that you

will take up at a time. That number is

referred to as your WIP Limit (Work-in-

progress Limit) – and by putting it up

on the board, you are forcing yourself

to not take up more work than you

can truly handle.

Initially it might feel strange – and

constraining – to define and live within

– WIP Limits. They might even seem counter-intuitive as you might feel you

will do less work and accomplish less.

However, over time, you will find

yourself completing more work than

you did in the past – and with better

quality and better outcomes.

Limiting your work helps you reduce

the number of things you say “Yes” to

– and help you say “No” when it

matters. It helps you focus on things

that are truly important to you, and

get them done in a timely manner.

Setting up your Personal Kanban

Board

Setting up your personal Kanban

board is simple. All you need is a

whiteboard and some Stickies/ Post-

it’s to get started. Just draw 3

columns, with “To Do”, “In Progress”

(or Doing) and Done”.

Before you get into Kanban at the

office (softwares are SwiftKanban,

Kanbanize, Jira, Hubspot etc) it is a

good thing to practice Personal

Kanban as it gives you a feel of the

stuff.

Source: SwiftKanban MobileApp

DIMENSIONS VOL.12, ISSUE 3, MAR 2020

A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. L td

RAISED PAVEMENT MARKERS

Veeranna V, Science Gallery

Raised Pavement Markers or Cat's

Eyes is a low cost safety gadget that

can be installed at various locations

to warn the road users of safety

hazards.

Cat's eyes Safety markings are used to

control traffic and encourage safe

driving conditions and are particularly

valuable in fog.

The inventor of cat's eyes was Percy

Shaw of England. When the tram-lines

were removed in the route he

regularly drove, he realized that he

had been using the polished strips of

steel to navigate at night. This inspired

his invention and the name "cat's eye"

comes from the light reflecting from

the eyes of a cat.

The blackouts of World War II (1939–

1945) and the shuttered

car headlights then in use

demonstrated the value of Shaw's

invention and helped popularize their

mass use in the UK.

They are also known as traffic

delineators, raised pavement

markers, road markers, road

reflectors, cat eyes or road studs.

Though most of them have a

reflective lens that reflects the light

from vehicle headlights, some do not

have reflective lenses on them and

thus serve only to regulate the speed.

They are usually made from ceramic,

plastic or metal.

Based on the simple principle of the

law of reflection these simple road

safety gadgets are known worldwide.

Through a small facet, the cat's eye

road signs work wonders in guiding

the drivers way ahead especially at

night. The Cat's eye Studs should be

bright enough to illuminate the road

at night and should be tough enough

to withstand all weathers and vehicles

driving over the top of it. Raised

pavement marker's installation rules

out the impractical availability of

traffic lights, thus, helping in the

conservation of energy as well.

In efforts to make the roads safer and at the same time address traffic

problems, metal road studs

individually called "cat's eye" are

installed on the lane dividers along

many corridors and major arterials in

cities. The installation of the cat's eye

is in response to the increasing

number of vehicular accidents in the

cities. But sadly most of the cat's eyes

are stolen; drug addicts are mostly

involved in the theft of these road

safety gadgets or they have

weathered prior to their expected life

cycle due to poor quality or lack of

maintenance. For areas where traffic

movement is high or for a more

permanent placement of the cat's

eyes, epoxy or bituminous adhesive

should be applied which is a better

way to adhere the reflector to the

asphalt.

Raised pavement markers are used

for a variety of purposes, and are especially important for making traffic

lanes visible to drivers at night, making

dangerous curves visible and guiding

the drivers of the alignment of the

road. Cat's eyes are used to control

traffic and encourage safe driving

conditions. Cat's Eyes Road lights can

be installed in specific patterns to

create various traffic control solutions.

When ceramic road reflectors are

placed close together in rows,

spanning the width of a road, they

can form a traffic calming rumble strip

which helps in reducing speed.

Pedestrian crossing zones are also

sometimes created with reflectors to

facilitate both the pedestrians and

drivers.

Other purposes of installing cat's eye is

to separate out vehicular lanes, avoid

frequent changing of lanes and more

importantly, prevent swerving which is

the most common cause of

accidents. The presence of the cat's

eye would ensure that the vehicles

stay within their designated lanes, and

would therefore limit their speed. The

Cats Eyes are originally white in color

and are installed above the

pavement marking that separates

lanes or separates the middle of the

road. However they are available in

other colors and each color specifies

a different function.

Color Usage in Cat's Eye Road

Reflectors

Red studs are used to warn drivers

that they are nearing the edge of the

road. Amber studs are installed along

a dual carriageway. Green: entry to

gated community available for emergency vehicles

Some colors cue police officers,

emergency personnel or

maintenance workers, showing

them where they can find things like

pull-offs, fire hydrants or stop valves. A

few variants even feature reversible

colors, conveying different messages

based on direction of travel. But these

meanings — like reflector designs —

vary from place to place.

Visual lane marking – using white in

the middle and red on the left edge

means that road users can follow

these to stay in the lane. Using yellow

where there are yellow no overtaking

lines add visual reinforcement to the

rule.

Tactile lane marking – if you drive over

the road studs, you can feel it through

your vehicle’s suspension and

steering, therefore it’s a tactile

reminder that you are straying from your lane

Special feature marking – Fire

hydrants are marked with blue road

studs and, in some areas, culverts and

drains are marked with green road

studs.

These insignificant pieces of metal

contribute a lot in the field of

transportation; even if the reflectors

lower the risk of accidents by 1/100th

of 1 percent they fulfill a necessary

role in saving human lives.

DIMENSIONS VOL.12, ISSUE 3, MAR 2020

A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. L td

THERMAL IMAGING / SOCIAL

DISTANCING TO CONTROL COVID -19

Dipali A D, Nemmadi

We shall look at two aspects here (1)

Thermal imaging to control COVID-19

outbreak and (2) Social Distancing to

control spread of diseases in general.

Part 1: Thermal imaging to control

COVID-19 outbreak

Coronavirus outbreak: Can machine

vision and imaging play a part?

To slow the spreading of Coronavirus

Disease 2019 (COVID-19), many

people around the world have turned

to machine vision and imaging

technologies. Some of these may

prove more effective than others.

Mainland China, the initial epicenter

of the coronavirus outbreak, has seen

a huge drop in the number of COVID-

19 cases recently, a sign that it has

successfully managed to contain the

deadly virus that continues to spread

rampantly around the world.

Technology has played an important

role in the country's containment of

the disease from smart helmets, to

thermal-camera equipped drones as

well as facial recognition software.

Recently they have added one more

device to its coronavirus-fighting

resources – AI-powered smart glasses.

Smart glasses that can measure

temperature

Security personnel in China have

started AI-powered smart glasses to

wearing single out people with a

fever, which is one of the main

symptoms of the coronavirus. The

glasses are equipped with thermal

imaging cameras that can measure

an individual's temperature from up to

a meter away.

Continuous check of people being done

Each device is capable of checking

the temperature of several hundred

people in just two minutes, as

reported by the South China Morning

Post. Once the device detects

someone with a fever, it automatically

sends a notification to the staff and

makes a digital record. The glasses

also support real-time facial

recognition and remote collaborative

tasks.

Who is using these glasses?

The eyewear is currently being used

by security guards in the Hongyuan

Park in the city of Hangzhou. The park

is among the growing number of

public places in China that have

reopened since the number of

COVID-19 cases started to dwindle.

Is thermal imaging technology

effective?

Although thermal imaging systems are

being used at hospitals, airports,

railway stations etc., to screen people

that could potentially be infected with

COVID-19, the technology is only

capable of measuring skin

temperature, which isn't always the

same as one's core body

temperature, a tell-tale sign of a fever.

Moreover, the glasses are unable to

detect infected individuals who are

asymptomatic, which means they

haven't started showing any

symptoms yet. We already know that

COVID-19 has an incubation period of

about 2-14 days during which one

can infect countless others.

Tear duct temperature

Thermal imaging

Numerous airports have installed

thermal cameras to screen for people

with elevated body temperature, as

fever is a main symptom of COVID-19.

However, the use of thermal imaging

should be used cautiously.

When the immune system detects an

infection, the core body temperature

rises. Based on recent research, the

best spot on the face to detect core

body temperature is the inner tear

duct. When someone wears glasses,

however, this creates a problem since

thermal cameras cannot see through

glass, thus occluding the important

temperature locations in the face.

A thermal camera also cannot detect a particular virus. It can only identify

an elevated body temperature, and

for that to work well, a very high-

resolution thermal image across

somebody’s face is needed.

Infrared imaging check at airport

If thermal cameras are just pointed at

a large crowd, it will not provide

enough resolution over the tear ducts

for an exact body temperature

measurement.

Other tech in use

Numerous other imaging and/or

technologies tangentially related to

imaging are also currently being

deployed. For example, as part of a

thermal imaging system in Shenzhen,

China, an artificial intelligence

program not only measures visitors’

body temperature, but also checks

their identity and if they are wearing a

mask.

Chinese tech firm Baidu also

reportedly developed an algorithm

for Beijing subways that uses video

feeds from subway cameras to single

out commuters not wearing masks.

While we ultimately await the arrival

of a clinically tested vaccine, such

technologies and research aid in the

equally important goal of suppressing

the disease.

Watch the videos showing how a drone /

hand-held thermal imagers can be used to

detect persons with fever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NyU

0bHujiU and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJy2869i_K8

Thanks to the article by James Carroll

DIMENSIONS VOL.12, ISSUE 3, MAR 2020 14

A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. L td

Part 2: Social Distancing to control

spread of diseases

For many people, the most distressing

part of the coronavirus pandemic is

the idea of social isolation. If we get ill,

we quarantine ourselves for the

protection of others. But even among

the healthy, loneliness may be setting

in as we engage with pre-

emptive social distancing.

There is some great advice out there

about how to stay connected at such

times. But why is the act of social

distancing so hard for so many of us?

The answer probably has more to do

with our evolutionary history than

people might think.

Humans are part of a very sociable

group, the primates. Primates are

distinguished from other animals by

their grasping hands and various ways

of moving around, and because they

show a high level of social interaction.

Compared to other mammals of the

same body size, primates also

have larger brains. There are several

hypotheses about why this is. We

know, for instance, that within the

primates, species which face

ecological challenges like accessing

hard-to-reach foods have slightly

larger brains. Doing these things may

require more sophisticated brains.

Our large brains seem to be as much

about managing our social

relationships as our survival skills. Brain

size in all mammals is linked to

understanding and intelligence. In

primates it is also positively correlated

with social group size.

Living in groups requires us to

understand relationships, both

amicable and conflicting, with those

around us. For primates, remembering

how two individuals have interacted

in the past, and how they might feel

about each other now, is necessary

knowledge when deciding who to

approach for help. Social skills are

therefore fundamental for survival in

group situations.

Human brains are even larger than

those of other primates. If we apply

the scaling rule to ourselves, we would

predict an average social group size

of around 150 people. This prediction

seems to be true. Workplaces, for

example, have been shown to

function better when there are no

more than 150 employees.

Why live in groups?

Living in a group offers various

advantages. Larger groups have

better defenses against rivals and

predators. They are often better able to find food – more pairs of eyes

searching for fruit trees means more

success – and they are more able to

defend that food from competitors.

There are reproductive advantages,

too. The larger the group, the more

likely any individual is to be able to

find a suitable mate.

In more social species, there is also the

potential availability of alternative

care-givers to babysit or teach the

young. Infant primates have lots

of complicated social and physical

skills to learn. Living in a group gives

them more opportunities to develop

those skills in a safe environment

under the watchful eye of an elder.

Finally, larger social groups have more

capacity to generate, retain and

transmit knowledge. Older members

are more numerous in larger groups.

They may remember how to access

difficult or unusual resources, and be able to show others how to do it. This

can mean the difference between

survival or death. For instance in a

drought, only the oldest members of

the group may remember where the

remaining water holes are.

How are we different?

All this goes some way to explaining

why being socially isolated can be so

very uncomfortable for us. Modern

humans are one of the most social

species of all mammals.

As we evolved since our split with

chimpanzees, our brains have

continued to expand. These increases

seem to fit with even more intense

reliance on community.

Several of our distinctive features,

including language and culture,

suggest that modern humans are

particularly dependent on social

living. The most convincing evidence,

however, may come from our

characteristic division of labor.

Wild animals also practice social

distancing to avoid getting sick

Some species, such as chimpanzees

and honeybees, enforce strict

measures to prevent the spread of

disease.

Social distancing is not a novel

concept in the natural world, where infectious diseases are

commonplace. In fact, several social

species will expel members within their

own community if they are infected

with a pathogen.

Through specialized senses animals

can detect certain diseases—

sometimes before visible symptoms

appear—and change their behavior

to avoid getting ill.

Honeybees and chimpanzees, for

instance, can be ruthless when it

comes to ousting the sick.

Bacterial diseases that strike

honeybee colonies are particularly

devastating, liquifying honeybee

larvae from the inside. Infected larvae

emit certain telltale chemicals that

older bees can smell, like oleic acid

and β-ocimene, a bee pheromone.

Once identified, the bees will

physically toss these diseased

members from the hive.

In 1966, while studying chimpanzees in

Gombe Stream National

Park, Tanzania, Jane

Goodall observed a chimpanzee

named McGregor who had

contracted polio, caused by a highly

contagious virus.

His fellow chimps attacked him and

cast him out of the troop. In one

instance, the partially paralyzed

chimp approached chimps grooming

in a tree; starved of social contact, he

reached out a hand in greeting, but

the others moved away without a

backward glance.

“For a full two minutes. old McGregor

sat motionless, staring after them,”

Goodall notes in her 1971 book In the

Shadow of Man. "It's really not that

different to how some societies react

today to such a tragedy," she told

the Sun Sentinel newspaper in 1985.

Thanks to National Geographic, Sarah

Lawrence for the inputs

DIMENSIONS VOL.12, ISSUE 3, MAR 2020

A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. L td

WHY ARE BUILDINGS WITH SHEAR

WALLS PREFERRED IN SEISMIC

REGIONS? Article Suggested by A N Prakash

What is a Shear Wall Building

Reinforced concrete (RC) buildings

often have vertical plate-like RC walls

called Shear Walls (Figure 1) in

addition to slabs, beams and

columns. These walls generally start at

foundation level and are continuous

throughout the building height. Their

thickness can be as low as 150mm, or

as high as 400mm in high rise

buildings. Shear walls are usually

provided along both length and width

of buildings (Figure 1). Shear walls are

like vertically-oriented wide beams

that carry earthquake loads

downwards to the foundation.

Advantages of Shear Walls in RC

Buildings

Properly designed and detailed

buildings with shear walls have shown

very good performance in past

earthquakes. The overwhelming

success of buildings with shear walls in

resisting strong earthquakes is

summarised in the quote:

“We cannot afford to build concrete

buildings meant to resist severe

earthquakes without shear walls.”

:: Mark Fintel, a noted consulting

engineer in USA

Shear walls in high seismic regions

require special detailing. However, in

past earthquakes, even buildings with

sufficient amount of walls that were

not specially detailed for seismic

performance (but had enough well-

distributed reinforcement) were saved

from collapse. Shear wall buildings are

a popular choice in many earthquake

prone countries, like Chile, New

Zealand and USA. Shear walls are

easy to construct, because

reinforcement detailing of walls is

relatively straight-forward and

therefore easily implemented at site.

Shear walls are efficient, both in terms

of construction cost and effectiveness

in minimizing earthquake damage in

structural and non- structural elements

(like glass windows and building

contents).

Architectural Aspects of Shear Walls

Most RC buildings with shear walls also

have columns; these columns primarily

carry gravity loads (i.e., those due to

self-weight and contents of building).

Shear walls provide large strength and

stiffness to buildings in the direction of

their orientation, which significantly

reduces lateral sway of the building

and thereby reduces damage to

structure and its contents. Since shear

walls carry large horizontal

earthquake forces, the overturning

effects on them are large. Thus,

design of their foundations requires

special attention. Shear walls should

be provided along preferably both

length and width. However, if they are

provided along only one direction, a

proper grid of beams and columns in

the vertical plane (called a moment-

resistant frame) must be provided

along the other direction to resist

strong earthquake effects.

Door or window openings can be

provided in shear walls, but their size

must be small to ensure least

interruption to force flow through

walls. Moreover, openings should be

symmetrically located. Special design

checks are required to ensure that the

net cross- sectional area of a wall at

an opening is sufficient to carry the

horizontal earthquake force.

Shear walls in buildings must be

symmetrically located in plan to

reduce ill-effects of twist in buildings.

They could be placed symmetrically

along one or both directions in plan.

Shear walls are more effective when located along exterior perimeter of

the building – such a layout increases

resistance of the building to twisting.

Ductile Design of Shear Walls

Just like reinforced concrete (RC)

beams and columns, RC shear walls

also perform much better if designed

to be ductile. Overall geometric

proportions of the wall, types and

amount of reinforcement, and

connection with remaining elements

in the building help in improving the

ductility of walls. The Indian Standard

Ductile Detailing Code for RC

members (IS: 13920-1993) provides

special design guidelines for ductile

detailing of shear walls.

Overall Geometry of Walls: Shear walls

are oblong in cross-section, i.e., one

dimension of the cross-section is much

larger than the other. While

rectangular cross-section is common, L- and U-shaped sections are also

used (Figure 3). Thin-walled hollow RC

shafts around the elevator core of

buildings also act as shear walls, and

should be taken advantage of to

resist earthquake forces.

C-Shaped

L-Shaped

RC Hollow Core around Elevators

Rectangular

Figure 3: Shear walls in RC Buildings – different geometries are possible.

DIMENSIONS VOL.12, ISSUE 3, MAR 2020 16

A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. L td

Reinforcement Bars in RC Walls: Steel

reinforcing bars are to be provided in

walls in regularly spaced vertical and

horizontal grids (Figure 4a). The

vertical and horizontal reinforcement

in the wall can be placed in one or

two parallel layers called curtains.

Horizontal reinforcement needs to be

anchored at the ends of walls.

The minimum area of reinforcing steel

to be provided is 0.0025 times the

cross-sectional area, along each of

the horizontal and vertical directions.

This vertical reinforcement should be

distributed uniformly across the wall

cross-section.

Boundary Elements: Under the large

overturning effects caused by

horizontal earthquake forces, edges

of shear walls experience high

compressive and tensile stresses. To

ensure that shear walls behave in a

ductile way, concrete in the wall end

regions must be reinforced in a

special manner to sustain these load

reversals without losing strength

(Figure 4b). End regions of a wall with

increased confinement are called

boundary elements.

This special confining transverse

reinforcement in boundary elements is

similar to that provided in columns of

RC frames (See IITK-BMTPC

Earthquake Tip 19).

Sometimes, the thickness of the shear

wall in these boundary elements

is also increased. RC walls with

boundary elements have substantially

higher bending strength and

horizontal shear force carrying

capacity, and are therefore less

susceptible to earthquake damage

than walls without boundary

elements.

Reading Material

IS 13920, (1993), “Indian Standard

Code of Practice for Ductile Detailing

of Reinforced Concrete Structures

Subjected to Seismic Forces,” Bureau

of Indian Standards, New Delhi

Paulay,T., and Priestley,M.J.N., (1992),

“Seismic Design of Reinforced Concrete and Masonry Buildings,”

John Wiley & Sons, USA

Authored by:

C.V.R.Murty

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Kanpur, India

Sponsored by:

Building Materials and Technology

Promotion Council, New Delhi, India:

Why are Buildings with Shear Walls

preferred in Seismic Regions?

Tension Compression

Closely spaced confining reinforcement in boundary

elements

Proper anchoring of vertical

reinforcement into foundation

(a)

Boundary Element

Boundary Element

Confining reinforcement in boundary elements:

135 hooks, closely spaced ties

(b)

Anchoring of wall reinforcement in boundary

element

Figure 4: Layout of main reinforcement in shear walls as per

IS:13920-1993 – detailing is the key to good seismic performance.

Boundary Elements without increased thickness

Boundary Elements with increased thickness

DIMENSIONS VOL.12, ISSUE 3, MAR 2020 17

A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. L td

APPENDIX

Good Manners and Etiquette: Eighth in

the Series - Phone etiquette.

Megha Muppadi, Nemmadi

Why is Phone Etiquette so Important?

According to NewVoiceMedia’s

study, 42% of consumers switch brands

because they are put off by rude or

unhelpful staff.

No more than three rings. Most of the

customers or leads will hang up if they

have to wait for you to pick up the

phone for more than three rings.

Whenever you answer a professional

call you have to be like a top-notch

radio presenter. Your voice is the only

thing that connects you to your

customer. It is the only way for him to

judge you, to like you, and to make

his own opinion on you.

Keep the tone of your voice

equal throughout the whole phone

call. Do not shout, neither lower your

voice too much. This way you’ll make

sure that your recipient understands

everything you say, so you won’t have

to repeat yourself over and over.

Keep in mind that every phone call

might be the last one. If the customer

feels like the service he received is off-

point he might go and search for

another company which can keep up

with his standards. That’s also the main

premise for why phone etiquette plays

such a crucial role.

You should always introduce yourself

first so the caller gets assured that he

or she is talking to the right person.

Then, finish with warm “How can I help

you?” You’ve probably heard sales

reps and customer service agents

going faster than the Formula 1 car

when introducing themselves. Don’t

cultivate such behavior.

It is important to avoid sounding

salesy, pushy, aggressive or anxious.

This – unfortunately – happens a lot

and people are likely to become less

eager to talk to you. Make sure you

sound confident. The customer wants

to feel like he’s talking to the

appropriate person who’s

knowledgeable.

A good practice is to sit up in the chair

or stand up if you’re more

comfortable talking on a phone this

way. At all cost do not lean back in

your chair as it will automatically

change the way you talk. You’ll get

too relaxed and instead of sounding

like a professional you’ll sound like a

random person, friend or worse,

someone who doesn’t care.

Use proper language. Using casual

language, swear words and slang is a

no-no. On the other hand, if you keep

your language professional you’ll

sound like a professional.

Remember to always be respectful

and act accordingly to the situation.

Even if the customer gets angry at

something don’t try to keep up with

his anger. Rather stay calm, use

peaceful language, and try to calm

him down. The situation like this is

more than likely to happen and you

have to be ready for it.

The second thing to

remember is to always remain

cheerful and friendly. Positivity just as

negativity spreads from one person to

another. Don’t allow a negative

customer to influence you with his

negativity. Instead, do what you can

to make him happy! You won’t

believe how grateful a customer can

be if the call with you made him smile

or laugh.

Actively listen, and take notes. Both of

the above are crucial.

Second, staying active during the call

helps you not drift away, which – sadly – happens. If you get distracted for

even a few seconds you might not

hear a customer’s question or

comment. You know how

unprofessional it would sound if you

ask a customer to repeat his question.

You should never ever interrupt a

customer while he or she is talking.

Listening to complaints might be

annoyingly painful, but it can also

come in useful in a later process. On

the other hand, if the customer is

simply cursing at a customer service

agent for no particular reason (as

often it’s not the fault of the agent

himself), such an agent should be

allowed to interrupt the customer or even hang up if things go too far.

Lastly, listening to the whole

customer’s story is also beneficial from

a psychological point of view as the

customer feels taken care of when

you let him speak and listen to him

carefully.

Another good practice is to find a

quiet and peaceful place when you

can make and take calls with no

interruptions at all.

When a customer calls you’re

supposed to know the answer to any

question he asks, but in reality, it might

happen that you’re simply not sure or

you just don’t know the answer. In

such case don’t try to get away with

half of an answer or by trying to

change the topic of the call.

Instead of prevaricating, you should

admit that you’re not sure about the

answer. The best solution, in that case,

is to put the customer on hold (if

you’re able to get to know the answer

relatively quick). In such case always

inform that you’re going to put the

customer on hold and ensure that it

won’t take too long. After coming

back to the call thank the customer

for the time spent waiting.

Another solution might be to transfer

the call. If there is another employee

who you know is capable of providing

the answer let him take the call and

give a proper answer. You should also

inform the customer that you’re going

to transfer the call. A good practice is

to say that you’re going to let him talk

to a higher-tier employee. It will make

him sure that he is properly taken care

of.

In case you make a mistake,

remember that after all we all make

mistakes, and forget about various

things. The same can happen to you and unless it is the matter of lack of

preparation, it is totally excusable.

Reference document: Blog by Jakub

Kliszczak, Marketing Specialist @ CrazyCall

DIMENSIONS VOL.12, ISSUE 3, MAR 2020 18

A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Project Management Consultants Pvt. L td

Question of the last Month:

At a particular project, the Client who

is supplying the reinforcement steel

informed that rolling margin would not

be considered while making bill

payments to the Contractor. Do you

agree with the decision of the Client?

If not, in a brief letter, explain why you

do not agree, so that the Client may

change his mind.

There was only one answer this time –

from Vasim Mujawar of Nemmadi

(who was in charge of reinforcement

reconciliation in his last project)

The right word for rolling margin is

"Tolerances in Nominal Mass".

If the Client will not consider Rolling

Margin for compensation to the

Contractor, he will consider the worst

case of increase in the Nominal Mass

of steel and hike the rate while

quoting in the Tender. For example, if

the steel supplied for a project is 1000

MT and the Contractor’s assumed

increase in weight is 4% or 40 MT (in

1000 MT) due to rolling margin for the

complete project. Assuming a rate of

supplying and fabricating steel to be

Rs. 60,000 (this will change based on

market rates), the Contractor would

hike the rate by Rs. 24 lakhs (40 MT x

60,000/MT).

Suppose the project was to run for 2

years and the rate paid for an

Engineer is Rs. 50 K per month, the

total payment done to him/her will be

Rs. 12 lakhs. At the end of the project

if it is found that the actual increase in

nominal mass is only 2%, the amount

to be paid as compensation to the

Contractor would be only Rs. 12 lakhs

(2% of 1000 MT x 60,000/MT) if it had

been allowed in the contract (which is

the same as the amount paid for the

Engineer).

The time spent by the Engineer to

check the Nominal Mass is only about

5% of the total time spent working and

the other hours would be utilized for

other works such as checking the Bills

etc. It means that by spending Rs. 60,

000 (5% of Rs. 12 lakhs) a saving of Rs.

11.4 lakhs is made. Hence, checking for Nominal mass and compensating

the Contractor is of advantage to the

Client as a more competitive rate is

received.

Question of this Month

In the article by Dipali AD we see how

infrared imagery can be of assistance

in combating the COVID 19 outbreak.

Can you name a living being which

uses infrared imaging to hunt its prey?

Millets

by Mary A

Millets are a group of small-seeded

grasses, widely grown around the

world as cereal crops/ grains. Millet is tiny in size and round in shape and

can be white, gray, yellow or red.

Millets are very high in their nutrition

content. Each millets are three to five

times nutritionally superior to rice and

wheat in terms of proteins, minerals

and vitamins. Millets are rich in

vitamins, calcium, iron, potassium,

magnesium, zinc, also gluten-free and

has low-GI (Glycemic index).

For thousands of years, millets has

been grown, such as Pearl millet,

Barnyard millet, Sorghum, Foxtail

millet, Little millet, Kodo millet, Proso

millet and now ANI (Millet Network of

India) promotes millets as Nutri-cereals

instead of Coarse Cereals. Some

interesting facts about millets other

than that they are gluten-free is that

they are highly nutritious, millets need

very little water for their production,

short growing period under dry, high

temperature conditions and that's

why in India, Africa & Asia millets are

more popular. Millets also required

rich soils for growth, no millet attracts

any pest hence they have no or low

fertilizer usage and are pest-free

Where to buy and store - Millets are

available in Organic shops and also in

some super markets. Store millet in an

airtight container in a cool, dry and

dark place, where it will keep for

several months.

Millet Dosa

Millets Benefits

Helps to lower type 2 diabetic and

reduces the risk of heart diseases.

Millets are a great source of starch,

making it a high-energy food. It is also

an excellent source of protein and

fiber.

Millets are mostly pest-free and low

fertilizer is used in its growth (widely

comes in Organic form).

Millets Recipes - Millets can be

cooked as we make rice and serve

with dal, sambar, rasam or any curry of our choice. We can also make

various dosa, idli, upma, pongal,

pulao & sweets from millets; they can

also be use in baking.

Editorial team

Roy Zacharias, Editor

Editorial Board: R Suresha, Divya K

We welcome your suggestions, comments

and articles. Mail it to:

academy@anpcpmc.com

Publication of comments and articles are

subject to editorial control and discretion.