William Ibbs Assesses Productivity of Panama Canal

Featured Faculty: C. William Ibbs

CEE Engineering and Project Management Professor William Ibbs recently traveled to the Panama Canal to help the contractor assess the productivity and cost performance on the $3 billion venture.
 
The contractor, Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC), is responsible for the design and construction of the new, third set of locks for the 100-year-old canal. The current plan is for two new flights of locks to be built parallel to, and operated in addition to, the existing locks.  

The new lock chambers will be 1,400 ft. (427 m) long, 180 ft. (55 m) wide, and 60 ft. (18.3 m) deep. This will allow the transit of larger vessels. The new design also includes construction of water-savings basins which will recycle 65% of the water used to raise ships as they pass through the locks.

Ibbs's work involves evaluating the excavation of 22 million cubic meters of soil and placement of 4 million cubic meters of concrete. The project is roughly 7 months behind schedule and substantially over budget. Part of the cost and schedule problems involve overall construction management and labor productivity issues, which is Professor Ibbs's specialty. This work is a direct application of research Ibbs has conducted for the National Science Foundation and the Construction Industry Institute.

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