Saudi Arabia's Deputy Minister of Roads Abdullah Al-Mogbel receives disk of software developed at Michigan Tech by Terry McNinch (right) and colleagues.by Rachel Pobocik
Saudi Arabia's Deputy Minister of Roads Abdullah Al-Mogbel receives disk of software developed at Michigan Tech by Terry McNinch (right) and colleagues.
Houghton, MI--Software developed at Michigan Technological University is being used in Saudi Arabia to help engineers calculate preliminary cost estimates of road construction projects. Terry McNinch, director of MTU's Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP), recently returned from the Middleeast nation, where he led training sessions and gave promotional presentations. He and other staff learned that the challenges in this project were cultural, as well as technical.
The project began in 1997 when Michigan Tech staff and students, in cooperation with the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), began work on a software program to calculate preliminary project cost estimates for road construction projects in Michigan.
Traditionally, when a construction project was designed, engineers would calculate the needed materials and building costs. Their estimates of building materials and building plans were sent out as a request for bids to construction companies, and their preliminary calculations were used to compare to the bids. According to McNinch, the design stages often take more time than the building stage, but calculating the estimates was an area that could be improved. "Mistakes were common, because it was easy to transpose numbers. The process produced many snags and periods of waiting."
Their software, MERL 1.0 , now in use by county and city engineers and MDOT, was designed to speed up this process and eliminate errors. It included tools for preparing estimates and online specifications manuals.
In 1999, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Communications contacted McNinch and arranged to have a version of the software developed specific to their needs. The new version, MOC ERL, was completed early this year. It included more than 4,700 pages of specifications and information, and database features to collect actual costs to calculate average prices for future use. The CD-ROM version of the program will replace print versions of manuals and is easily updateable, representing substantial financial savings.
"The most surprising challenge of the project was overcoming cultural and language barriers," McNinch explained. "In addition to time lost due to lengthy Islamic holidays, Saudi Arabia works on the Islamic calendar, giving us only three working days in common."
In addition to the shorter work week, the eight hour time difference was also difficult to work around. "Often we would call in the middle of our night and catch them just as they got to work, or at the end of our day, when they were heading to bed. Also, there is a phone delay, so we would say something, but they wouldnt hear it for a moment. Often, we ended up talking at the same time."
The language barrier was also a challenge. Many of the documents on the CD are in English and Arabic, which is read from right to left. "We received Arabic versions of word processing documents but were unable to find an Arabic keyboard. I finally purchased one while in Saudi Arabia."
McNinch spent two weeks in Saudi Arabia introducing the program, providing training in its use and learning about their culture. "Despite our differences in culture," he learned, "We still faced the same problems in planning road projects and were able to benefit from the same solutions."
For more information contact Terry McNinch at 906/487-2101 or by email at tlmcninc@mtu.edu.
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