About
Starting Semester: Fall 2024Assigned: No
Location: Atlanta
CRH Americas (NYSE:CRH)
Client Profile
Company Overview https://www.crhamericasmaterials.com/CRH is the leading provider of building materials that build, connect and improve our world – cement, concrete, aggregate, paving products, and asphalt. We help to make constructing the infrastructure (roads and bridges) and the built environment (foundations, pilings, drainage, runways etc. easier, safer and more sustainable. We are the essential partner for transport and critical utility infrastructure projects, commercial real estate development and home construction. Company HQ is in Sandy Springs (North Atlanta) Georgia and company can host student visits etc.
For Fiscal Year 2022:
• CRH reported revenues of $32.7 bn and profit before tax of $3.5 bn.
o CRH employees approximately 80,000 employees, in 29 countries and over 3,160 operating locations globally.
• CRH Americas Materials (“AMAT”), is the north American subsidiary of CRH and the largest building materials business in North America and generated revenue and EBITDA of $14.3 bn and $2.7 bn.
o CRH Americas Materials (“AMAT”) reported 29,000 employees in 1,605 locations across 46 states and 6 Canadian provinces
Project Description
Project Background & ContextCRH AMAT supplies essential materials such as aggregates, cement, lime, ready-mixed concrete, and asphalt to paving and infrastructure construction projects across north America. These materials are used extensively in a wide range of construction applications, from major public road and highway and bridge infrastructure projects, to other critical infrastructure elements such as drainage & storm water handling, as well as runways and other specialty development and refurbishment projects. CRH is the largest road paver and the leader in paving and construction services North America. Our road solutions customers include national, regional, and local governments, contractors, developers, and other providers of construction services.
CRH AMAT operates at over 800 job-site locations across North America, employees over 21,000 people, and serves many thousand more contractors, vendors, drivers / haulers and other professions that visit or work on the job sites alongside our employees. Our projects range from local streets and roads to some of the largest projects in the industry such as major highways, bridges and airports valued at up to $1.5B in revenue and involve hundreds of employees, utilize portable equipment “plants”, and utilize up to 100 individual pieces of heavy equipment every day.
The safety of our employees, contractors, vendors and the traveling public on these active and dangerous job sites safe is our most important job. This includes keeping the public safe as traffic traverse these sites during construction. CRH employees every means at its disposal and continues to spend and invest heavily to keep everyone safe – and continuously improve. However, despite all the efforts and investments, we still have over 70 safety “incidents”, including “near-misses”, every year across these job sites – and an unfortunate portion of those resulting in injury.
Client Need
CRH AMAT is interested in identifying potential technology solutions and/or systems based interventions that can help minimize the risks to worker safety while from heavy equipment and the traveling public in and around active job sites / construction zones. The proposed student project is an opportunity for an external group of students to provide an assessment of our operations and exploration of some of the root causes / factors producing poor safety outcomes. In addition, utilizing their systems engineering thinking, the students can identify areas of action and investment by the company to improve safety in those areas of operation. This proposed solutions or recommendations can encompass process, facility or job redesign, employee or contractor training, facility layout, equipment redesign, or the application or development of entirely new and novel engineered solutions or technology (i.e. solutions incorporating advanced sensing or video technology, self-driving or AI assisted vehicle control, drones, robots etc.,)
The goals of this proposed safety and environmental project could be:
1. Analyze & Hypothesize root causes for safety incidents using available safety data (incident reports, safety analytics and records (documentation may also include available video archives etc)
2. Identify insights and potential process, engineering, or layout (design) changes and/or potential technology-based solutions or interventions that can improve safety for the employees and contractors on the job sites.
Some of the specific areas of interest and challenge related to job / construction site safety are as follows:
• Safety of employees within the internal work zone in relation to moving heavy construction equipment such as haul trucks (especially when backing up)
Ideas and areas of interest can include video and drone technology, AI or other advanced sensor or “smart” technologies that may be deployed to monitor and improve safety.
• Effectiveness of Traffic Control Plans inside the construction zone / work site?
• Safety of employees during deployment of traffic control and diversion devices such as signs, temporary barricades, cones, lights or signals et al
• Position of employees relative to moving traffic (public) including flaggers, spotters, foreman, inspectors et al
• Alternative or high-tech methods to slow public traffic through work zones and the prevention of work zone intrusions by motorists
Note on Student Travel: CRH is willing to fund student travel expenses if students wish to travel to company operating locations / job sites for “on-site” tours etc. for this project
Company Project Contact / Executive Sponsor
Mark Arnold
Vice President – Data Analytics and BI for CRH Americas Materials
770-392-5435
mark.arnold@crh.com
Additional Contact / Support at Georgia Tech (project / student team advisor)
Prof. Keith Werle
Managing Director – Business Analytics Center
Georgia Tech
404-385-4475
Keith.werle@scheller.gatech.edu
About CRH Americas Materials, Inc. www.crhamericasmaterials.com. (NYSE: CRH, ISE: CRH, LSE: CRH)
CRH Americas Materials is the largest vertically integrated supplier of building materials in North America, serving customers across the US and Canada. The company provides asphalt, aggregates, ready-mixed concrete, cement, landscape products and paving & construction Services. CRH is a member of CRH Global - A Fortune 500 company and is a constituent member of the FTSE 100 Index, the EURO STOXX 50 Index, and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI). The parent company, CRH is headquartered in Ireland and did over $32.7B in sales in 2022, with $5.6B in EBITDA. CRH employs more than 75,000 people at 3,160 locations in 29 countries and is a market leader in north America and Europe.