Cost-Efficiency Analysis of Solid Waste Trucks Using Data Envelopement Analysis Programme - A Study Of Zoomlion Ghana Limited
Loading...
Date
2013-12-12
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This study focuses on the cost-efficiency analysis of solid waste trucks and seeks to identify the factors that account for the various variations in the cost components.
The main objective of this project is to carry out a cost-efficiency analysis of the solid waste trucks using the Data Envelopment Analysis Programme.
Data Envelopment Analysis is essentially an optimization algorithm, which develops efficiency scores for all Decision Making Units on a scale of zero to 100% or 0-1 with units that have 100% or 1 efficiency score being called fully efficient.
In this study, a cost efficiency measurement of solid waste trucks was carried out using data on a sample of 28 trucks (10 skip trucks, 5 roll-on/roll-off trucks and 13 compaction trucks. A constant return to scale model was used in the analysis and efficiency scores were developed for all solid waste trucks.
The study revealed that 3 out of the 28 trucks were found to have received a cost-efficiency score of 1 (100%). It also revealed that the dominant source of the cost inefficiency is as a result of high allocative inefficiencies. This implies that the managers of the trucks were relatively good at using the minimum level of inputs at a given level of output but they were not that good at selecting the optimal mix of inputs given the prices.
An analysis was also carried out to account for the variations in the cost components of the trucks. From the study, it was revealed that factors that contribute to these variations include the age of the truck, the distance (in km) travelled by each truck, the frequency of breakdown, the traffic condition pertaining to the routed that the trucks ply among others.
Description
A Thesis submitted to
the Department of Civil Engineering,
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation
, September-2013