Transcript Document

THE IMPACT MEGA PROJECTS
HAVE ON IN-PLANT
PROJECT EXECUTION
Paul G Williams
19 June 2013
Houston, TX
INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE
 Owners in today’s chemical and hydrocarbon process
industries have aggressive expansion plans
 Incorporates additional yearly capital spending and
several mega-scale expansions
 Resurgence driven by low energy costs –contributes
to over 50% of production cost for most facilities
BACKGROUND
 Major expansions, new facilities and increased
maintenance are draining available engineering,
construction and fabrication resources
 Mega projects draw resources from small in-plant projects
and plant based technical/operational organizations
 Large projects also suffer from lack of skilled
resources from project management level to craft
worker
BACKGROUND
 Problem deepens when project drivers are defined by
business goals to achieve completion date during
high price cycles
 Forces organizations to implement
execution strategies without
understanding complications that
would occur (compared to
conventional execution)
 Example: the fast track execution
 Requires level of organizational maturity and rigid and
detailed planning from early project phase to completion
PROJECT IMPACT
 Plant based project resources must plan and manage
projects out of range of their experience level
 Concepts are similar
 Volume of data & complex interfaces is overwhelming
 Traditional decision-making processes /communication
lines not structured to address management’s need for
decision-making details required on mega projects
PROJECT IMPACT
 Plant based practice of going to local alliance
contractors does not always work
 Typically focus on small, in-plant, project workload and do
an excellent job
 When overstretched, they struggle to execute quality
deliverables in a timely manner
 Pricing is also an issue
REALIT Y
 Resources experienced in planning /executing
complex projects tend to cost 12% to 17% more per
man hour than plant-based counterparts
 Large-sized projects warrant experienced team
members
 Typically comes with high price
 Needs to be planned for accordingly
OPPORTUNIT Y
 Good time to become a Project Manager (PM) from a
demand standpoint
PITFALLS
 Unfavorable time to become a PM from
a guidance standpoint
 Minimal mentorship
 Thrown into a plant-based PM role soon after being hired
 No time for honing skills through execution of various
day-to-day roles /responsibilities
 Expected to manage with 1 - 3 years experience rather
than 10–15 year maturation process that once existed
 Can be excellent plant-based project PMs, but with
limited “battle wounds” and lessons learned, may
have difficulty being successful on major projects
TRENDS
 Owners sometimes hire Project Management
Contractors (PMC) as Owner representatives
 Not always a successful tactic
 They believe this addresses lack of owner personnel in key
project positions
 PMCs are usually EPC contractors who are unfamiliar with
Owner role
ADDRESSING THE ISSUE
 Effectively executing mega-scale project in a plantbased environment can be achieved
 As in any project, planning is key
 Knowing what skills are available
 Identifying gaps that exist
 Understanding what drives our projects
 Identifying how success is measured
 These plans will NOT look similar to those of 10
years ago!
ADDRESSING THE ISSUE
 Innovative methodologies need to be developed to
allow execution of projects in resource-constrained
environments
 Innovative contract strategies are required to capture best
available resources
 Pricing realities need to be built into baselines
 Realistic schedules are necessary to communicate
achievable results
 Validated cost estimates are required to assure cost
expectations are able to be met
 Resource plans need to be better defined (but may not
match traditional organization charts)
CONTACT INFORMATION
Stephen L. Cabano
Pathfinder, LLC
[email protected]
www.pathfinderinc.com
Corporate Office
11 Allison Drive
Cherry Hill, NJ 08003
P: (856) 424 – 7100
F: (856) 424 – 6414
Calgary
Cherry Hill
Gulf-Coast Office
16225 Park Ten Place
Suite 500
Houston, TX 77084
P: (281) 292 – 5655
F: (281) 419 – 9977
Houston
Mexico City