Chemical Engineering January 2017 - 54

Traditional EPC role
TABLE 1. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO APPROACHES
Hybrid EPC role
Hybrid model differences
All design performed by the EPC
EPC procures all equipment and materials
EPC
manages and provides oversight
for the entire project.
EPC performs design and construction
for all work packages
EPC is contracted on a lump sum turkey
basis for the entire project
Detailed design performed by the EPC
EPC manages the procurement of the majority of materials
and small equipment and control instrumentation
EPC manages and provides oversight over their contracted
scope of work.
EPC performs design and construction for their contracted
scope
EPC is contracted on a lump sum turnkey basis for
contracted scope of work
resource costs when they are able
to better use relevant data, implement
standardized project-resource
coding, and develop a consistent
project taxonomy so that project attributes
can be tracked and reported
more effectively.
Ideally, if all projects within an organization
were to utilize a common taxonomy
of project attributes, and if all
project team members were coded
by function and time were tracked by
project phase and activity, the following
project metrics could be evaluated,
benchmarked and utilized for
real-time project estimating, forecasting
and decision making:
* Workload capacity
* $/Full time employee (FTE); for example:
$5 million/FTE/yr)
* FTEs/project by project type per
$100 million
* Staffing ratios
* Vendor breakdown by category
(for example, % architect/engineer,
% contractor, % subcontractor),
project-delivery method,
region and project type
* Peak head count versus average
head count by phase (for instance,
by project-delivery method, by region
or by project type)
* Functional staffing ratios (for instance,
by % engineering, % project
management, % administration,
% project controls)
* Workload breakdown
* Percent of project hours by phase
(for instance, by % planning, %
design, % construction, % commission
and closeout)
* Average hours by project activity
(for instance, by project delivery
method, by region, by project type)
Such detailed insight can then be utilized
to rationalize staffing requests
and project estimates. Additionally,
companies can evaluate projectstaffing
curves with the ultimate goal
of decreasing average project duration,
improving estimating accuracy
54
Conceptual design, design quality assurance and quality control
performed by separate, independent engineering firm retained
by owner
Owner procures certain major equipment work packages directly
Owner engages internal or third-party control group to monitor
the project and report out directly to the owner
Local design and construction firms contracted directly for specific
work packages
Pricing outside of the EPC varies between lump sum, time and
material, and actual cost
and reducing average FTEs on a
project to free up resources and increase
overall output.
Improving project reporting, documentation
and overall project
efficiency. Implementing a projectmanagement
information
system
(PMIS)
on a major CPI construction
project can contribute significantly to
its overall success. The PMIS allows
project teams to make effective decisions
and accurately report project
status to stakeholders by maintaining
constant, realtime access to project
information and key performance
indicators. It also addresses document-
and records-management
needs that result from environmental
regulations and building codes. The
increasing volume of construction
data, the need for immediate access
to it, and the challenges of maintaining
confidentiality and security make
the PMIS for construction a standard
practice on large, capital-intensive
CPI projects.
By converting to a digital standard
for project documentation, project
teams can automate document distribution,
management and retention,
process reviews and approvals.
A key consideration for implementing
this new standard would be to
ensure that all project vendors and
consultants are supportive of the
preferred PMIS and will fully leveraging
it with their work streams.
Using cloud and mobile technology
to improve the way data are captured
and utilized on a project to
improve performance. Project teams
throughout the CPI are also beginning
to leverage cloud and mobile technologies
to capture and share data in
realtime and quickly analyze, assess
and report on projects. Cloud and mobile
technologies are becoming more
cost-effective and permit even remote
project sites to connect with teams at
corporate headquarters. For example,
the use of computer tablets to
capture and record field inspections,
site walks, progress and permit status
can provide realtime tracking and
scheduling monitoring for all stakeholders,
regardless of their location.
If this technology is coupled with
building information modeling (BIM)
and regularly maintained progress
photos, then stakeholders can get
a true sense of construction activity
and troubleshoot problems or questions
as they arise without necessarily
being physically present onsite.
CPI companies that have implemented
cloud-based PMISs with
mobile capabilities have experienced
many benefits, including:
* Better
integration
schedule reporting
* Improved change-order management
*
Reduced cycle times
* Secured and centralized management
of project information
* Automation of information
requests, submittals and the
solicitation processes
Reducing project risk and operating
costs with data analytics. Reviewing
a baseline schedule (which
can easily involve 40,000 activities)
for a CPI plant-construction project
in a matter of hours is impossible
without the help of automated
data-analytic tools. Schedule-related
tools have enabled project teams to
quickly assess the overall quality of
schedules submitted by contractors
and subcontractors. This not
only simplifies the project team's
understanding of large, mega-scale
project schedules, but it also helps
to reduce overall project risk. For
instance, with the help of available
data-analytic tools, schedule discrepancies
can be addressed early
in the project lifecycle, before larger,
more costly issues arise.
The use of data-analytic tools can
also help project owners to manage
and mitigate complex construction
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