MANAGING PLANT PROJECTS
IN TODAY'S COMPLEX PROJECT
ENVIRONMENT
2013 Annual Meeting
San Francisco
Nov. 4, 2013
Paul G. Williams
Pathfinder, LLC
BIOGRAPHY- PAUL G. WILLIAMS
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Years of Experience/Professional Field:
• More than 25 years Project Management and Project
Engineering experience working for Owner and Contractor
organizations in the Petroleum, Chemical Process, Mining,
Pharmaceutical, Biotech, Microelectronics and the Food and
Beverage industries.
Title:
• Sr. Vice President, Pathfinder, LLC
Degrees:
• MS - Engineering Management, Drexel University
• BS - Mechanical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University
Credentials:
• Licensed Professional Engineer (PE)
• Certified Project Management Professional (PMP)
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INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE
• Today’s chemical and hydrocarbon process industry
Owners have aggressive expansion plans
• Incorporating additional yearly capital spending and
several large/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
may occur (vs. conventional execution)
• Example: Fast Track Execution
• Requires organization and rigid & detailed planning from
early project phase to completion
PROJECT IMPACT
• Plant-based project resources must plan and manage
projects out of range of 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 large projects
PROJECT IMPACT
• Plant-based practice of going to local alliance
contractors doesn’t always work
• Typically focus on small, in-plant, project workload and do
an excellent job
• When overstretched, they struggle to execute quality
deliverables in 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 need experienced team
members
• Typically higher priced
• Needs to be planned for accordingly
OPPORTUNIT Y
• Good time to become a Project Manager (PM) from a
demand standpoint
PITFALLS
• Unfavorable time to be a PM from a guidance
standpoint
• Minimal mentorship
• Thrown into role soon after being hired
• No time for honing skills through day-to-day
roles /responsibilities
• Expected to manage with 1 - 3 years experience rather
than 10–15 year maturation process
• 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 large-scale projects in a plantbased environment can be achieved
• As in any project, planning is key
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Know what skills are available
Identify gaps that exist
Understand what drives our projects
Identify 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 needed to capture best
available resources
• Pricing realities need to be built into baselines
• Realistic schedules necessary to communicate achievable
results
• Validated cost estimates required to assure cost
expectations are able to be met
• Resource plans need to be better defined (but may not
match traditional organization charts)
QUESTION & ANSWER
CONTACT INFORMATION
Paul G. Williams
Pathfinder, LLC
pwilliams@pathfinderinc.com
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