Ensuring the continuous flow of information

Written by Nahomi Thavarajah, Senior Product Marketing Manager for Engineering and Execution, AVEVA

Razor-thin margins, cost overruns, schedule delays, and complex workflows are just some of the many challenges EPCs face daily. Whether you’ve been in the project delivery space for a day or a decade, these hurdles will sound all too familiar.

These kinds of major problems often stem from what may seem, at first, like minor inconveniences: information bottlenecks and siloed workers. If you can ensure a continuous flow of information, though, you can begin to overcome these challenges, which can have major implications for the long-term growth and success of your business.

Whether you specialize in plant or marine projects, high-quality detailed design solutions can ensure your information keeps flowing, so you can deliver successful projects with a lower risk of error, schedule delays, and cost overruns. The right solution can lay the foundation for the engineering data model that forms the core of the digital twin in operations and maintenance–a major benefit for owner-operators (OOs) following the project handover.

Laying the foundation for a smooth handover

Handing over project or asset information that is complete, accurate, and efficient is a universal challenge to successful project execution. During construction, commissioning, and handover, the aim is to have total control of all project components throughout the full project lifecycle. Lack of continuity of information poses one of the biggest headaches for EPC contractors and owner-operators, particularly during completions and handovers.

Detailed design is the final step in the capital project planning process before construction starts. Once the FEED (front end engineering design) stage is complete, the project moves to the detailed design phase. In this phase, engineers continue to improve and refine the design, including making adjustments to plans, specifications, and estimates.

The resulting products are detailed engineering outputs, like two-dimensional and three-dimensional models. By the time a project reaches the detailed design phase, EPCs have invested considerable resources into the project’s engineering, and a delay at this stage in the design process is the last thing EPCs and OOs want.

The cost of ineffective information management

When the flow of information is interrupted–often due to using paper-based systems and manual processes–the risk of error rises dramatically. If stakeholders can’t access updated, accurate, and comprehensive project details, their decision-making ability suffers–along with the project timeline and budget.

What’s more, when a project stalls due to ineffective information management, the delivery timeline suffers. This means the EPC and OO incur an avoidable opportunity cost. The EPC is unable to move on to its next project and the OO loses potential revenue waiting for its new asset to come online.

EPCs need tools that help them eliminate silos and open communication channels. The free flow of information enables smooth, successful project execution by giving all stakeholders access to all information, regardless of their location relative to the physical project. Digital transformation for EPC contractors working on complex capital projects rests in centralized information management.

AVEVA is a digital partner that can provide customizable solutions to ease the hurdle of digital transformation. AVEVA™ Unified Engineering and AVEVA™ Unified Project Execution integrate with existing systems and have cross-functional capabilities, ensuring that information can flow from sector to sector and from phase to phase.