Hydrocarbon Processing - November 2022 - 37

Plant Design,
Engineering,
Construction and
Commissioning
S. ANDERTON, Graycor, Chicago, Illinois, and
B. GALLAGHER, Graycor, Greenville, South Carolina
Leading capital projects in a VUCA environment
A convergence of events has disrupted
the construction industry. Leaders of
firms are responsible for decisions that
impact their capital projects. Increasingly,
these decisions are made in a world that is
volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous
(VUCA). While these conditions can
complicate decision-making, embracing
collaborative, creative communication
and a flexible approach will reduce risks
and result in more predictable project
outcomes (FIG. 1).
Based on the leadership theories of
authors Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus,
the term VUCA was first used in 1987.
Later, it was embraced by the U.S. Army
War College to describe the military challenges
in a post-Soviet era. Military leaders
no longer had a single enemy upon
which to focus but faced a multitude of
threats that required different ways of
thinking, seeing and reacting.
VUCA describes the situation of constant,
unpredictable change that is indicative
of the environment in construction
today. Rising material costs, supply chain
interruptions, labor shortages and political,
economic and regulatory uncertainty
are just a few of the factors impacting
capital projects. The current environment
demands project planners and managers
avoid traditional approaches to management
and project delivery. Whether a
project is grassroots, expansion or retrofit,
owners, engineers and contractors
must work in concert to address the issues
and challenges facing capital projects.
Traditional design-bid-build project
delivery, in which the design team makes
all decisions and then sends a project to
bid, purposefully keeps teams and tasks
siloed to limit liability. Newer project
delivery methods, such as design-build,
early contractor involvement (ECI) and
advanced work packaging (AWP), seek
to bring teams together more collaboratively.
These methods achieve the most
success if collaboration happens early, is
guided by a formal preconstruction process
and has full buy-in from all participants.
Early planning and tracking allow
collaborative activities to create a feedback
loop to proactively refine a project's
schedule and cost rather than letting
problems snowball (FIG. 2).
ECI, while closely related to designbuild
project delivery, brings subcontractors
to the table even earlier in the process-at
the design concept or schematic
phase. By tapping the expertise of subcontractors,
the team can utilize their unique
perspectives, ideas and solutions regarding
constructability. This is especially
critical in the current environment, where
supply chain problems make it imperative
to consider more alternatives than usual
when it comes to project design, material
selection, and fabrication and shipping
choices. For example, for many steel
installations, lower weights through the
use of more pieces is preferred to reduce
steel material costs. In a VUCA world,
however, where limited availability of
skilled labor is increasingly an issue, heavy
FIG. 1. Preconstruction support of phased
procurement allows for modularization and
just-in-time receipt of equipment modules.
FIG. 2. Clash detection and structural
connection optimization are additional
benefits of contractor involvement during
preconstruction. These efforts generate
reduced field labor costs and more certain
project success.
Hydrocarbon Processing | NOVEMBER 2022 37
Hydrocarbon Processing - November 2022

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