Advance Work Packaging (AWP) is built on the premise that aligning engineering and procurement packages results in more powerful productivity.

 

The AWP process is an industry response to a decline in resources and in overall cost and capital of projects.

 

By setting up these packages to deliver work, industrial projects can be delivered at better quality, even faster, and with less cost. Here are fine points on advantages, key solutions to challenges, and insights for today’s leaders.

 

Advantages

 

The good points of AWP are the alignment of engineering work packages with construction work packages. Combining the various sectors results in collaboration in delivery and creates a mutual respect between design and construction through the course of a project, culminating in its completion.

 

As AWP matures, so too will process align and integrate with present and future technologies. Projects are not going to focus exclusively on process design, but also building design. As project teams begin to grasp the relationship between preparation and productivity, project teams will be better able to expedite the process.

 

Challenges + Solutions

 

The key challenges facing industry today deal with the current contracting strategies. In a perfect world, project team professionals wish to openly share information, yet industry contracts don't always support this sort of collaboration. 

 

The current context for contracts is the design-bid-build scenario, which is certainly not typical in the AWP realm. With AWP, there is more of a design-build or CM at-risk delivery method that takes a top-down approach to detect how risk is dealt with. In today's context, there is more fiscal risk connected to who controls the project. AWP creates a shared risk/reward scenario in a jv between all parties irregardless of whether the project calls for an IPD or IFOA contract.

 

AWP changes this dynamic. With AWP and the right contracts in place, decisions that need to be made can be streamlined to release work, in so doing restricting waste. In doing this, AWP aligns with LEAN project delivery methodology.

 

To appropriately employ the AWP approach, project team members need certainly to understand how the work is presently being done and how it needs to be done. This approach, which allows teams to assist one group without disenfranchising another, means all players must be involved to make certain that the success of the project.

 

AWP focuses on collaboration and joint ownership between all parties. It shifts reward and risk to all parties, which opens the realm of collaboration.

 

Collaboration is vitally crucial. On a recent project, project team members formed a packaging scheme and how they would deliver the work. The packaging scheme and work delivery split up the work in a fashion that made it easier to contact to subs helping construction, though it put more burden on the design entities as it increased extra coordination and took decisions out of sequence.

 

Sometimes such a plan can look sound in theory but does not consider the intricate details of how a team puts together the complete design project, certainly one that supports a process design. Process decisions weigh very heavily on openings and additional supports, and when those decisions are not looked at in the beginning, teams are left to respond with bulletins, change orders, and other issues that impact schedules and costs.

 

The main intent in this case was to give a plan that addressed all design requirements. Depending on how a team breaks up work influences procurement, bidding, etc. If a team is thinking about one package separated out, the team sets the expectation of when design work needs to be finished.

 

Insights + Strategies

 

Picking out the right people is answer to the success of a project. If leaders are just selecting on price, stakeholders will certainly not have the right people involved to work in this collaborative environment. It’s about qualifying, evaluating, and selecting people who believe in the AWP process.

 

Using technology that integrates is another especially key element. Teams can plan the packages but much of the coordination relies on different software for different disciplines. This challenge can be tackle but requires upfront planning on how data will be exchanged as packages are created. It is crucial to determine boundaries and expectations depending on what needs to be done with data.

 

Qualifying requirements must be outlined on what technology is needed to deliver work. While being price conscious and having the right engineering qualifications is vital; success necessitates selecting the suitable tools and the right people to use those tools.

 

The AWP process uses a variety of tools such as procurement tools, bidding tools, documentation tools, and collaboration tools. There is many redundancy across sectors but teams who are doing it well are streamlining the process. Apps are responding to that need as well.

 

One example is the RFI submittal process. Earlier submittals were a transactional, correspondence-heavy communication process that registered everything. The transactions created a paper documentation log. Now, industry leaders see a move in this behavior as team members are using apps and mobile activity to expedite decision making. This method maintains project momentum.

 

Another example are as-built drawings. Today leaders request as-built drawings, which can take anywhere from two days to three weeks to receive. Then a team needs to validate those drawings. During that time period, team members have to have already established working to complete design development to meet the deliverable. Project teams don’t have time and resources to do it twice if there are errors. To expedite design development prior to receiving the drawings, teams can implement laser scanning for a preliminary layout. When the drawings arrive, the project team validates the layout against the reality capture data which tends to almost always be more precise and up to date. While the wait may be frustrating, stakeholders want to take into account that they may spend a bit more to have a more accurate design and stay on schedule.

 

Project team leaders are incorporating visual tools such as KanBan Boards or Commitment-based online software to display deadlines and weekly workloads and look aheads. As applications emerge, savvy teams test and analyze them to find the best solution. The tools should give flexibility in a transparent environment so all contributors know what is expected and if they are meeting project commitments.

 

It's critical to set expectations with project stakeholders so as that information can be used in the next part of the work lifecycle. This approach links back to contract alignment and contract language, which are a key to integrating the many sectors in a collaborative process that results in success of the project—advancing your project with advance work packaging.

 

This article is originally posted on tronserve.com