Create. Adapt. Deliver.

To execute any project and organized and progressive development of detail is essential to making decisions based upon factual and accurate information.   Simply, Front End Loading is an organized progression of staged gates that allow for metric evaluation against each stage’s criteria delivering actionable information to the expected level of accuracy as the decision-makers evaluate the on-going approval of the project. 

FEL work flow is typically divided into three stages:

1.  FEL1 is the business planning stage where the opportunity is defined and options are presented and analyzed for setting a framework of possibilities to meet the business need.   
2. FEL2 scope is developed.  From the opportunities in FEL1, FEL2 effort pulls together the technical and commercial options for evaluation to define a path forward.  
3. FEL3 results in an appropriation grade cost estimate, a project plan and critical path schedule that allows for a funding decision for detail design, construction and start-up of the enterprise. 

All projects have many stakeholders.  The timely review, analysis and action taken keeps the design, construction and start-up efforts on track  A road map is needed and leadership must be strong, decisive and clear on the expected progress against commitments.  Open communication, factual data and a trust bond amongst the team members insures the most successful project.

Design reviews and the Process Hazard Analysis must be an iterative sequence.  Started too soon, and the PHA will become ineffective.  Begun too late, and the design costs and procurement process will incur change order costs.  In the design work flow, the analysis of the constructability of a system is critical to keeping construction costs under control and the project on schedule.  Many times constructability analysis can identify ways to reduce costs and drive the schedule to meet and beat the commitments need to keep the enterprise on track.

Each review needs to be scheduled on a pace to drive the iterative interactions required as information is derived from the sessions.  Clear action deliverables with responsible parties hitting the needed dates is the project manager’s best tools from the team, kind of like a double play for a pitcher in baseball, a well-run design, construct and safety review work flow drives home the needed targets to meet the overall objectives of the effort.

A traditional old school scale up thought is that systems should be run from front to back as a complete demonstration.  This proves the scalability of the system.  This old school method may give a false sense of security to any observer who has not completed the complex task of developing a new system.  The principle of confounding interdependencies and the small system operating limit effects creates unresolvable inaccuracy in the understanding of the performance of the proposed system.

Emerging over the years an approach has developed that has been proven to be a more rigorous path to success.  A complex system is decoupled and the unit operations that make up the system and are run individually using designed experiments that focus on the factors, levels, responses and constants of each unit at the boundary limits to insure that the confounding interdependencies do not hide a flaw in the system’s units.

The use of statistically based tools to understand the main effects of each characteristic of each unit provides independent information that drives the creation of meaningful correlations that enables the proper engineering of the system for integrated success. 

 The Testing and Balancing (TAB), Start Up and Commissioning Team, or simply the “TAB Team” focus is to remain nimble and responsive to the complex interdependent needs of the units during the testing, balancing, start up, commissioning and operationalization effort.  The sequenced start up will be executed by the TAB Team.  Performance metrics will be clearly defined and the effort is not complete until the TAB is no longer needed such that operations is fully trained and functional to maintain the defined performance. 

The TAB effort begins with the Yellow Line Turn Over from construction which confirms that the equipment is installed and prepared for operations as defined by the engineering design.  Motors are bumped and gear boxes are loaded with lubricants.  A Pre-Start Up Safety Review is completed prior to any dry runs or loading shake down fluids.  Daily planning meetings reviewing the detail of the day, and daily data review meetings use the facts from the process to determine any adjustments needed to the predetermined plan.

The effort uses a series of shakedown runs that will then evolve into designed experiments to develop the needed correlations and performance metric targets that enable the long term reliability in the performance overall system. The team uses Obvious At A Glance (OAG) information dashboards to keep communications simple and straightforward.  

The ultimate operations philosophy is to use a “lights out” type of control room and allow most of the routine operations to be automated by locking the various algorithms and correlations in the process control system to keep a tight steady state operation enabling repeatable, reproducible reliability in product and operations.  

High performance team members have specific roles and complementary talents.  The team is committed to a common purpose, and works with a high level of collaboration.  They are innovative, tight-knit, and built on trust.  The team has the collective confidence to surmount any barrier.  

Leadership is more orchestration bringing out and blending the subtleties of the common purpose of the team.  As with all organizational structures, there is “the” leader shouldering the ultimate responsibility, however, everyone on the team is “a” leader.  “Leadership” is rotated according to the need at that moment in time.  Decisions are made on the analysis of the facts.  Egos are checked at the door and there is efficient conflict resolution if it is ever needed.  High performing teams could take over the world if that was the common goal to which everyone was committed. 

Process Safety Information (PSI) includes information pertaining to: 

1. The hazards of the substances used or produced by the process
2. The technology of the process
3. The equipment in the process. 

All technical and entrepreneurial pursuits live and die on clear communication.  Many documents are created in any effort.  The rule to live by is: less is more.

All documents should be simple in presentation and organization.  The retrieval of the information must always point to the source.  Specific information should reside in only one source.  This is one of the most critical problems are project efforts expand.  Poor communications and poor overlapping documents present conflicting information.

If the number of documents is simplified to the irreducible few, then the management of the versions of the paper copies and the electronic copies becomes paramount.  Be careful of “Doc Control” software implementations.  They usually come with a high activation energy.

Management of Change

This simple effort is also the basis for a strong Management of Change process.  MOC is simply write down and communicate succinctly what you do, how it is to change, and keep it’s understanding by all up to date.