Logistics Early Involvement a Must, Fluor
Logistics providers need to be engaged much earlier in the EPC process to support modularization projects, according to a Fluor Corp. executive.
Involvement at the design stage is now more necessary than ever, said Fluor’s Jon Dailey, otherwise engineering, procurement and construction companies face higher transportation costs, as well as scheduling and reliability issues.
Speaking at Breakbulk Middle East, Dailey, Fluor’s EAME region modularization manager, said: “When we talk about project-specific solutions logistics plays a key role, especially when we look at modularization projects.
“Using the traditional model of logistics not being involved until later is unacceptable because you cannot get your design locked down until you get the logistics input. For a project to make the right decisions it is essential that the logistics group is fully involved very early in the process.”
In a traditional ‘stick-built’ project, logistics comes at the back of the chain and does not get the profile and the priority that it should have in key decision making, Dailey said.
“You work your way to engineering, then procurement, through the vendors and then fabrication is given the problem of getting what you have bought to site in the right sequence,” he said.
Switching to a modular approach also gives logistics providers two bites of the apple as they are needed on two fronts, possibly more depending on the fabrication strategy.
“When you go to a modular approach we add additional complexity into that program. We introduce the fabrication yard and that adds the need to deliver inbound freight into the module yard to support the fabrication process as well as transporting complete modules from the fabricators to site.”
However, there are negatives to modularization: “It comes with an accelerated engineering and procurement program,” said Dailey. “That’s a challenge for EPC organizations as they need to get that information early to the design teams so they can lock down those modules. What kills a lot of modularization projects is last-minute changes or late arrival of information that requires re-work. You have to lock down on assumptions early in the project, which is why you have to get logistics and other groups engaged early to get the design correct.”
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