Building Work Packages
Building Work Packages
Proactive risk management contributes to the success of FIWPs by enabling teams to identify potential obstacles and address them before they impact construction. According to the COAA Best Practices, this involves fostering honest communication and discipline to promptly recognize and resolve issues as they arise. Implementing risk assessments, maintaining open lines of communication with all stakeholders, and ensuring constant review and adjustment of plans all contribute to minimizing disruptions, enhancing productivity, and supporting successful project outcomes .
To ensure the readiness and completeness of FIWPs before release for construction, several strategies are employed. These include the detailed review of all FIWP components by planners and foremen, ensuring that all necessary materials, tools, and safety requirements are accounted for. Also, the responsible parties perform a final review to check for constraints, and superintendents or project managers make the final go/no-go decisions. This meticulous review process ensures that all elements are thoroughly prepared, and dependencies are managed effectively, allowing for a seamless transition into execution .
Ensuring coherence between CWPs and EWPs during FIWP development presents several challenges. One primary challenge is aligning the scope and deliverables of each package to ensure they are consistently defined and communicated across disciplines. Discrepancies can lead to misalignments in resource allocation, scheduling conflicts, and potential rework. Achieving coherence requires effective collaboration and integration of project controls and communication between engineering and construction teams, often necessitating real-time updates and adjustments to plans as designs evolve. These challenges highlight the critical need for robust processes and tools for integration and coordination in large-scale construction projects .
The primary goal of Workface Planning according to the COAA Best Practices is to significantly increase productivity, reduce rework, and enhance the probability of project success by developing a usable and practical standard planning tool. It aims to create and maintain discipline and foster honest communication to proactively resolve issues before and as they arise, thus continuously improving the process and ensuring that projects are executed efficiently .
Not modifying an FIWP to meet satisfied constraints before execution can lead to several potential consequences. These include work disruptions due to unforeseen constraints during execution, increased rework, and project delays. The lack of readiness can result in inefficient use of resources and misalignment with project schedules, leading to cost overruns. Ensuring FIWPs meet satisfied constraints is crucial to prevent these issues and facilitate a smooth execution phase .
The Graham approach refines the FIWP development process beyond the standard COAA model by focusing on task-specific FIWPs rather than assigning them to crews. This involves developing standard procedures for earthmoving FIWPs, which are allocated to tasks such as lifts rather than individual foremen. Additionally, this approach emphasizes that foremen develop daily plans in accordance with the FIWPs and report barriers continuously, allowing for ongoing management and adaptation to evolving site conditions. These refinements aim to enhance precision and clarity in workface execution, improving efficiency and accountability .
Ledcor's approach to Workface Planning places a strong emphasis on continuous improvement and stakeholder involvement. This approach involves planning using practical methods, creating discipline among workers, and proactively resolving issues. It stresses the importance of having superintendents, project managers, and coordinators make final decisions on FIWP releases, ensuring comprehensive reviews by foremen. These practices aim to continuously enhance productivity, reduce rework, and maintain stakeholder engagement throughout the project lifecycle, contributing to improved overall project outcomes .
Different approaches to building Work Packages impact the execution of FIWPs by influencing the structure, discipline, and management of the work involved. For instance, the COAA approach emphasizes developing FIWPs by planners with construction experience within a defined range of hours, which aims at a systemic organization and execution. Meanwhile, the Graham approach integrates traditional execution components such as scaffold requirements and safety into the planning to fit earthmoving tasks. In contrast, the JV Driver approach expands on stakeholder involvement and detailed component extraction like project controls and quality, influencing the thoroughness and stakeholder accountability in FIWP execution .
The integration of SmartPlant Materials enhances the management of FIWPs by providing a structured approach to material management, enabling the identification and management of material shortages and expediting efforts. It allows for accurate forecasting based on FIWP priority, ensuring materials are available when needed, and helps in managing inventory efficiently by identifying lines with 100% material on hand. Additionally, it facilitates streamlined issuance of release authorizations from warehouses, thus improving coordination and reducing potential delays associated with material procurement and logistics .
In the JV Driver approach, the role of planners in field settings involves being actively present on-site to extract necessary components to build FIWPs, such as handling health, safety, environmental aspects, quality controls, project schedules, and material management. Their presence is crucial as it ensures that all components are accurately captured and addressed in real-time, allowing for adaptive management and reduction of potential discrepancies between planning and execution, leading to a more streamlined and effective workface execution .