Unstable global markets, the ever rising fuel prices and the always unpredictable global environment has left project planning as one of the most grueling jobs of all times. Numerous consulting firms offer their services in planning for the successful completion of your each project but almost no can make sure or guarantee that you will not overshoot your initial budget. One of the tasks that need one constant attention is the electrical commissioning at different construction sites. The ever-increasing cost of copper and other materials needed in the manufacturing of these electrical cables has driven their prices to skyrocket. The advances in technology have made the task of instrumentation commissioning very demanding. These complex instruments now require that there are at least two instrumentation engineers are always present on site to ensure their optimal performance and detect any abnormality in their performance.
These instruments are there to guarantee that all the operations specially the ones relating to electrical are operational. The engineers are greatly facilitated with the help of these instruments. Now the engineers don’t have to move all over the site to detect any abnormalities in the functioning of different devices; they can detect these problems from the monitor screens placed in front of them and make remedial actions just by a click of a button. The de-commissioning however has been made very easy and their instruments are stored away for future use.
Commissioning an industry is very hectic job! It Involves variety of tasks and needs decisions to be made about electrical commissioning, complete project planning, procurement outsourcing or building in-house procurement services. Setting up an industry does not only involve a lot of capital but it also requires extreme management skills to transform the industry into a successful one.
The Instrument Commissioning an industrial concern needs intellectual capital apart from the financial capital. Intellectual capital is an asset, which should be treasured. Finding a right mix of the intellectuals and the engineers and then integrating them into a unit to achieve the organizational goals, set up for the industry is a very vital. There are limited modes of success against the heavy odds of financial failure in the competitive market. Therefore, the ingenious engineers have a very important role in a successful long lasting, profitable and stable organization.
The most important and crucial part in the project management of commissioning an industrial concern is the filling of the top slot, as it not only makes the key decisions but also has the ability to diverge the industry from the early threat of failure at the commissioning of an industry. This top management provides the industry with the vision, thrust and the setting up of an achievable goal. This top brass management can be the deciding factor in the future of the organization and it is standing in the market.
It is the first step in visualizing a project. It not only sets limits for the scope of the project but also project management determines methods that can be put to use for project completion. Time is estimated to complete each project task successfully and each complex task is sub divided into small simple tasks for simplification. After defining the scope and work, comes the workflow defining. Workflow is represented by logical series of work in an activity network diagram, by the help of which we can lay down the critical path to be followed for the successful execution of the projects.
Every task included needs resource allocation that must be in accordance with the resources demanded by that task. Nowadays in Big organizations, even a single task is treated as a separate activity, like electrical commissioning all new power generators is a separate project different from decommissioning the same project. That also gives a clear picture of total cost to be allocated for the project. In carrying a project an eye must always be kept on the objectives set to be achieved from the project to avoid any wastage or deviations. Setting benchmarks for design and engineering whether large or small ones really makes one able to monitor the projects very effectively and in a proactive manner. These measures help the organization to follow the predetermined path for achieving tasks and especially in measuring the performance and degree of completion of each task after the task is completed.
Project management is especially helpful in carrying tasks that need a lot of planning in industrial world like industrial commissioning or electrical commissioning. This systematic approach helps the organization take the direction for future course of actions by correcting the deviations from what was planned and improve the chances of getting better results in the future!
Advanced Military facilities have been a hallmark of the modern nations through out the history. However, with increasing complexity of setting up such instrument engineering facilities or more appropriately military bases, the sophistication required for de-commissioning also increases significantly.
First step is the project management in the transporting personnel and equipment from the camp to estimate the total area to be recovered. Afterwards the total contamination in the area is estimated as toxic material is there to estimate a total environmental recovery effort to be undertaken. Then official permission from the military is asked and the military along with the community decides the way it should be decommissioned and redeveloped. Some times communities do have a lot of revenue because of the area having a lot of a real estate value.
The decommissioning project planning is carried out by the involvement of military, community and the development agencies. First the military base is cleaned by the military and closed for private public until the time it has been fully cleaned in most of the cases. Redevelopment agency collaborates with military alongside the community as well in a plan for development. Housing projects of usually low cost or at times high end are along with generating of an activity which would result in economic benefit of the community living their. Major portion of the revenues collected from the economic activity generated are used in maintaining the decommissioned military bases. This is how an old military base area after its use ceases to exist is decommissioned to be converted from a military base camp to a general use public area which can contribute to the well being of the community.
The commissioning processes in industrial measurement & control process whether it is instrumentation commissioning, electrical commissioning or simply commissioning of an industrial process involves a lot of precise planning. It is one of the key elements of the agenda in a plan of a project planning. What should a company look for in terms of quality when it is to give these services (outsourcing) to an outside company, which offers to provide these services.
The company should not only have the facilities of construction and installation services but also should also have a record of accomplishment to prove its worth by the work it has done in the past. This should be amply demonstrated in terms of the projects that it undertook and the feedback it got from the customers along with the quality of the personnel that the company recruits. Mostly companies just undertake the project without assuming in reality the full responsibility that lies on its shoulders to complete the instrument engineering activities of a plant.
Few are the companies, which are able to share the vision of the owners and the requirements, which they are demanding. Also engineering companies are not able to see the obstacles for construction contractors being faced in finishing systems and making packages of turnover to a desired level of content so companies which can also overcome this problem as one of the major ones is highly desirable. The company should also help the construction contractor with all the work involved in the above mentioned problem from starting supervision to end checking etc. The company should also have a congenial and close working relationship with plant operating team through out the electrical commissioning of the plant.
Large scale buying by organizations is a cumbersome task to undertake for these companies themselves. The technical tasks to be carried out by an instrument engineer requiring proactive research on industrial measurement & control process are also outsourced to save the cost involved with permanent employees.
Any company maintaining an office of its own for procurement is not at odds to saving but decides to go for it after keeping in view its marginal cost and benefit analysis. The most important issues regarding procurement outsourcing decision start from the positives and negatives attached to it. Procurement process not only involves cost but effort but at times it is worth pursuing for one’s own department rather than going for an outsource. The key things to consider are the effects related to the quality of purchase being outsourced if outsourced and the cost incurred on it.
There are some other consumer products whose quality may decrease if its production is outsourced. The companies themselves should produce high-end consumer items with brand names attached to them and brand equities at stake. However, the raw material supply required for the production of these items can be outsourced to procurement Services Company to ensure the maximum profitability of these products while maintaining the brand image in the public eye.
Managing Procurement services is not a nut that can be cracked with ease. Maintaining a separate department not only requires time and effort but also eats up a lot of firm’s useful capital and human resource which could have been utilized elsewhere in a more fruitful manner resulting in a more efficient goal oriented and effective organization.
Although it may seem to be a very difficult thing to bear a risk of giving away an importantly strategic decision but firms have not only specialized but also have proved their ability as a very dependable and reliable source for entertaining their procurement services. Even for decommissioning (industrial decommissioning) companies are hiring recycling plants through outsourcing of procurement services.
For outsourcing procurement services it is very crucial to look for certain key characteristics in a procurement outsourcing service provider before handing over a job to it Some of the key important areas in which procurement service provider has to be strong include.
- Customer feedback.
- Flexible pricing strategy.
- The proof of strong financial background & credit worthiness allows the third party to trust it in case it acts as an intermediary for foreign buys on our behalf.
- Can provide procurement outsourcing services for a variety of projects.
- Must be able to reduce cost, time & effort if being outsourced as in case of procurement outsourcing.
- Be able to align its activities in accordance with the project planning of the customer or our firm.
Before the terms like instrumentation commissioning were coined, the instrumentation needs were managed by inaccurate and unreliable methods, which made the project planning of large industrial projects a nightmare.
Industries evolved and were continuously inventing new ways to make things and they were just happy & content with only the fact that they had manufactured any thing and were mass-producing and selling to reap profits. However, as the pressures of competition mounted on them they started to realize that for the continuous growth proper instrumentation engineering and project-planning methods were needed to be employed.
Only those industries whose project management is proactive to see competition amongst competitors are able to survive. Proper instrumentation and project planning ensures the stoppage of wastage of both the raw materials and the expensive person-hours of the organization. All the successful mega companies that have made it big know this very fact as its implementation has allowed them to reach the heights of corporate success that they now are enjoying with full glory!
