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- Value Improving Practices, (VIPs) are out-of-the-ordinary practices used to improve project performance, and they are primarily used during the Front-End Loading (FEL) Stages of a project.
- VIPs are formal, documented practices involving a repeatable work process with measurable results. Here we provide an increased understanding of what these practices are and how to implement them to gain the most benefit in capital effectiveness.
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- An excellent methodology for selecting the VIPs to implement on a Project is Setting Business Priorities / Classes of Plant Quality followed byVIP Selection
- Effective application of VIPs is proven to yield improved project outcomes (e.g., cost, operability, schedule, reliability, safety, etc.) that can be directly measured and to achieve a significantly positive impact on full cycle return on investment.
- A key attribute associated with VIP implementation is that the practices be applied in a systematic approach with a methodology that allows repeatable and consistent results from project to project.
- Use of the Value Methodology (Augmented by Decision Analyses tools) delivers a consistent, proven and repeatable process to implement the VIPs in a fashion that delivers measurable results.
- Setting Business Priorities / Classes of Plant Quality : A workshop that identifies stakeholders’ requirements / expectations and ultimately translates them into measurable project objectives (Value Attributes), ranked according to their relative importance to the business strategy.
- Establishes clear guiding principles enables project teams to make subsequent project decisions aligned to the business strategy and drivers.
- This VIP is an excellent precursor to selecting appropriate other VIPs.
- Technology Selection : A formal, multi-disciplinary team process that searches and screens alternative technologies to identify opportunities that may yield a significant competitive advantage. This process involves both internal and external reviews of technology that may range from research concepts to emerging or fully proven technology. It can be integrated with other VIPs, and often uses Function Analyses to assist in Creativity.
- Constructabilityy : A systematic method that enables a project team to optimize the use of construction knowledge and experience in planning, engineering, design, procurement, fabrication and installation to achieve overall project and safety objectives. To be considered a VIP rather than just a good project practice, constructability reviews should begin during FEL such that Design for Constructability is achieved ... and should be repeated through construction.
- Value Engineering : Is the formal application of a value methodology to a project in order to improve its value during design, requiring the use of a trained Value Engineering consultant (Normally a Certified Value Engineer)- usually from outside the project team. This application is also referred to as value engineering, value analysis, value planning, or value management: A facilitated, structured evaluation that identifies the needed functionality of a selected work process, facilities design, or equipment design and allows the project team to assign a value based on the (function’s) worth, life cycle cost & return on investment.
- Process simplification : A disciplined analytical method for reducing investment costs - and often operating costs as well - by either combining or making unnecessary one or more chemical or physical processing steps. This practice may include the use of a facilitated, structured workshop focused on simplifying development, facility, processing, or equipment requirements while satisfying needed functionality, often using fucntion analyses for Creativity. Recognized overlap with Value Engineering.
- Waste Minimization & Management : Waste Minimization & Management : A disciplined approach used during design to minimize the production of waste products. This VIP might result in the addition of equipment or examination of alternate process technologies that have a lower amount of waste side streams. Included is a formal stream by stream, and element by element waste minimization analysis to develop concepts that may reduce, or eliminate each waste stream source. Again, often Function Analyses is used to assist in creativity.
- Facility Systems Performance / Reliability Modeling : This practice provides a form of computer modeling used in forecasting performance to balance sales, operation and maintenance needs at the best cost. It provides a project team a more effective means of assessing, in advance, the cost/benefit impact of changes in design, operations, spares, training and/or maintenance of a facility. It is also applicable to flow modeling & hydraulic modeling.
- Predictive Maintenance : An approach to maintaining a facility whereby equipment is monitored and repairs are made before failure. Typically, this approach requires adding various measurement devices to evaluate operating characteristics. All maintenance techniques (breakdown, preventative, predictive, etc.) are reviewed / integrated to optimize project objectives and maximize business value.
- Design to Capacity ("includes Capacity Alignment") : The Design to Capacity Value Improving Practice is a structured methodology to challenge design allowances against business needs and to eliminate “hidden capacity.” It focuses on the precise alignment of units, systems, equipment and bulk within a range of capacity performance. An outcome of using Design to Capacity is to provide the base case process design for the project’s detailed design.
- Energy Optimization : A simulation methodology for optimizing the life cycle costs by examining power and heating requirements for a particular process. The objective is to optimize total return by selecting the most economical methods of heat and power recovery. This VIP examines the energy consumption and optimizes the trade off between capital and energy costs. This practice is often conducted using an analytical study (utilizing “pinch technology”) in order to focus on energy options.
- Custom Codes, Standards & Specifications : An evaluation of the needs of a specific facility before it is designed. Engineering standards and specifications can affect manufacturing efficiency, product quality, operating costs, and employee safety. The application of codes, standards, and specifications sometimes exceeds the facility's needs and unnecessarily increases cost This practice offers a direct method for selecting the codes, standards and specifications most applicable to a project, making necessary modifications to meet project goals and objectives, and ensuring that the selection does not exceed actual project requirements.
- Life Cycle Engineering Information Management (more than 3D Computer Aided Design) : The management of engineering information (including drawings, documents and data) using computer systems so that it can be of value throughout the life cycle of the asset, including the project phases, operations and maintenance and final decommissioning and demolition.