Process Engineers Role in Project Management

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Process Engineers Role in Project Management

• Dr Abdullah Malik

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Management of Engineering Project

• Preparation
• Developing The Team
• Project Duty Specification
• The Process Specification
• General Design Criteria
• Level of Detail
• Execution of Engineering and Installation
• Project Management
• Project Initiation

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1. Preparation

• In order to appoint an EC it is necessary to
  complete the following
• Compile Project Duty Specification
• Develop contractors scope of work
• Develop contractual terms and contract itself
• Assemble the document inviting contractor bid
• Decide on the selection procedure for the
  contractor appointment
• Forms the basis of selected ECs scope of work

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2. The Team Involved

• Company Middle management
• Senior personnel from engineering, purchasing and
  legal department

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3. Project Duty Specification

• The process specification
• General design criteria
• Any preliminary flow sheets
• Utilities specification
• Basis for economic evaluation
• Material of construction
• Equipment standards
• Instrument standards

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4. The Process Specification

• Developed entirely by senior process engineer
• Gives precise terms of the plant required
• The number of units
• Its throughput
• The product yields and quality
• The required test standards
• Any salient process requirements

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5. General Design Criteria

• Main input from project engineers with technical
  check by process engineer supplies general data
  associated with plant site The main topics
  covered are
• Scope
• Climatic data
• General design considerations
• Units of measurements
• Engineering Line Diagram/PID/PFD
• Utilities specification
• Basis of economic evaluations
• Material of construction
• Equipment standards to be used for sizing and
  design
• Instrument standards required

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6. Level of Detail

• Request for contractor's quotes
• Less detail is supplied depending on contractor's
  standards and criteria
• More detail required to ensure good competitive
  quotation
• Complete project duty specification would also
  contain details and criteria for other
  disciplines, which have very little process input
  which includes civil, structural, electrical and
  piping

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7. Execution of Engineering and Installation

• With limitless funds and time and no specific
  quality anyone with little technical knowledge
  can build a process plant
• However in the real world constraints the art and
  management skills are required for a successful
  product i.e. project management and control
  techniques.

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8. Project Management

• Begins with forming a team of engineers necessary
  to design, procure and erect the facility
• Led by a project manager and supplemented by
  project schedulers and cost estimators
• All are senior members of respective disciplines
• Have the authority to direct the work for
  quality, timeliness and cost

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The project team organisation

• Project Manager
• Procurement Co-ordinators
• Area Project Engineers
• Project control team cost engineers, estimators
  and schedulers
• An engineering Manager

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Typical project team organisation
Project Manager
Engineering Manager
Lead Piping Engineer
Lead Process Engineer
Lead EI Engineer
Lead Civil Engineer
Lead Mechanical Engineer
Design Coordinator
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The project team organisation

• Reporting directly to engineering manager are
  lead engineers of the following disciplines
• Process engineering
• Instrument engineering
• Electrical engineering
• Mechanical engineering
• Vessel, civil, piping and structural engineering

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9. Project Initiation The Kick off meeting

• Formally releases the contractor to begin work
  and describes clients requirements
• Following above a less formal meeting of
  contractors project team process engineer draw
  from experience to high-light any pitfalls to
  other disciplines e.g. coke formation in furnace
  piping design to mechanical engineers
• Project management aspect of the project are
  discussed i.e.. Completion dates with major
  milestones with indication of when cost estimates
  are to be updated and when critical project
  decisions would be made

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Lead Engineers Responsibility

• Maintain quality
• Keep with in the project schedule
• Cost in terms of person hours expended
• Prepare execution plan for approval by project
  manager
• Develop person hour budget and schedule to meet
  the master plan implementation
• Have the authority to direct work within their
  discipline to meet the project objectives

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Design Coordinator's Role

• Maintain precise management control and interface
  during the development of PID and Equipment data
  sheets
• Have similar authority as any lead engineer
• Act as single source between engineering and the
  respective design functions ie flow of design
  drawings, material take-off data etc into the
  project
• This project organization brings order into the
  execution of the project.

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The Project Procedure Manual

• Conferences and meetings
• Filing index
• Individual engineering, procurement and design
  interface procedures
• Drawing index
• Field organisation and directory
• Hand-over procedure and close-out reports

• Introduction
• Project Organisation and directory
• The master schedule
• Person hour budgets
• The cost code of accounts
• Project control procedures
• Correspondence and communication

The basic requirement of PM is compiled at this
early stage. An ideal time For key people to
contribute to this.
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Preliminary schedules and budgets

• Project manager must establish execution plan and
  measure the cost and preliminary schedules to
  implement he plan.
• This is followed by master plan budget and
  schedule by input supplied by various lead
  engineers and coordinators
• First six months mainly for front end activities
  bulk of process engineering is completed
  followed by advising role and this concludes with
  input to preparing operating manuals and
  compiling data for process guarantees

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Preliminary schedules and budgets

• Based on the scope of work process engineer
  prepares an execution plan
• Once approved by project manager lead process
  engineer prepare a bar chart for front end with
  person hour spread
• This then followed by other disciplines with
  their plan
• Project manager then develops the initial overall
  plan, master schedule and budget for the project

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Typical Process Engineering Schedule
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PID Conference and Approval

• In order to provide to other disciplines to
  commence effective work, a major milestone in
  achieving this objective is to conference the PID
  and have it approved by the client
• Although development of equipment data sheets
  already allowed the mechanical engineering and
  the procurement functions to start work but it is
  the release of approved PID puts the project into
  top gear.

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PID Conference Basic Guidelines

• Preparing for the conference
• Location and Attendees
• Conducting the conference
• The flow sheet conference is a necessary
  activity but is nevertheless a high consumer of
  time.

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Subsequent Process Activities

• Participation in equipment activities ensuring
  safety, capacity and economy
• Participation in plot layout development help
  in locating various plant items, also
  participation in plot layout conference for
  clients approval.
• Subsequent development of PID maintaining
  control of technical content. Once per week
  checking for addition and actions
• Developing the operating and plant commissioning
  manual
• Process guarantees and Guarantee Test Run final
  process engineers activity during the project
  execution

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Typical Operating Manual

• Pre-startup conditioning of the plant
• Plant start up
• Normal operation and trouble shooting
• Emergency action and shut-down
• Normal shut-down
• Catalyst regeneration

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Typical Commissioning Instructions

• Pre-energising activities
• Energising the plant
• Conditioning equipment, calibrating instruments
  and setting relief valves
• Final check-out and closing up all vessels
• Preparation of start-up
• Start-up
• Lining out
• Performance test runs and guarantee test run
• Much of this done by the future operators of the
  plant

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Concluding Remarks

• A process engineer plays a key role in both
  development and execution of the project.
• It is a very demanding/responsible role where he
  needs to satisfy the clients requirements in
  terms of design, plant performance through to
  achieving guaranteed plant production.