Background & Purpose
Business is Booming
Not in living memory has there been so much opportunity for O/Os and EPCs to expand their businesses. In North America, engineering workloads have soared by a factor of three to five in the last 18 months. In Europe, workloads have climbed by at least a factor of two, and the same is true for EPCs in Japan. In China, growth is off the charts by Western standards.
The Engineer Crisis
This rapid, massive workload expansion would stress even a stable system. But EPC and O/O engineering teams are already stretched to the breaking point and HR departments are scouring the globe for skilled help. For the first time in years, qualified engineers are in critically short supply. It' s the same everywhere: North America, Europe, Japan, China, and India.
Driven by Demand for Oil & Gas
The burgeoning economies of Asia and the growing population of energy-hungry North America demand ever more resources; as the demand for oil and gas has grown, prices have climbed. This, in turn, has made it economical to add refining capacity and revamp existing facilities, search for more sources of fuel, and build new power stations of all kinds: fossil-fueled, green and nuclear. Business is good... too good.
Doing More with Less is No Longer an Option
More than ever, EPCs and O/Os must squeeze more out of what they have. Championed by an energized top management, EPCs are pushing their processes harder, being more innovative, breaking down internal barriers, and loosening purse strings when it comes to implementing process changes that are going to yield fast results. And, along the way, deploying or acquiring technologies to boost their engineering productivity.
Dollars per Engineering-Hour are on the Rise
With qualified engineers in such short supply, it's little wonder that the price of an engineering hour is climbing. This, in turn, makes anything that can improve engineering productivity—a better engineering infrastructure, faster machines, improved information handling, higher speed communication lines and so on—easier to justify than ever before. But it's not just about technology; process change, attitude change, and innovation are easier to accomplish as well.
Return on Innovation
One exciting development is that the risk of innovation has become less of an obstacle as the risk of not innovating has grown. What's more, the returns on successful innovation have increased dramatically, and the magnitude and scope of these returns can now be more easily measured in terms of new work undertaken, schedules achieved, penalties not paid—all leading to strong support from upper management. When it comes to work-process innovation, it's a new ball game.
O/Os Focus on Lifecycle Issues
Engineering workforce shortages at EPCs are changing the industry's dynamics. O/Os are improving the operational availability of their plants and undertaking more and more of the smaller revamp work themselves to reduce their reliance on EPCs. It's simple economics: small jobs are not as profitable as larger jobs, and with so much work around, EPCs can cherry-pick projects to maximize profits. Consequently, building in profitable operation during a plant's entire lifecycle is becoming more of a factor during the procurement phase. Many O/Os are building their own design teams, and for the first time in a long time, EPCs and O/Os find themselves competing for engineers.
Globalizing Engineering Processes
Moving work to offshore engineering centers made sense in the past because of the attractive mix of low cost and high skill, but managing such a dispersed workforce often proved difficult. What started because of cost is now a reality due to localized skills shortages; EPCs and O/Os must use engineering resources wherever they can be found. Ironically, regions that had been low-cost are becoming more expensive as qualified engineers become scarcer. "We're not scraping the bottom of the barrel yet," said one manager, "but if this keeps up, we'll be there soon..."
Saving Money by Improving Information Exchange
Inefficient information exchange in a dispersed team, between engineering and operations, between partners and with regulators continues to cost this industry somewhere around $10 billion per year—costs borne by EPCs and O/Os to absolutely no long-term benefit. daratechPLANT2007 will again concentrate on emerging standards, work processes and other approaches to mitigating this problem.
Cutting Time and Costs While Improving Quality
A plant's design and operating parameters are the keys to financial success. Designing a plant to be agile and engaging in continuous manufacturing process improvement increases the odds of success. How efficiently can the plant adapt to varying degrees of input quality? How quickly can it ramp up to volume production after a shutdown? How can Six Sigma, Lean, Lean+ and other initiatives cut time to market while improving product quality?
Plant Security, Hazmat and Safety
Safety, handling of hazardous material and plant security continue to be hot buttons for plant operators—for ethical reasons and because of the hefty costs associated with failures. Governments at all levels are enforcing new regulations for the security of process plants and the transport of hazardous cargoes to protect critical infrastructures from threats of all kinds, including terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
Cutting-Edge Laser Scanning Processes
Laser scanning of plant and equipment is revolutionizing more and more engineering processes, as the equipment comes down in price and increases in intelligence and accuracy. It seems that new applications appear every day. At first, laser scanning was used to capture as-built information prior to retrofit. Now it is beginning to be used 24/7 for monitoring safety, security, performance, and predictive maintenance, maintaining real-time as-built data, and more. Explore our Laser-Scanning Pavilion for the latest in laser-scanning solutions and technologies.
Revolutionizing Maintenance with the Latest Technologies
New strategies and technologies are changing the face of plant maintenance. Inspection vehicles that move inside a pipe line pushed along by the flowing material, or "smart pigs," are deployed to monitor the conditions of pipelines; effective oil analysis and lubrication programs extend the life of rotating equipment; predictive maintenance and maintenance management decreases downtime and improves predictability. Now, companies are transforming their maintenance and reliability programs through benchmarking, a focus on reliability, and a predefined set of performance measurements.
Users and Developers Share Industry Knowledge
At its heart, daratechPLANT is about how to solve business problems by leveraging new and existing technologies. You'll hear leading users tell how they are leveraging the latest technologies to meet their business objectives, and you'll hear from the developers about new and improved solutions they will be offering this year. This year, we'll feature a debate in which the leading software developers' visionaries answer questions from the floor.
daratechplant2007 is about Today's Problems and Solutions
Collaboration on a global scale... Doing more with what you have... Finding and keeping engineering talent... Expanding operations in the U.S. and abroad... Making best use of new technologies... Designing and building agile work processes... Improving quality while keeping down costs... The latest in Lean Manufacturing... Smart Pigs... Reducing maintenance outages... Improving safety... The latest in plant security... Quick restarts after a major natural disaster and planning for the next... Meeting environmental and other compliance needs... We'll be addressing these issues and more at daratechPLANT2007.
daratechPLANT is the premier meeting place for business development executives—people with C- and V-titles in engineering, operations, maintenance and information technology, project engineers and others looking to network with, and learn from, their peers. It brings together experts in the areas of business development, asset creation, lifecycle management, instrumentation, real-time operations and plant maintenance. Our tradition of excellence continues in 2007: you'll discover innovative methods of work; successes and solutions to problems with established technologies; and how your peers are implementing and benefiting from today's best practices. As ever, daratechPLANT is a showcase of the most innovative ideas, practices and technologies from around the world. Don't miss it.
Emerging Technologies Pavilion
In addition to hearing from established technology providers, daratechPLANT will also showcase new technologies. Last year saw the debut of the Emerging Technologies Pavilion and we'll be repeating this highly successful program. The following companies have received a grant to exhibit at daratechPLANT2007: AIE Research, Altiva Software, GSN Technologies, kubit, and SESS USA.
Confirmed Speakers &
Panel Members
Bert Aragon
Director Operational Excellence
KBR
Kenji Araki
Senior Researcher, Hitachi Research Laboratory
Hitachi Ltd.
Christian Barlach
Director R&D Solutions
Dassault Systèmes
Robin Benjamins
Integration Manager, EPC Systems
Bechtel Corporation
Greg Bentley
CEO
Bentley Systems Inc.
Mark B. Bodner
First Vice President
Tishman Construction Corporation of Nevada
Skip Butler
Six Sigma Black Belt
GE Energy Nuclear
Kent Christopherson
General Manager Compression & Reliability Services
DCP Midstream (formerly Duke Energy Field Services)
John Dooman
HDS Manager
EDG Consulting Engineers
Charles Evans
CTO & EVP of Development
Intergraph
Steven Fowlkes
Manager of Information Management Support, Major Capital Projects
Chevron
Tad Fry
Manager of Engineering,
Brewing Operations and Technology
Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
Bharat Gala
President & CEO
Chemtex Global Engineers Pvt Ltd
Jerry N. Gipson, Jr.
Director, Engineering Solutions Technology Center
The Dow Chemical Company
Makoto Hatakeyama
Specialist / Deputy Manager, Plant Design & Engineering Department,
Nuclear Division
Toshiba Corporation
Alain Hubrecht
CTO & President
VRcontext
James Humphries
VP, Performance Technology
Fluor Corporation
Dr. Richard H.F. Jackson
Director
FIATECH
Alan T. Johnston
President MIMOSA, Chair OpenO&M Initiative, Chair ISO TC184 Manufacturing Asset Management Integration Task Force
Bob Jones
Business Development, Autodesk Plant Solutions
Autodesk, Inc.
Mark Klusza
Manager, Engineering & Service
Trimble Navigation
David Knoll
Civil Engineering Advisor
Shell International Exploration and Production
Robert Lauderdale
Mustang Instrument Dept. Administrator
Mustang Engineering
Professor Tai Sik Lee PhD (Construction Management)
Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering;
Dean, Graduate
School of Industrial Management & Engineering, Hanyang University, Korea
Jim Leitch
Executive Director
Fluor Global Services
David Little
Director, Technology Research and Development
COADE, Inc.
Richard Longdon
CEO
AVEVA Group plc
Don MacAllister
Project Manager, Major Capital Projects Information Management Standards
Chevron
Eric Martin
Head of Design Office
ITER International Fusion Energy Research Project
Mark C. McCullough
VP, Baseload Generation Assets,
Fossil & Hydro Generation
American Electric Power
John McQuary
Vice President of Knowledge Management and Technology Strategies
Fluor Corporation
Dr. Dennis A. Nagy
Vice President, Marketing & Business Development
CD-adapco
Bart Neighbors, P.E., PMP
Capital Projects Technology Coordinator, Technology & Major Projects Division
ConocoPhillips
Steve O'Lear
Director, Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Strategies
UGS
David Parry
Chief Technology Officer
McLaren Software Ltd
Gerhard Sallinger
President
Intergraph PP&M
Nils Sandsmark
General Manager
POSC Caesar Association
Ray Simonson
CEO
Software Innovation
Kathleen Struthers
Information Management Coordinator
Britannia Operator Limited
Dave Tate
Manager, New Plants Engineering Information Management System
AREVA NP
James A. Thomson
Visualization Theme Lead
BP America
Terkel Tofte
Control Systems Engineer
BWSC—Denmark
Erik Vanderlaan
Technical Director
CEA Systems
Greg Van Wormer
Engineering Systems Manager
Weyerhaeuser
Dr. Wolfgang Vogel
Senior Vice President, Information Technology
ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems
Blohm + Voss
Steven Weber, MBA, PMP
Global Engineering Solutions
P3DM Competence Center
ALSTOM (Switzerland) Ltd.
Dave Wheeldon
Group Product Development Director
AVEVA Group plc
John L. Wheeler
Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer (Retired)
NOVA Chemicals Corp.
Rob Whitesell
Chief Technology Officer
Bentley Plant
Ilhama R. Zeynalova
Data & Document Controller
BP