Starting Strong and Staying Strong for major capital project success

A deep-water offshore platform and pipeline in Malaysia, a shallow water unmanned platform in Australia, two LNG expansion projects in Qatar, a chemical plant in Kazakhstan, a refinery expansion in Iraq, and LNG trains in Papua New Guinea. What do these major capital projects have in common? The answer is, they’re all taking the time to bring key companies and players together to “Start Strong.”

Solving complex challenges

Even before COVID, the success rate (defined as finishing on or close to schedule and budget and with expected output) for a large capital project was less than 20%. In the wake of the pandemic, these projects are under more pressure than ever before. Supply chains are not fully operational, experienced staff and technicians are scarce, materials costs are higher than ever, and inflation continues to rise. To top it off, most of these projects are contracted lump sum.

To tackle these challenges, operating companies and global contractors are doing more than just issuing lump sum contracts and outsourcing the risk. They’re taking the necessary steps to ensure success early on. This includes conducting in-person workshops and sustained integrated programs to increase the participating companies’ likelihood of success.

Understanding the value of trusted partnerships

One approach is to enlist outside support from an experienced consulting company like JMJ. Our “Starting Strong” major capital project process builds a shared picture of success and develops mutual understanding of risks and challenges. This improves the capability of the project to transcend cultural differences and geographic distances, share learnings and build win-win working environments enhanced by technology and extraordinary communications.

More than 20 years ago, “Integrated Project Development” was a recognized approach to support project success. Today, the need for this set of tools is much greater as the stakes are higher. Successful projects don’t just hope to meet their goals based on lump-sum contracts. They build in the conditions for success early and purposefully, developing solutions-driven practices rather than reacting to problems based on contract terms. They seek shared pathways for mutual success across owner, contractor and supplier enterprises.

Teams represented in the six projects listed above literally span the globe. They speak a dozen different languages, have vastly different scopes, objectives and drivers, but they are ‘getting people and companies on the same page’. In a world driven by differences, they are finding common goals, strategies and a language for shared success: Let’s start strong, stay strong, and build history-making, High-Performance Projects™ for our companies and host countries.

For more information on Starting Strong, contact JMJ.  We’d be glad to provide information on our approach, current references, projects using this process and more.

You may be interested in another article I published on this subject: Contrasting approaches to quality and safety on two major capital projects