With advanced work packaging (AWP) being one of his "primary focuses" as a project director for The Dow Chemical Company, John Coombs said he recognizes the need to have dedicated people to achieve optimum results in AWP.
Justin Weaver, left, project manager for Southern Company, joined John Coombs, project director for The Dow Chemical Company, on a panel at the AWP Conference held recently in Houston.
"It's not a part-time job. As we build out our AWP organization, that's becoming more apparent to the success," he said. "We need to have the right people in the right jobs."
Dow, Coombs said, has implemented 13 playbooks to guide that success.
"We have what we call an 'AWP primary playbook' that articulates the business case, the strategy for the company, how we are implementing it, what our multi-generation approach is at Dow, what projects are going to be implemented first and what the organization structure is," Coombs explained to delegates at the AWP Conference held recently in Houston.
Another important function of an effective AWP playbook, Coombs said, is to determine what needs to be done differently, the impact on workers as individuals and on whomever they interface with, and what success looks like.
"You're laying out the whole case for change," Coombs said. "I think that's critical."
Dow began its AWP journey more than three years ago, Coombs said.
"Our first attack was to take AWP best practices, working with our consultants to build those in, and knowing what's different versus what we do today, so we know what the change impact is."
The first project is currently in the field, Coombs said, adding that the preliminary data "is really looking good."
A significant culture challenge the AWP team has faced, Coombs said, is articulating the true value of AWP.
"I think once we get past this first implementation project, we can answer that question, and a lot of the dominoes of resistance to change will start coming down as well," he said.
The AWP journey
AWP Committee Chair of the Construction Owners Association of Alberta and panel moderator Glen Warren said a typical AWP playbook addresses value proposition and the business case; culture, organization and roles; work processes, procedures and guidelines; technologies; change management and communication plans; training; and key performance indicators.
Justin Weaver, project manager for Southern Company, said that since the 2015 AWP Conference, his company has been "really invigorated to start the journey."
"I've been building our program, but recently I transitioned into a construction management role, so I'm managing a project where we use AWP and I actually have to walk the talk," Weaver explained. "So it is a good opportunity for me that I am using the process that we have developed over the past several years."
Southern Company, Weaver noted, has executed a few "pilot projects" but has reached the point where approximately 20-25 percent of its capital program uses AWP processes in some form.
"So we have come a long way," he said.
In terms of building the company's AWP playbook, Weaver said Southern began with a guideline that contained essential functions to that playbook.
"That was just one document that we drafted that covered our definition of everything you need to know about what AWP is," he explained. "It also covered what you have to do, who does it and when they do it in the process."
Warren observed AWP is a journey that many companies are just embarking on.
"It is not a one-year effort," Warren said. "It is a commitment for quite a while."
Weaver agreed, stressing the necessity of an easy-to-understand AWP playbook.
"For people who are new to the game, we need to boil it down and keep it simple so they don't tune out and turn off immediately," he said.
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