B&W approaches projects from the perspective of the overall value of assets which includes the effective life cycle duration. It is easy to approach a project with the simple mindset of checking a box that says for the moment the asset is in the desired condition. However, the pride that B&W takes in its services expresses our goal to ensure we leave the asset in its prime operational condition for as long as possible. We begin by bridging the gap from construction completion to operations by effectively planning and executing the pre-commissioning activities. This planning, when appropriately timed, can drive down startup and operational costs which includes the effective longevity of the asset’s life cycle.
Incorporating B&W From the Start
Often times the pre-commissioning activities are overlooked until construction is almost complete. This effectively turns high-value activities such as chemical cleaning, Aqualazing and steam blowing into 4-alarm fires or worse. B&W, like most companies, takes pride in answering the call and dispatching its services like a fire brigade to quell these fires. However, from that process, B&W developed proactive measures much like a firehouse, to ensure that our people and our equipment are always prepared. Additionally, we realized how much extra it cost our clients and the large amount of money that could be saved if we had the time and information to prepare for each fire individually by taking the time to identify ignition sources. In many cases, 2-alarm fires quickly became 4-alarm fires due to expedited rework that impacts project costs and schedule.
Unfortunately, this scenario is far too common in the industry. B&W Energy Services exists as the driving force to change the recurring problem. For a fraction of the cost to implement common system modifications, B&W carries the ability to perform a thorough evaluation of system designs based on our vast experience performing pre-commissioning cleaning. Taking this initial step ensures the final system design will support the pre-commissioning cleaning needs and avoid rework, additional costs and rescheduling.
Confirmation of Impactful Work
When faced with that scenario, potential risks are uncovered, revealing a non-recoverable loss to a project’s success. B&W Energy Services has all but eliminated these risks by offering plant-wide safety planning, pre-engineering and pre-planning of the pre-commissioning cleaning requirements. In most cases, these efforts have delivered an estimated savings of 0.01 to 0.05% of the projects’ total investment value.
For example, B&W was faced with a challenge of this sort on a very large refinery expansion. B&W was contracted to steam blow a large and complex triple pressure steam system containing over 250 blows. The engineering was completed only four weeks in advance of the target steam blow date. The conclusion of our engineering revealed many significant system modifications that were crucial to successfully execute the steam blows. The time needed to complete these modifications negatively impacted the start date of steam blowing by over 60 days.
After modifications were made and the project was completed, the client offered this significant assessment of the impact caused by modifying the system. The total cost to implement the required changes tipped the scales at over $9 million. This rework more than doubled the price for B&W to successfully complete the scope of work. For roughly 2% of this cost, the entire rework and schedule loss could have been avoided. When evaluating the total impact (based on approximately $2 million per day non-operating) the loss was in excess of almost $130 million.
Deep-rooted Trust in B&W
As the industry’s most trusted engineering and pre-commissioning cleaning provider, B&W has witnessed that the pre-commissioning process can be the deciding factor that determines whether a new construction or expansion project launches successfully.
Throughout a project’s life cycle, the last thing EPCs want to deal with is a surprise delay due to the inability to complete the necessary cleaning. When clients engage B&W on projects, they are engaging the industry’s most talented and experienced engineering team. The B&W team has worked with leading construction firms to develop effective, measurable cleaning programs on some of the largest and most complex projects ever executed.
B&W’s level of performance in engineering is so sought after that more and more companies are bringing in the team well in advance of project construction to gain maximum benefit and drive value throughout the life cycle of a project. To learn more about our methodology or to engage B&W in your next project, reach out at 281-336-9903.