Page 431 - Design of Simple and Robust Process Plants

418 Chapter 10 The Efficient Design and Continuous Improvement of High-quality Process Plants
aspects within a design must deal with many details that need to be incorporated
during the design.
Engineering and constructing a plant within budget and on time is mainly dominated
by the project definition, as was concluded by Independent Process Analysis Inc.
(Merrow and Yarossi, 1994), not forgetting that the engineering and construction of
the facility has to meet certain standards.
Design and engineering at low cost has initially to do with the working methods ±
often called the work processes. During the design, we must apply the concurrent
engineering concept to meet short project delivery times. The design of such a work
process and its validation is of crucial importance (Rummler and Brache, 1995).
The above-mentioned opportunities for the chemical industry are addressed from
two perspectives (Koolen, 1999):
1. An organizational perspective by introduction of a consistent work process.
2. A quality perspective by application of value improving practices during the
design.
The development of an efficient work process is fundamental. A feed-forward orga-
nizational concept has to be incorporated in the work process to avoid or minimize
rework from either the businesses or the involved functions.
The objective to design the work process is to enable a no-change mentality. It will
be no surprise that concurrent engineering is an element that is an important facet
of an efficient work process, particularly so (as that aspect is recognized) to improve
the efficiency of design and engineering (Prasad, 1996). The completeness of the
design before detailed engineering starts (called front-end loading) is another impor-
tant aspect of the work process. This will improve engineering and construction of a
facility from a cost and timing perspective.
The performance of the work process is verified through external bench-marking
with experienced companies that have a long history in the project evaluation of
chemical plants.
The quality aspects of the process plant will be discussed. A concept is developed
within the chemical industry that addresses different aspects of quality. The termi-
nology value improving practices (VIPs) has been introduced. The different quality
aspects are explained, along with the best place for implementation in the work pro-
cess. Introduction of the elements of quality in the design work process is seen as
essential for a quality design process.

10.3.1
Work Processes

A work process appears similar to the operation of a production plant. In a produc-
tion facility, a step-wise set of physical operations is executed to produce a certain
product from a raw material. In a work process, a step-wise set of organizational
operations (activities) are executed to deliver a certain service (product) based on
starting conditions (raw material).