ANALYSIS OF WORKFLOW ON DESIGN PROJECTS IN INDIA

Abstract

Proposal: The increase in privately funded infrastructure construction in India had compelled project owners to demand highly compressed project schedules due to political risks and early revenue generation. As a result, many of the contracts are based on EPC (Engineering Procurement and Construction) contract enabling the contractor to plan and control the EPC phases. Sole responsibility for the three phases has facilitated the use of innovative approaches such as fast-track construction and concurrent engineering in order to minimize project duration. As a part of a research study to improve design processes, the first author spent a year as an observer in two design projects which was done by a leading EPC contractor in India. Both projects required accelerated design and fast-track construction. The first project involved the detailed design of a coal handling unit for a power plant and second the preliminary phase of a large airport design project. The research team had the mandate to analyze the design process and suggest changes to make it more efficient. On the first project, detailed data on the design/drawing workflow was collected and analyzed. The paper presents the analysis of the data identifying the bottlenecks in the process and compares the analysis results with the perceptions of the design team. On the second project, the overall organizational structure for coordinating the interfaces between the design processes was evaluated. The paper presents a structured method to organize the interface and interactions between the various design disciplines. The details of the method proposed, implementation issues and outcomes of implementation are also discussed.