Every year, IPA hosts a number of conferences tailored to specific industries. The basis of these is the Industry Benchmarking Consortium (IBC), held every spring in Northern Virginia. The IBC is a voluntary association of owner firms in the chemical, petroleum, minerals processing, food and consumer products, pharmaceutical and biotech, and forest products industries that have employed IPA’s quantitative benchmarking approach. The members have agreed to support the continuous improvement of capital processes through measuring and comparing performance metrics to improve the effectiveness of their project systems.
There are some requirements for membership in the IBC: (1) A benchmarking evaluation must be performed to establish a baseline of performance; (2) A demonstrated and continuing commitment to project system improvement needs to be shown; 3) A willingness to share Best Practices and to exchange benchmarks must be in place; and (4) A strict adherence to the IBC’s Benchmarking Code of Conduct must be maintained.
IPA also has formed the Cost Engineering Committee (CEC), which is made up of IBC members. This committee’s focus is on improving the business results of projects by improving the cost engineering process and the project controls function through the sharing of practices and by providing data for research and metrics. The CEC is held annually in the fall in Northern Virginia.
Similar to the IBC, IPA also has a conference solely dedicated to Exploration and Production (E&P) projects called the Upstream Industry Benchmarking Consortium (UIBC), which is held every fall in Northern Virginia. The UIBC has a similar purpose and membership requirements as the IBC.
In addition, IPA has formed the Upstream Cost Engineering Committee (UCEC), which is similar to the CEC, but is focused on E&P projects. The UCEC aims to improve upstream projects and businesses by improving the cost engineering process and the project controls function through the sharing of practices and by providing data for research and metrics. The UCEC meets in the second quarter of each year in a variety locations around the world.