What's New

May 2008

Paul Barshop, IPA's Chief Operating Officer, will speak on May 30th at the Canadian College of Construction Lawyers 11th annual conference to be held in Tremblant, Quebec.

Dean Findley will be speaking at the Northwest Construction Consumer Council (NWCCC) on May 28th in Bellingham, WA. He will be addressing the demand for engineering services and other market trends from a national and global perspective and the impact these trends are having on capital project planning and execution.

Turnaround Benchmarking
IPA has improved its turnaround cost model. The model uses the expense scope-of-work of the turnaround to predict an industry average cost for a given scope. Scope is expressed as the number and type of equipment and the nature of the work being done to it. A sophisticated algorithm that properly wieghts the scope generates an accurate prediction for all the scope within a turnaround. For more inforamation, please contact Raul Hermosillo at IPA by phone 703 726-5386 or e-mail at rhermosillo@ipaglobal.com.

April 2008

E&P Independents Study
IPA has begun a study to quantify the project effectiveness of Independent E&P operators in terms of capital project execution. This study will:

Measure the reliability of the sanction forecasts made by Independents for production rates, cost, and schedule
Quantify the effect of recent cost escalation on Independents as a class of operators
Identify and quantify the effect of key performance drivers that set Independents apart from the Majors
Identify opportunities for improvement for Independents as a class of operators.

Study completion is targeted for November 2008. To meet this date, we ask interested companies to join by May 31, 2008. For more information, contact Rolando Gachter at IPA by phone +1 703.726.5324 or email at rgachter@ipaglobal.com.

Read more about the E&P Independents Study. Download the PDF Prospectus.

Team Effectiveness Study
IPA has begun a study into resource requirements on projects and the effectiveness of project teams. The results will help the participating companies to more accurately forecast resource needs and to better leverage existing personnel on projects.

Study completion is targeted for December 2008. To meet this date, we ask interested companies to join by May 31, 2008. For more information, contact Margit Jochmann at IPA by phone +1 703.726.5334 or email at mjochmann@ipaglobal.com

Read more about the Team Effectiveness Study.

February 2008

Paul Barshop, IPA's Chief Operating Officer, will be the kick-off speaker at the Canadian Bar Association's 2008 National Construction Law Conference held in Banff, Alberta, Canada, on April 10-12, 2008. His presentation is entitled Cost, Profit, and Risk: Understanding the New Contracting Marketplace.

IBC and Scheduling Practices programmed in April - The Industry Benchmarking Consortium (IBC) provides an independent forum for each participating company to view its performance against other companies' performance. The consortium highlights Best Practices used and reinforces their use to improve capital effectiveness. During the consortium meetings, attendees learn ways to improve specific elements of capital project execution through presentations and face-to-face discussions.

The centerpiece of each consortium is the sharing of outcomes and practices of the participating project systems. The first IBC plenary session presents trends and overall metrics. Then the plenary breaks into smaller groups by industry segment to discuss metrics in more detail. Industry sectors currently highlighted are Small Projects; Petroleum Products; Pipelines; Commodities and Specialty Chemicals; Mining, Minerals, and Metals; and Pharmaceuticals.

If you are attending IBC, extend your visit and participate in the IPA Institute course conveniently scheduled immediately after the consortium. The Best Practices IPA teaches could benefit your company even if it does not participate in the IBC. Take this excellent opportunity to be introduced to some of the teachings the IPA Institute has to share. Register for the Scheduling Practices seminar, which will be held at the Hilton Dulles Hotel on April 3-4. The session will provide participants with instruction on how to complete the elements of project execution planning, as well as an understanding of project control practices. The seminar is intended for all that manage, control, or execute capital projects. The course uses the research findings on project controls, including: establishing project controls, understanding the link between execution planning and outcomes, and understanding key elements of the scheduling process.

For more information, please contact Mary Ellen Yarossi at IPAInstitute@ipaglobal.com, or call +1 (703) 729 8300.

January 2008

EPC Market Forecasting -- IPA will offer in April 2008 a quarterly newsletter forecasting capital project price trends five years into the future for eight regions of the world. The newsletter will be available to existing IPA clients on an annual subscription basis. The goal is to inform clients of market price trends so that:

1) savings may be achieved through the timing of project authorizations/expenditures;

2) estimates of future escalation will be more accurate.

Please contact Robert Brown or Dean Findley if you are interested in more information or have questions. We will be contacting existing clients over the next several weeks to clarify level of interest and to confirm participation.

FEL Toolbox is based on years of extensive IPA research on capital projects. The software is licensed exclusively to IPA customers who have conducted a benchmarking and are familiar with IPA methodology. FEL Toolbox represents IPA proprietary, intellectual knowledge and must be treated confidentially. FEL Toolbox is intended for use on projects that have an estimated cost less than $10 million dollars and that are defined and executed by a site-based organization. IPA strongly discourages using the software for projects that exceed an estimated cost of $10 million or that involve commercialization of new technology and are executed outside the realm of a site based project delivery organization. Using the software beyond this purpose is a violation of the license agreement and will generate less than optimal results.

November 2007

Edward W. Merrow, President of IPA, will speak at the Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) National Conference on Monday, November 5 at 3:00 PM EST. The title of his speech is "A Global Industry In Crisis: A Perspective From IPA". The conference is being held from November 5-7 at the Naples Grande Resort in Naples, Florida USA.

October 2007

Dean P. Findley, Director of IPA's Product Development Group, will present at the Construction Owners Association of Alberta (COAA) on Wednesday, October 10th. The presentation is entitled "Mega-Projects -- A New Perspective". The meeting is held at the Metropolitan Convention Center in Calgary, AB.

September 2007

Edward W. Merrow, President of IPA, will be the Featured Speaker at the SPE Gulf Coast Section Luncheon on September 26, 2007, at 11:00 a.m. CDT. The subject of the speech is Cost, Profit and Risk: Understanding the New Contracting Marketplace. The luncheon will be held at the OMNI Houston Westside, 13210 Katy Freeway, Houston, TX. Please visit http://www.spegcs.org for more information.

Patricia Griffith, Managing Director, EMEA and Russia, will speak at the 6th Russia & CIS Petrochemicals & Gas Technology Conference (RPTC 2007) held in Moscow on September 25-26, 2007. Her presentation is entitled "Best Practices for Petrochemical Projects".

August 2007

Carlos Tapia will participate in a round-table discussion at the second Brazilian Project Management Congress on August 30, 2007. The subject of the round-table discussion is Measuring and Assessing Project Management.

July 2007

On August 7, 2007, Carlos Tapia, Regional Director, CPLA, will present at the Sixth International Seminar on Project Management sponsored by the Federal University of Paraná in Curitiba. The title of his presentation is Best Practices and Current Market Trends on Capital Project Development.

May 2007

Fred Biery will present Implementing Best Practices for Improving Mine and Mineral Processing Project Operability and Performance at the 3rd Industry Summit on Mining Performance a Conference on Business Process Improvement in the Extractive Industries in Tuscon, AZ. May 10-11, 2007.

March 2007

Neeraj Nandurdikar, Manager of IPA’s Exploration and Production Business Area, will present at the Best Practices in Managing Major Projects in Energy and Infrastructure conference organized by The Canadian Institute. Mr. Nandurdikar’s talk will address the question of how to manage risks and value in today’s heated project environment. The talk will also present data-based examples of how owners and contractors are shifting their priorities to reflect changing risk strategies.

Date of Presentation: April 2 to 3, 2007
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

David Gottschlich, IPA Chief Scientist, will present Measuring and Driving Project Performance at the 2007 International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) Paris Conference on April 19th at 11:45 am. The conference, which is being held in Paris, will run from April 16th to April 19th.

January 2007

Allison Aschman, Business Manager, and Gordon Lawrence, Senior Analyst, recently published "Best Practices for Qualification Success: A Statistical Analysis of Characteristics and Practices that Drive IQ and OQ Cost and Schedule," in the online version of ISPE's Pharmaceutical Engineering. This paper discusses research conducted to determine how pharmaceutical companies carry out IQ and OQ activities. The research resulted in the development of statistical models, a list of key project characteristics affecting qualification cost/schedule and a list of key Qualification Best Practices that drive success and minimize failure.

This paper can be accessed at the ISPE Web site, http://www.ispe.org/. ISPE membership is required to download the article.

IPA Netherlands has moved into a new office. The new address is:

Prinsenhof Building, Prinses Margrietplantsoen 32
2595 BR The Hague, The Netherlands

Phone numbers remain the same:

Tel. +31 (0)70 335 07 07, Fax +31 (0)70 335 06 42

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