Integrating the Supply Chain with AWP Practices

Suppliers can be better involved in the project, especially if they are engaged earlier than has been usual practice. RT-363’s interviews with suppliers identified a number of opportunities for them to add to the project through earlier involvement. The team’s survey expanded on the results from the interviews and found that many challenges stemmed from late involvement of suppliers and that many benefits could be realized by involving suppliers earlier (FR-363, p. 24).

RT-363 promoted the Supply Chain Process (SCPr) as an enhancement to the original AWP documentation developed by RT-272.

AWP execution requires the capability to manage sourcing, logistics, delivery and receiving, and materials storage before installation – all at a level of detail that supports mapping information and materials to EWPs, CWPs, IWPs, and SWPs. Supply chain process capabilities must include the ability to source and track information deliverables as well as materials that support the planned execution sequence. Systems must support the ability to match the components of purchase orders (POs) with multiple EWPs, CWPs, IWPs, and SWPs. Procurement capabilities must also support work package level constraint management and materials allocation (FR-363, p. 34).

RT-363 defined the Procurement Work Package (PWP) as an optional construct that some firms and projects may use as a mechanism to support the AWP execution program and the SCPr. AWP execution does not require a PWP.

If deployed, a PWP must support the capabilities described for the SCPr. For consistency with AWP definitions of work packages, a CWP may contain one or more PWPs, and PWP boundaries align with CWP boundaries. The set of PWPs that belong to a CWP describes all materials and related procurements that belong to that CWP. Procurements related solely to startup activities may be mapped against SWPs rather than CWPs. (FR-363, p. 34).

RT-363 described 20 changes to the work processes in the AWP Process Integration Flowcharts (a.k.a. swimlane diagrams) published in Volume II of IR272-2. These changes included updates to early planning, such as enhancements to supplier prequalification and supplier technology screening; developing a materials responsibility matrix and managing it through engineering and construction; and additional steps in materials tracking and materials readiness to support field activities (FR-363, Chapter 5).

RT-363 considers current materials management systems to be less than ideal, whether developed in house or commercially acquired. By drawing upon research findings from its interviews and survey, the research team identified the key capabilities for a materials management system. Practitioners can use these areas to audit existing tools and plan for logical expansions (FR-363, p. 60).

In addition to identifying processes and tools that could be key enhancements for supply chain performance, RT-363 acknowledged the importance of people to make the process and technology work. The team defined roles that would be required to enact the process improvements it had identified to enhance the AWP swimlanes (see Key Finding 3), and it wrote abbreviated job descriptions for them.

Key among these roles, the Digital Supply Chain (DSC) Coordinator would be involved early in the project to help design and to coordinate the transfer of information among stakeholders on the project. This role could expand beyond the supply chain function, but the team considered it to be critical to the successful communication of information across the supply chain (FR-363, p. 70).