Emerson launches Project Certainty to improve capital project execution

Addressing growing industry demand for transformational improvements in capital project execution, Emerson has launched Project Certainty, a technology and engineering-based approach for improved capital efficiency and more reliable project schedules.

Due to project excesses, billions of dollars are lost annually in oil and gas exploration and production, hydrocarbon and gas processing, chemical, pharmaceutical and other process industries. According to industry data, over 65% of projects greater than $1 billion fail, with companies exceeding their budgets by more than 25% or missing schedules by more than 50%. They also routinely face operational problems continuing through the second year of operations. This consistently poor project performance can be a serious deterrent to process manufacturers considering new investments.

“The industry has reached a tipping point in which projects are not sustainable with current budget and schedule excesses,” said Jim Nyquist, president of Emerson Process Management’s Systems and Solution business. “In order to achieve game-changing performance in projects, it will take a truly transformative and comprehensive approach like Project Certainty.”

Emerson’s Project Certainty begins with early engagement during engineering and design studies to define project goals and high-impact strategies to meet those goals. Despite traditionally accounting for approximately 4% of a project investment, automation is revealing unique and repeatable ways to eliminate cost, reduce complexity and accommodate late-stage project changes, beyond the automation discipline.

For example, Project Certainty relies on the right design engineering strategy to eliminate centralised control system room requirements by 70–80%, and can eliminate piping in some applications up to 50–60%. Additionally, tens of millions of dollars in capital spare parts can be eliminated through project-wide equipment reliability analysis.

“Project Certainty also tackles complexity by decoupling the dependencies suppliers have on each other, eliminating bottlenecks and allowing concurrent work streams,” said Nyquist. “Likewise, we are addressing the complexity of data and documentation with innovative technologies that provide features like a single source of project data as well as automated documentation.”

Addressing one of the greatest project vulnerabilities, Project Certainty significantly improves project schedule performance. Revolutionary technologies like electronic marshalling with CHARMs and pervasive wireless field instrumentation are helping project teams accommodate inevitable last-minute design changes without impacting schedule.

“The path to top quartile project performance is right in front of us,” said Nyquist. “The technologies and proven methodologies are here. It will take collaboration and commitment to eliminate outdated project approaches and drive change into the industry.”