Text Box: Facility Expansion Opportunity The capital intensive nature of new facility expansions places intense pressure on the timing and performance of the new assets. While bringing the facility portion of the investment to life can pose significant challenges, the operational aspects may not receive adequate attention. How effectively both these components are integrated significantly impacts the success of the facility expansion investment. Challenges and Solutions There is no shortage of challenges associated with these initiatives. This is our approach to some of them: There is uncertainty that the project objectives are attainable and project support is eroding. The best way to prevent a project from getting into trouble is to properly initiate it. Key points in our approach include formally addressing project uncertainties using risk management methods. Business justification is challenged and authenticated. Technology dependencies are dissected. And stakeholders are engaged to assure buy-in and long term support. Top down estimating dominates the cost and schedule objectives. Typically a result of prioritizing financial targets, this approach can impose overly optimistic time frames for achieving revenue production from the new assets based on unrealistic cost projections. This is where our project leadership asserts itself as necessary. Best practices dictate that the project objectives, particularly cost and schedule are realistic and bought into by the key stakeholders throughout the organization. Upon completion of the facility, startup and achieving operational status is beset with obstacles and lack of progress. Transitioning from facility development to production operation means reliance on mostly different resources such as supervision, operational personnel, and manufacturing engineering support. Infrastructure needs such as procurement processes and the supply chain must be prepared. Our project leadership model integrates operational requirements at the start of the planning process. Operational objectives achieved at startup are not sustainable. This is symptomatic of inadequate manufacturing infrastructure, e.g. personnel and training; process control; quality systems; maintenance procedures; and supply chain support. Our operational and engineering experience coupled with our project leadership assures that these deliverables are being developed in parallel with the facility development. Services The synergy of our project leadership, engineering capabilities and management skills position us well to achieve successful results in the capital intensive, high visibility world of facility expansion. Here are some highlights of our approach. Verification of business plan justification for the facility investment. Formalized project planning that establishes realistic objectives that require stakeholder input and approval. Comprehensive risk assessment of all project deliverables and activities. A management focus that is directed at meeting the client’s expectations. Use of rigorous change control measures to keep the project on course toward the schedule and cost objectives. Auditing follow-up to assure that the facility continues to meet the performance objectives achieved at commissioning. Benefits To Working With Us We insist on an integrated approach that engages the requirements for a sustainable operation along with the facility development objectives. Our independence enables separating project activities from ongoing operational activities. Experience has shown that using common resources for both leads to excessive workloads and compromised outcomes. The capital intensive and high opportunity value of facility expansion initiatives depend on strong project leadership to be successful. Having over 50 years of experience in manufacturing operations, process engineering, and project management enables us to provide that leadership. Industries Served Aerospace Bio/Pharma Automotive Agricultural and Construction Equipment Consumer Products Industrial and Commercial Equipment Plastics Case Study: High Performance Plastic Production Facility Problem / Situation: A production facility needed to be developed and implemented for processing a new plastic for high performance applications in the agricultural equipment market. There was limited experience with the new system in actual production conditions. The polymer raw materials presented challenges for processing due to high viscosity and the fillers being used to enhance properties of the final polymer. The major challenge was to develop a robust facility to prepare and process the chemicals at a moderately high production capacity without having any empirical data on which to base designs and operating expectations. Solution / Approach: Apogee Management Group had total responsibility for the multidisciplinary effort required for facility design, installation and achievement of production readiness. This project required considerable process engineering input along with rigorous project management support. Significant building structural and foundation modifications had to be designed and implemented due to the size and weight of the equipment. Hands-on supervision was provided throughout the installation phase along with troubleshooting input during startup and debug of the completed facility. The project management function required a heavy emphasis on procurement management as most resources were outsourced. Logistics management was significant due to the size and weight of the equipment. During the execution phase, site management was a critical activity due to the nature of the work (demolition, electrical installation and structural modifications) taking place in a building in which production was in full operation. Results / Outcomes: The completed facility met the demands of processing the difficult to handle polymer system. It continued to be a versatile production asset for years after the initial installation.

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Apogee Management Group

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