In the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) world, the technology that has the biggest payback potential is the one that enables the logistics provider to give the internal customer — i.e., the construction company — with the ultimate answer to the question, “Where’s my stuff?”
In EPC projects, the success or failure of a project revolves around the construction schedule. Even what might be considered a minor equipment item by value or size can have a major impact on a project’s timeline. Knowing where that item is and having a reliable forecast of when it will arrive may be just as important as planning for the arrival of a one-of-a-kind, long-lead-time, high-value equipment item.
Project milestones and the rewards that go along with achieving them — or consequences for not doing so — are directly tied to the construction schedule.
Managing a project schedule is a constant challenge that requires continuous material delivery status updates, from requisitioning to arrival at job site. A technology that provides a view of material status at the sub-line-item level throughout the supply chain is vital for construction work planning. That technology must be capable of routinely taking in and easily digesting data inputs from internal and external sources that track critical delivery milestones, providing instantaneous material status visibility for work planning.
This will not be accomplished with a patchwork of Excel spreadsheets. The technology must be designed for the attributes of project equipment and materials that may ship in many levels of completion, by various modes of transportation, and via many legs from door to door. Ideally, it will also provide logistics professionals with tools to estimate and plan their work and forecast accurate arrival dates all along the way to the job site.
This would be the ultimate treasure of integrated project logistics management systems, one that provides the visibility internal customers need and brings credibility to the logistics function. Hopefully, we’ll find that technology in 2022!