Performance Contractors Inc. offers the general services of an industrial contractor throughout the Gulf Coast region. Offering more than 7,700 projects completed and more than 41 years of experience in the field, they can safely provide construction solutions across the entire industry, including thermal insulations to some of the most important petrochemical plants across the globe.
Business challenge: Increase the rate as well as the cost and security of installing and laying out an estimated 900,000-foot pipe on the mega refinery of petrochemicals.
Solutions:
- Trimble Connect
- Trimble XR10 HoloLens 2
- Trimble Connect AR
- Trimble Field Link
- Trimble RTS873 Total Station
- Trimble X7 3D Scanner
- Spot(r), Trimble’s Robotic Autonomous Scanning Solution
Benefits:
- 10-fold reduction in the amount of labor required for the layout process
- Reduce change orders and rework 300,000 feet of pipe
- Safer and more effective Quality Assurance/Quality Control for Materials Management and project control teams
- Capable of sharing real-time in-built data with clients
- Ability to record and utilize actual layout times to guide future bids
A major energy firm is expanding a major refinery for petrochemicals along the Gulf Coast with the help of general contractor Performance Contractors Inc. The expansion involves laying the pipe for 900,000 feet and the construction of several underground structures, and others at a height of 300 feet. Every day, there are around 3,000 workers on the job site, and each one is assigned a specific task for the day.
The task requires sophisticated coordination since there are a lot of moving parts. Additionally, every team member must be kept informed regularly while working on various aspects of the work.
The project has been underway for three years and is close to completion. The team used technology that allowed workflows to be visually and digitally connected data and reduced the project’s complexity. This led to significant improvements in productivity and allowed the project to move at the rate it did.
In the process of creating a workflow and an environment that makes the process of coming up with ideas for implementation more efficient
Performance Contractors, a highly experienced team that has a successful construction process. They recognize the fact that refinery construction is difficult and risky. The client wanted to make use of advanced technologies in the industry to enhance the process. “One of the goals was to use technologies that have an opportunity to improve efficiency and costs for the job,” says Darby Milius, a Performance Contractors senior field solutions architect.
This meant that the team needed to incorporate the construction techniques into their working methods.
Communication starts with a clear plan, and the team worked hard to be prepared for construction even before the first shovel touched the ground. The work was then scheduled for the opening of the final valve. “These technologies [Trimble Connect and Trimble Connect AR] facilitate not just the demonstration or the display of the information but building and creating a workflow and an ecosystem from conception to realization, an entire workflow that gets you through the conclusion,” Milius declares.
One of the biggest challenges for the industry is the slowness in getting data from the truck to the person working in the field. “Trimble’s products make it so the model information, the status information, the material tracking information, can become available to a person out in the field on a mobile device immediately as opposed to walking in the trailer and getting a piece of paper,” Milius says.
Working more efficiently with less time, people, and work
The improved communication results in the reduction of work. Trimble Connect/Connect AR places everything in the teams’ hands. The field workers do not have to wait for documents or responses in the back office. As per Matthew Santian, a general foreman in the department of piping at Performance Contractors, there have less change orders.
“With the transparency feature, we were actually able to see what was supposed to be there [and] what was not supposed to be there,” Santian writes.
Utilizing this Trimble SX10 Scanning Total Station, the team was able to spot problems prior to the issue and got the answers to how to proceed before the issue was discovered on the job. The team was able to go right to work, without having to worry about the issues.
Rework time was reduced, resulting in the reduction of time and material.
There are a lot of supports working. The team utilized Trimble’s Trimble SX10 Scanning Total Station laser pointer to place dots on beams precisely where supports would be in reality. “By clicking on a piece of a pipe, they can tell what that spool is, where it’s supposed to go, and what area that is,” states Lorne Sooley, who is the Information Manager for Insight-Advanced Work Packaging.
When marking the supports with hand, the team will generally mark 5 to 8 supports per day. This was increased to 50-60 per day using the SX10.
In order to keep employees safe and efficient with a better QA/QC procedure
An extensive survey can lead to a more secure project. Some areas are not easy or safe to examine. Performance Contractors employed Trimble + Boston Dynamics’ automated scanning software Spot to see areas that they would not be capable of. Because surveyors can read using a robot scan, the chance of injury is decreased.
More thorough scans and surveys can also yield more precise information.
“We’re confident that we’re making correct decisions when we have accurate, real-time data in front of us,” says Matthew Moradian, a field engineer for Exxon.
When everyone is looking at the same data, it is easier to control quality. The information can then be transferred to field and put into an office in the back. “You’re basically working in both worlds, in the office, and in the field,” says Roberto Jimenez Martinez, Surveyor at Performance Contractors. The people in the back office “… have access to everything that the team is doing, which makes it simpler to get work completed.”
The world continues to depend on oil and petrochemicals. It is therefore crucial that refineries make petrochemicals as well as chemicals efficiently and in a safe method. Trimble’s products have helped Performance Contractors in multiple ways which includes better monitoring. “I can say with very strong confidence that this job … is one of the most accurately tracked jobs we’ve ever had,” Milius says. This has boosted efficiency and security.