Initial Involvement and Plan of Action

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Engineering Hours= Equip. Count x Growth Factorx 650

Process Design Hours

The Engineering hours required for process design are not only related to equipment count and type; they are also very sensitive to the type of process and stage of development of the process design. Experience shows that these factors can produce very wide variations inthe hours required. Since the process design hours determine the cost and duration of the initial project activities, it is very important that the initial plan of action be based on realisticestimates.Unfortunately, as mentioned before, the level of information required to prepare accurate estimates is rarely available at this stage of theproject. Nevertheless, this section tries to provide some criteria and guidelines to allow project managers to make thebest out of the scant information available. Analysis of actual cases shows that the hours required to prepare a complete and formally documented process design package (Phase 1) including drafting and all required engineering disciplinesvary widely depending on thetype of project. Low
30 hr/item

Average

High 150 hr/item

75 hr/item

The following factors determine the location within the range: High End
- New technology.
-

Hazardous service. Process complexity. Large equipment. Low equipmentcount.

- Process options. -

Executionby contractor.

Low End
- Simple process.
-

Simple equipment. Repeat project (old Phase 1 manuals).