Featured Problem Solver: Alex Pawlowski

Client: Cuming

Current Situation:

When I was asked to work on the Cuming Corporation project there was already a significant time constraint in place. Cuming Corporation is a manufacturer of syntactic foam flotation and insulation equipment for the offshore oil and gas industries, and they came to us to upgrade their system from its current batch operation to a more efficient and cost effective continuous process.

We started on the project in January and the client needed to have the new processes operational by July. Although time constraints are a typical part of any SPEC project, these were unique since the client had already sold products it had yet to produce and would lose the contracts if they were not delivered on-time.

SPEC had three factors that allowed us to tailor our process to meet the client’s timeline. One, we had a head-start, since our design “standards” saved us time in developing the required process and instrumentation drawings. Two, we had experience with similar manufacturing processes, which allowed us to size their equipment very quickly and identify the long-lead items that would impact the schedule (in this case, large, mix vessels). And three, we perform projects on a design-build basis, allowing us to build the schedule around the clients’ requirements and the delivery times of the equipment, while managing the design around these milestones.

A preliminary budget for the project was developed within 3 weeks of the project kick-off, allowing the client to quickly determine if they wanted to proceed. Pricing for the long-lead process vessels was obtained concurrently, allowing us to order the vessels immediately upon project approval. SPEC’s method saved Cuming many weeks, in comparison to a typical design process, and has allowed the project to stay on schedule. Final installation of the system is on track to occur in June 2008.

Alex's Bio:

Alex Pawlowski has been with SPEC since 2000, when he started as a process engineer. Four years after he started, Alex became a project manager. His experience includes time as an R&D engineer for Gillette, and since his joining SPEC has become "pretty all encompassing."