The viability of energy mineral resources (EMR) construction projects is
contingent upon the state of the world economic climate. Oil sands projects in
Alberta, Canada exemplify large EMR projects that are highly sensitive to
fluctuations in the world market. Alberta EMR projects are constrained by high
fixed production costs and are also widely recognized as one of the most
challenging construction projects to successfully deliver due to impacts from
extreme weather conditions, remote locations and issues with labor availability
amongst others. As indicated in many studies, these hardships strain the industry’s
ability to execute work efficiently, resulting in declining productivity and mounting
cost and schedule overruns. Therefore, to enhance the competitiveness of Alberta
EMR projects, project teams are targeting effective management strategies to
enhance project performance and productivity by countering the uniquely
challenging environment in Alberta. The main purpose of this research is to develop industry wide benchmarking
tailored to the specific constraints and challenges of Alberta. Results support
quantitative assessments and identify the root causes of project performance and
ineffective field productivity problems in the heavy industry sector capital projects.
Customized metrics produced from the data collected through a web-based survey
instrument were used to quantitatively assess project performance in the following
dimensions: cost, schedule, change, rework, safety, engineering and construction
productivity and construction practices. The system enables the industry to measure
project performance more accurately, get meaningful comparisons, while
establishing credible norms specific to Alberta projects.
Data analysis to identify the root cause of performance problems was
conducted. The analysis of Alberta projects substantiated lessons of previous studies
to create an improved awareness of the abilities of Alberta-based companies to
manage their unique projects. This investigation also compared Alberta- based
projects with U.S. projects to point out the differences in project process and
management strategies under different environments. The relative impact of factors
affecting construction productivity were identified and validated by the input from
industry experts. The findings help improve the work processes used by companies
developing projects in Alberta. / text
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTEXAS/oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/7536 |
| Date | 01 June 2010 |
| Creators | Chanmeka, Arpamart |
| Source Sets | University of Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | electronic |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author. Presentation of this material on the Libraries' web site by University Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin was made possible under a limited license grant from the author who has retained all copyrights in the works. |
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