Aug 19 2015
Aconex Limited, provider of a leading cloud collaboration platform for the global construction industry, announced today that Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. has deployed the Aconex platform to manage project information and processes in the construction of a US$50-million chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) plant in Thailand.
CPVC is a heat-resistant resin used in plastic pipes that supply hot water for housing and industrial equipment. The new plant, completed in April 2015, will produce 30,000 metric tons of CPVC resin annually, enabling Sekisui Chemical and its joint venture partner, Lubrizol Corporation, to meet rapidly growing demand for CPVC products in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East markets.
Sekisui Chemical, headquartered in Tokyo, is a global enterprise that provides high-performance plastics, urban infrastructure and environmental products, and housing. With 92 overseas affiliated companies, Sekisui Chemical's global sales were 1.1-trillion Yen in fiscal year 2014.
Project Communications and Collaboration on One Platform
Building a CPVC resin plant is challenging, even under the most favorable conditions. The Sekisui Chemical project contains miles of piping, thousands of valves and a variety of complex structures that must adhere strictly to engineering specifications due to intense heat and pressure during operation.
The project posed an additional challenge as the first Sekisui Chemical CPVC plant constructed outside of Japan by a local contractor. Further complicating this challenge was a project team of 10 major contractors and many subcontractors that had to work together seamlessly. Project-wide communications and tight collaboration were essential to completing the plant on time and on budget.
Sekisui Chemical had extensive experience in constructing chemical processing facilities and knew the difficulties that could arise without an effective project management solution to keep the development on track.
Sekisui Chemical had met with the local Aconex team previously and proceeded to review the platform for adoption. After an extensive evaluation, the company chose Aconex to support the project.
Comprehensive Data Access and Document Control
To ensure comprehensive communications throughout the project, Aconex provided the Sekisui Chemical team members with immediate access to project information and correspondence, no matter where they were located -- Tokyo, Bangkok or the job site, which was a three-hour drive from the Thai capital. Data searches were fast and easy because of the platform's use of metadata rather than a traditional, hierarchical file system.
All project information, including current and prior versions of documents, was stored permanently and securely in the cloud. The team was able to track any changes made to documents and quickly determine when they were made and by whom, and who approved them. This capability alone saved hours or even days, as well as additional costs, when details were in dispute. As Sekisui Chemical pointed out, there was no argument -- no "We said, they said." The evidence was right there on the screen, a "single version of the truth."
Aconex also helped the project team track the status of thousands of engineering drawings, requests for information (RFIs), change orders, and other documents that had to be approved, often by a number of different parties. In the past, team members had relied on emails, logs and spreadsheets to monitor document reviews. For this project, the Aconex platform produced reports identifying where a document was in the review process and who was holding it up, helping to keep the project on schedule.
Fast Deployment and Configuration
One of Sekisui Chemical's key reasons for selecting Aconex for the CPVC plant project was ease of deployment and use. Aconex provided live training for users at three sites in Tokyo. No additional training or support was required in Thailand. Project set-up and configuration on the platform took just four weeks.
"The Rayong CPVC project demonstrates the resilience of the oil and gas market for construction collaboration, where opportunities have expanded downstream to petrochemical development," said Andy Lake, general manager of Asia at Aconex. "Sekisui Chemical has committed to Phase Two of the Rayong CPVC project, which will double the plant's annual production capacity to 60,000 metric tons. We look forward to continuing to support the successful delivery of their projects."