| Originated from No. 8 Design Institute of the Ministry of Chemical Industry, chengdu Chemical Engineering Corporation of China (hereafter abbreviated as Chengda), has become an international engineering company nowadays after 20 years' reform and development. It has been transformed from a pure chemical design institute to an engineering company capable of undertaking planning, feasibility study, basic engineering, detailed engineering, equipment and material procurement, construction management, project management service for common industrial projects as well as implementing turn-key contract projects.The project exploration and design sector in China was established during the first Five-Year-Plan following the pattern of ex-Soviet Union. As an institution, the design institute assumes the responsibility of assisting the state and local authorities in planning, feasibility study and engineering design. The sector and qualification management method is taken by the state for management of design institute.The reform in Chengda is typical among design institutes. In the past, Chengda had always been engaged in chemical industrial design work. In the middle of 1970s', Chengda was involved in introduction of technology from foreign countries for several ammonia and urea plants. Through technical exchange with technical personnel from foreign engineering companies, it was found that there were great differences between the design system of China and that in the developed countries. Therefore, under the leadership of the Ministry of Chemical Industry, design system reform was begun in 1979. The comprehensive design departments were reformed into discipline design departments, the design documents were prepared to the extent suitable for procurement and construction. Design procedures and methods were changed too. Procurement work was integrated into the design procedures and matrix organization was adopted for project management with project management as the core and discipline department as basis.After the system reform, the design system of Chengda is in line with the international practices and Chengda is able to have comprehensive cooperation with foreign engineering companies for design work. The most remarkable achievement is the direct cooperation with an American engineering company for the 200,000 MTPA ammonia plant of Sichuan Chemical Works, in which the import scope was narrowed and foreign currency cost was reduced accordingly.It is shown by the application of the new system that the new design system is more scientific, systematic and specialized, design efficiency and accuracy is greatly raised, which is quite favorable for speeding up construction progress, reducing design revision at site and construction cost. The reform of the design system has laid a foundation for undertaking turn-key contract projects.In 1984 Chengda started making experiments in turn-key contract projects. The procurement division, construction division and project management division, which were related to the entire course of a project, were added into the project organization. These division were respectively responsible for equipment and material procurement, construction sub-contracting, construction management and organization, start-up preparation, test-run and test as well as for assigning professional managers. In the past ten years, Chengda has implemented 19 EPC and turn-key project contracts in China. The practice of Chengda in tun-key projects led to its transform from a pure design institute to an engineering company, and Chengda's scope in project management was enlarged from design work only to the overall management of a project, which laid a foundation for Chengda to enter into the international market.The performance of EPC and turn-key contract projects with the engineering design as the principle part unveils the intrinsic law of project construction, i.e. the engineering design, procurement and construction work of a project is mutually related. In order to have a project successful, th... |
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