The part that went wrong in the design
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I have been involved in design management for the client side for many years and have dealt with designers on a regular basis; as a result, I have some insights into the areas where problems tend to arise during the design process. In my opinion, the design interface is the part most prone to issues. These interfaces include those between design institutes (especially when working on a project together), as well as those between different specialties within a single design institute (including process installation and equipment, process installation and instrumentation, process installation and civil engineering, equipment and instrumentation, civil engineering and hydraulic engineering, etc.). Another issue is the interface between the design institute and the supplier (problems often arise with the connection flanges).
Agree with the original poster’s view. The areas mentioned above are indeed where problems are most likely to occur. It’s mainly due to a lack of communication. As a design professional, I believe that communication between different specialties within the same design firm is relatively easy. Design firms generally have a set of comprehensive standard procedures, and by following these procedures, it should be possible to avoid problems to the greatest extent possible. However, when two or more design firms work together, or when problems arise between design firms and suppliers, or between design firms and construction companies, these are no longer issues that can be resolved solely by the design firms themselves; in such cases, the owner should usually play a more important role. Therefore, if the project developer (owner) has sufficient project management experience, it is best to have them take charge of coordination. If one does not fully possess such capabilities, it is better to entrust an engineering company with the EPC task. What we fear most are those project management teams that, despite having little understanding of the matter, think they have the right to interfere just because they are paying for the project – and it is precisely this attitude that leads to chaos in project construction!
We often encounter problems related to the lack of coordination with the owners. For larger projects, we go to the site before starting work to discuss the layout and arrangements. However, for some standard equipment, we only communicate with the owners over the phone, which can lead to issues. Problems are usually discovered only when the equipment arrives at the site ready for installation, by which time it’s too late to make any changes. Therefore, it is essential to have accurate communication with the property owner; only then can there be proper cooperation between the two parties.
Large, experienced design institutes always take this into account.
Internal communication within the design institute should be strengthened; various specialties need to coordinate with each other, and special attention should be paid to the interfaces between different specialties. This can help reduce the occurrence of problems that shouldn’t arise.