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Bechtel engineering company has been working since 1898 creating and developing extraordinary projects for various industries, including:
- oil and gas (with the head office in Houston, Texas)
- nuclear security
- defense
- mining
- infrastructure
- power
- metals
- management
- environmental protection.
Bechtel (according to www.go.bechtel.com) has clients and partners not just inside the USA but also in many world countries, such as:
- England
- Australia
- Egypt
- China
- Gabon
- Kenya
- Chile
- Brazil
- Mexico
- India
- Peru
- Indonesia
- Japan, etc.
More details are available at go.bechtel.com.
Bechtel: the first step to the future
Bechtel company, the innovation department of which is in Houston (with the deputy chief David Wilson), is considered to be a leader of engineering, construction, and project management. They have recently presented their new program. The initiative is based on the innovative technologies and the necessities of the customers and carriers.
Bechtel center is working on the addition of better certainty to the cargo logistics management. The problems of schedule and the possible risks can bring not just discomfort but also financial losses to each side of the transportation process. It is mostly connected with the ship transportation, because just one day of delay might cost 10 times more than the cost for a ship. Bechtel offers an opportunity to predict the majority of the risks and take the corresponding measures in order to avoid various problems.
Thus, by means of a quantitative risk-based Bechtel engineering approach everything will be evaluated beforehand, bringing lots of benefits, the most important of which is a chance to find the fast and simple solution to any possible problem.
Bechtel: the support of the research and development
Bechtel, famous for the numerous construction projects, was supported by various organizations. The greatest contribution was made by the University of Houston’s College of Technology. They did significant work, which allowed promising to start the program implementation in 2017. As the dean of the college claimed, the application of such approach might be extremely useful. It could help reach:
- noticeable savings for the clients
- timely deliveries.
To make sure the idea is noteworthy there were lots of tests made. Thus, the company became certain that the concept could be widened, transformed into a prototype, adjusted with firm’s aims (both strategic and corporate), and tested in a “sandbox”. The latest is the Bechtel corporation Innovation center located in Houston (more details on it can be found at go.Bechtel.com). The high-tech approach was used there with the application of:
- 4-dimensional modeling
- self-contained holographic computers
- 360-degree cameras
- drones
- virtual and augmented reality technologies.
Such technologies might be used to see the holograms during the period of preconstruction and in real time during the construction.
As a result, Bechtel has managed to get the precise data (not the averages) and create a real visual portrayal of events during the process of shipping, which will allow the carriers and customers to understand what to anticipate. The program will help check all the “what if” scenarios. Besides, it will provide the carriers with the opportunity of better planning avoiding the contingency.
Such achievement would be impossible without the contribution of various specialists, who have been cooperating in order to create the program:
- Paul Scott Abbott (a transportation writer famous for his specialization in maritime subject)
- Nick Crow (a chartering manager in a lab of the Bechtel center of innovations)
- Andrew Young (the expert of Bechtel concerning the critical equipment transport sphere)
- Stephen Spoljaric (the manager in the sphere of chemicals and logistics)
- Jorge Reyes (the estimator in the sphere of logistics and transportation)
- Trent Legendre (the logistics technologist).
More information is available at go.bechtel.com.
The application of the program by Bechtel has changed the status quo and allowed them preserving the leading positions in the engineering, procurement, and construction industry. It has also added to the revenue of the company (the data is available at go.bechtel.com website).
The forecasts for the usage of the approach are very positive, so we can expect the growth of the company and improvement of the transportation facilities.