AWP – Advanced Work Packaging

On April 14, 2016 Scott Hounsell, a Construction Services Director for Fluor Construction presented the latest CII, Construction Industry Institute, Best Practice to about 50 SLCCC members. AWP, Advanced Work Packaging, is a Best Practice that has been validated in the construction industry to improve productivity, cost and schedule.

Scott shared several case studies that shows how this application was utilized on small and large projects alike – all realizing the benefits. AWP is a methodology and process to “Plan the Work” and “Work the Plan” from front-end planning through startup.

The principle behind AWP is to break the project down into various levels of detail and/or complexity:
•    CWA (Construction Work Areas)
•    CWP (Construction Work Packages)
•    EWP (Engineering Work Packages)
•    IWP (Installation Work Packages)

The benefits identified by teams that used AWP have been:
•    Improved project productivity and predictability
•    Scalable as it can be adjusted to smaller projects as well as larger projects
•    Contractors embrace AWP with experience in its use
•    Owners need to drive the use of AWP in the early stages to set the tone of the project
•    Early adopters of AWP saw a payback even if their maturity level was low
•    No special technology/software is needed
•    Observed improved tracking of work progress and visibility of issues
•    Improved communication between contractor and owner
•    Worker feedback used to improve downstream work
•    Increased ownership of issues and their resolution
•    Better constructability planning embedded into the design phase

For  more information you can visit the CII website and search on “RT 272 Publication – IR272-2 rev 3”. The documentation includes three volumes: #1 – Recommended Process; #2 – Implementation Guidance and #3 – Case Studies and Expert Interviews.