CO-OPERATE to accumulate

The process sectors - along with much of British industry - are languishing at or near the bottom of their cycle, but the mood of the operators and contractors at the ACTIVE conference was determinedly upbeat.

The companies signed up to the ACTIVE (Achieving Competitiveness through Innovation and Value Engineering) initiative comprise contractors and operators, mostly in the process field. Formed two years ago with the goal of cutting the cost of a construction project by 30 per cent, the initiative's secretariat spent its first year formulating the key principles of ACTIVE and drawing up a `workbook' for companies wishing to form an alliance agreement to carry out a project. The principles have now been agreed, and the first `pilot' projects are underway.

The secretariat decided that eight principles underpin ACTIVE: project concept and definition; project team management; supply chain relationships; information management and communication; project risk management; innovation and continuous improvement; project execution; and performance measurement. These `provide the foundation for an industry culture characterised by co-operation, trust and efficiency,' the organisation claims. Implementing these principles effectively should make bidding and contracting a smoother, quicker, less painful and above all cheaper business.

The ACTIVE pilot projects include the construction of a new chromium salt plant for speciality chemicals firm Elementis. The plant, at Eaglescliffe on Teesside, is to be built by Courtaulds Engineering and will cost some £8.5million.

The Eaglescliffe plant has been in operation for 70 years. Two decades of investments and revamps have kept it up to date in terms of production, safety and quality, according to engineering manager Tony Maplesden. For environmental and commercial reasons, one of the by-products of the main process, sodium sulphate, is purified and sold as the pure salt; however, the salt treatment plant is unable to handle the current capacity of the plant, and the company decided to expand it.

The project, a combination of new building and retrofitting to the existing plant, was awarded to Courtaulds after an unusual selection process. `It was a "prequalification of a principal partner",' comments Courtaulds' quality manager David Woods. `Note the word "partner", not principal contractor or any other terminology.'

The FAST project - standing for First Active Salt Team - is still at a very early stage, and savings cannot yet be quantified. However, the project timescale is extremely tight, and with a completion date of November 1999, results should be available very soon.

Other pilot projects include an operation at Rohm and Haas's fine chemicals plant in Jarrow. Partnered by Eutech Engineering Solutions - which was quick to sign up to ACTIVE after its demerger from ICI was announced - and AMEC Process and Energy, responsible respectively for engineering and construction, the project will modify the plant to allow the implementation of a new process route.

Meanwhile, BP has used the partnering concept in a vapour recovery project at its Hound Point marine terminal on the Firth of Forth. The £60million project to recover hydrocarbon vapours will be handled by an alliance including AMEC and Consafe.

Mere yards from Hound Point is a more visible sign of how the ACTIVE principles are catching on. The Forth Rail Bridge, possibly the UK's most famous continuous paint job, is to be repainted and refurbished by an alliance between Railtrack and Rigblast. The project, which will cost £40million and take four to five years to complete, will see the bridge receive a new coating which should last for 20 years.