I was recently speaking with the Capital Project Manager for an upcoming expansion at their pharmaceutical manufacturing campus. I asked if they were going to hire a Main Instrument Vendor for the project. “That’s a good point. We haven’t even thought about how we’ll manage the instrumentation on this project.”
Additional blogs in the this series:
In this case, and in many others, instrumentation is often an afterthought. That is truly shocking when you consider that these devices are critical elements to a plant’s control system functioning properly.
We’ve been involved in many large capital projects through the years and we’ve seen many different approaches to the specification, purchase, installation, calibration and turnover of valves and instrumentation:
Of the approaches described above, we have seen the most benefits to the owner when choosing an independent MIV. I’ll classify these benefits based upon the well-known Project Management triangle of Schedule, Quality and Cost that states you can only choose two on any particular project.
Most projects we become engaged with have an “aggressive” schedule. Hiring an MIV early in the process (during design) to assist the engineer with the development of ISA Data Sheets for instrumentation and valves will provide schedule benefit during the project in two ways:
In a regulated industry, “quality” is not negotiable (nor should it be in any industry). In a Life Science project, an experienced MIV will complete all their work with validation in mind. The MIV will involve the owner’s Quality, Engineering and Qualification team at the onset of the project to:
This is where some conflict can occur. Although not always spoken in these words, the message is often “good, fast and cheap!” That said, we’ve seen too many times that the low bid is accepted only to run into problems that could be avoided, including ordering wrong parts, installing them incorrectly, or having to rework all of the documentation to support validation. While there is a cost to doing the work correctly, there is often a larger cost to doing it incorrectly. An Independent Vendor (not a specific manufacturer) can leverage partnerships with multiple suppliers to provide the most cost effective and/or quickest lead-time instruments.
In future blogs, I will share detailed information on the MIV Process, including:
In the meantime, if you have any questions regarding our MIV services, please feel free to call us here at Hallam-ICS.
Keith is a graduate of the University of Vermont with a BSEE and an MBA. He has been with Hallam-ICS since 1988 as an electrical engineer, manager of integration services, CFO, and CEO. He focuses the company on understanding and meeting the needs of each individual client while at the same time delivering the highest possible level of technical expertise.
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Hallam-ICS is an engineering and automation company that designs MEP systems for facilities and plants, engineers control and automation solutions, and ensures safety and regulatory compliance through arc flash studies, commissioning, and validation. Our offices are located in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Vermont, North Carolina, Texas and Florida and our projects take us world-wide.