Project Management and Hardware Design

Since 1942, when the first FCC unit came onstream, numerous process and mechanical changes have been introduced. These changes improved the unit s reliability, allowed it to process heavier feedstocks, to operate at higher temperatures, and to shift the conversion to more valuable products. 

However, incorporating these changes in an existing unit is a major project, usually more complicated than building a new unit. The two critical components of a successful mechanical upgrade (or erection of a new unit) are effective project management and proper design standards. 

This chapter addresses project management aspects of a revamp. It also provides design guidelines that can be used by a refiner in selecting the revamp components. The original driving force for a project is often a particular mechanical problem or a process bottleneck. The ultimate objective of a revamp should be a safe, reliable, and profitable operation. 

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Department designed few modifications to the curriculum to address the problem associated with hardware implementation and project management and they are ... 

There are no clearly defined design elements for hardware and software development to manage complexity of a safety development project. Although system, subsystem, component and module are used in the SLCM, there is too much interpretation freedom, which leads to uncontrollable uncertainty and difficult in specifying the required outputs of each safety lifecycle phase. 

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