Project/services industries

Role in the project Service provider of industrial wastewater purification including the supply of chemicals, equipment, personnel training and residual wastes disposal... 

Therefore, the tabular and graphic data contained in this book was either produced in-house or is the result of meticulous research of the literature. For research into the stated parameters, the period from 2000 to 2013 was given priority. However, in the event that no usable data was available from this period, older sources were also used in exceptional cases. Data concerning mechanical/thermal and fracture-mechanical parameters was derived from student research projects, degree dissertations and bachelor, masters and (primarily) doctoral theses. Unpublished parameters from publicly funded scientific projects and industrial research and service contracts were also included. 

NIOSH n. Acronymical abbreviation for National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a division of the Center for Disease Control (Pubhc Health Service, under the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare). This agency conducts investigations and research projects on industrial safety and makes recommendations for the guidance of OSHA. However, it does not enforce its own findings or OSHA regulations. 

Only the Project/Services grouping stands out as the one industry sector grouping that places strategic objectives ahead of operational effectiveness in this function. In this grouping the operational effectiveness objective score was only 37% compared with 63% for strategic objectives. The explanation for this anomaly may well be a function of the corporate reliance on finding unique offerings in Media Entertainment (36% of objectives)... 

It is interesting, therefore, to note that the second highest performance score is recorded by the Project/Services grouping, which is by far the least frequent user of operations and production tools and techniques. One of the reasons for this may be that the Media Entertainment industry sector reported, as one of its clear objectives, the desire to discover unique products and to reposition strategically rather than to just focus on operational improvement (see Table 7.6) and it was in the strategic impact on the firm that this function reported the highest performance satisfaction score (0.92). This perhaps indicates that, while the Media Entertainment sector may not use function level tools and techniques as often as other industry sectors, when it does choose to use tools and techniques to assist strategic differentiation it is broadly satisfied with the outcome. 

The reason for this was because it was felt, initially, that process-based industries would tend to have higher tool and technique usage requirements than project-based industries, and that manufacturing industries would also tend to have more need than service base industries, with combined industries somewhere in between. The rationale here was that manufacturing and process-based industries would tend to need more routinised and standardised approaches to business that would favour tool and technique usage across all four functions. On the other hand it was hypothesised that project-based and services related industries, with a more ad-hoc and less routinised approach to business, would use tools and techniques much less across all of the four functions. 

The industry is increasingly acknowledging the value of oontractors and service companies in improving their individual core capabilities through alliances, i.e. a joint venture for a particular project or a number of projects. A lead contractor e.g. a drilling company may form alliances with a number of sub contractors to be able to cover a wider spectrum of activities e.g. completions, workovers and well interventions. 

Another impetus to expansion of this field was the advent of World War 11 and the development of the atomic bomb. The desired isotope of uranium, in the form of UF was prepared by a gaseous diffusion separation process of the mixed isotopes (see Fluorine). UF is extremely reactive and required contact with inert organic materials as process seals and greases. The wartime Manhattan Project successfully developed a family of stable materials for UF service. These early materials later evolved into the current fluorochemical and fluoropolymer materials industry. A detailed description of the fluorine research performed on the Manhattan Project has been pubUshed (2). 

Economy of time and resources dictate using the smallest sized faciHty possible to assure that projected larger scale performance is within tolerable levels of risk and uncertainty. Minimum sizes of such laboratory and pilot units often are set by operabiHty factors not directly involving internal reactor features. These include feed and product transfer line diameters, inventory control in feed and product separation systems, and preheat and temperature maintenance requirements. Most of these extraneous factors favor large units. Large industrial plants can be operated with high service factors for years, whereas it is not unusual for pilot units to operate at sustained conditions for only days or even hours. 

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