Facility Design Standardization Decision-Making Model for Industrial Facilities and Capital Projects

Abstract

Making a decision regarding whether an owner should implement a facility design standardization strategy for their future facilities is not easy. It is a complex process because the replication of projects requires the coordination of many areas of project management as well as a significant investment of time and resources. Facility design standardization refers to designing a facility once and reusing the design multiple times to save cost and schedule. This research developed a standardization decision-making model for industrial facilities to aid in deciding whether a project or program should be considered as a candidate for standardization. The model is split into two parts: a high-level go/no-go analysis (Level 1 assessment), and a more detailed analysis involving all aspects of standardization (Level 2 assessment). The researchers validated the model and showed that projects executed with standardization strategy produced a score favoring standardization, and the nonstandardized projects produced a procustomization score. This study further advances the research on industrial facilities and capital projects by identifying important decision-making drivers and developing a standardization decision-making model. This research also adds to the existing body of knowledge by establishing standardization drivers that are essential to a successful standardization strategy, therefore promoting standardization in the industrial sector and capital industry. Practitioners will benefit by using this model to make the crucial decision about whether to implement a standardization strategy.