Plant growth chamber installation is a complex process and can be a significant undertaking for universities, research institutes, government agencies, or companies investing in new and advanced equipment. Project management services using a dedicated project management team are one of the key ways to help the process run smoothly.
End-to-end project management services start with installation and continue through to commissioning, ensuring that newly purchased plant growth chambers and growth rooms meet each client's unique expectations and operational needs.
Recently Conviron's Vice President of Operations answered questions about project management services; how Conviron approaches it, when the service is most appropriate, risks associated with not having it, and in what ways clients are seeing value from it.
How do you approach project managing plant growth chamber installations?
Many of Conviron's clients rank amongst the largest and most advanced plant science research facilities in the world. Our clients are committed to quality research. They also want to meet stringent timelines, and budgets and enjoy their engagement with us. We aim to exceed expectations in all areas.
The project management experience is unique for each client. It's tailored by region and product and differs in areas such as methodology and communication frequency. The goal is to align the experience with each client's unique needs and goals. That could mean an elevated level of reporting or an additional level of focus in certain areas.
The project management team listens to the client and focuses on what their requirements are. In summary, we want to make things easy for our clients at every stage of the installation process.
Why do some installations require project management services?
There are several reasons why some plant growth chamber installations require a dedicated project management team.
Project management provides a first-class installation experience. There are some clients who seek and require that level of involvement more than others.
Some installations are more complicated and thus they present more opportunities to go over budget or timeline expectations. A dedicated project management team is definitely warranted for large and/or complex installations to keep your project on time and on budget.
Project management is a significant risk reduction and cost avoidance strategy for clients. It ensures that they can hit their timelines and meet researcher expectations for executing their projects, addressing all critical deliverables so clients never have to spend additional financial resources post-installation.
What are the risks when you do not have a project team?
There are a few significant risks associated with larger, more complex installations, and they all have the potential to emerge at some point.
First is the installation schedule. Setting a schedule and sticking to that timeline is always optimal for a successful installation.
Any type of delay will trigger additional budget requirements and typically has a compounding effect that leads to even more costs.
The third is quality. At the end of the day, clients need plant growth chambers and growth rooms that meet their requirements. If they don't, it's going to delay the schedule, increase costs, and potentially delay important research or commercial timelines.
These three areas of risk are all closely knit together. Project management mitigates them in a holistic way, preventing scope creep inside and outside the project. This includes when external factors make an impact, like when a government agency legislates a certain specification or when market conditions change.
Project Managers not only manage the installation and commissioning of the chambers but they take responsibility from the point of sale until handover.
Internal factors can also be more proactively identified and addressed with project management—for example, when research requirements change midway through a project and require a change to the specification, when researchers leave institutions, or when engineering, design, or obsolescence challenges arise.
Every single project requires a certain level of change management, and while clients can handle some smaller changes, larger changes can significantly disrupt installation and require a project manager who can quickly perform a gap analysis and provide guidance on next steps.
Projects rarely go perfectly as planned, but whatever happens, make sure the plant growth chamber manufacturer you work with can manage it and ensure you are satisfied with your installation, overall client experience and results.
How does project management enhance plant growth chamber installation and commissioning?
Installation, by definition, means the plant growth chamber gets installed properly at the client's site. This can happen a few different ways— it can be dropped off and the client installs it themselves, it can be partially installed for the client to complete, or the plant growth chamber installer can handle every part of the installation, including commissioning it for the facility.
When it comes to commissioning—regardless of who installs the plant growth chamber— the project management teams ensure that it performs to client expectations and specifications. That means running through a checklist of chamber and room control factors including temperature, light, humidity, and CO2 (among others) to make sure it's hitting all the performance specifications.
Project managers manage all the important steps to get your chambers up and running - the scope, design, material procurement, manufacturing, logistics, installation, and commissioning.
The team works to resolve any existing gaps until it passes the commissioning phase, and then it moves on to the certificate of acceptance. The client reviews project requirements and then acknowledges in writing that the terms of the agreement have been met.
The Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) is a U.S. Department of Energy-funded Bioenergy Research Center and is a collaboration between the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and 20 partner institutions. The new CABBI greenhouse and plant growth chamber facility represents a significant infrastructure expansion and, with the addition of the new controlled environment rooms, enables the University to lead the way in plant science research.
The benefit of this process is that project management teams and clients are on the same page at every phase of the project. There are no surprises, teams can work in partnership to address challenges and execute a successful plant growth chamber installation.
What are clients saying about project-managed installations?
There's no doubt that clients see the value in project-managing plant growth chamber installations. We know this because we have returning clients who contact us and specifically ask for project managers by name for their new growth chambers or growth room projects.
Even clients with experienced facility development teams have shared with us how much they appreciate projects that were professionally managed and well-executed. Members of the development team for the new CABBI Research Facility at the University of Illinois, for example, Peter Fox, Fox Development Corporation, LLC, shared recently: "We interacted with our project manager on a daily basis. We have been very impressed with his dedication to the on-time installation and commissioning of six growth chambers purchased by the University. His attention to detail, accurate scheduling, and honesty were key to the successful completion of the project."
Source: Conviron
For more information:
Conviron
www.conviron.com