Model Behavior

Challenging the status quo in difficult environments isn’t for the faint hearted.

In 2020 during the global Covid-19 pandemic, Wood's engineering and design teams in Houston proved they were up to the task when they had to complete critical model reviews remotely for two signature projects for Chevron in the Gulf of Mexico: Anchor, the industry’s first deepwater ultra-high pressure development, and St. Malo Stage 4 (SM4), one of Chevron’s highest producing facilities.

A model review is an important part of the design phase in any major engineering project. The model, once just a drawing or a scaled down plastic replica of the facility, becomes a virtual three-dimensional representation of the facility, inclusive of all major engineering disciplines, such as mechanical, piping, instrumentation, electrical, technical safety, and structural.

Detailed models are used as a central project database for reporting, tracking deliverables and enabling multi-disciplines to share and collaborate. The purpose of the model review is to test the safety, effectiveness and functionality of the design. It is typically scheduled with the client six months to a year in advance of the overall project timeline.

Model reviews take place throughout the project, at various stages of completion. It can be an early indicator of what’s working and what isn’t. The priority is to ensure there are no unforeseen issues in the latter stages of the design that can negatively impact the project’s cost and schedule.

Before 2020 model reviews almost exclusively took place in person due to familiarity, process and the lack of available accommodating technology.

However, external factors (such as Covid-19, and an enhanced global workforce), have created the need for model reviews to be conducted remotely.

Executing this virtually was initially challenging due to stakeholder organization, communication preferences and established structures. However, this necessitated a swift adaptation to a virtual environment, ultimately strengthening project delivery. We optimised the appropriate technology, processes, and responsibilities for execution, enabling us to conduct model reviews with remote and global teams seamlessly.

The entire project was run on Microsoft Teams, ensuring the 150 strong team has shared, real-time and online access to all the data and capability even when operating in a ‘normal’ work environment.

Working from home meant the team had to prove productivity could be maintained, especially with an imminent model review for Anchor.

“Wood delivered detailed design of the Anchor topsides and developed a wet tree, which will use a semi-submersible floating production unit (semi-FPU) hull. The model review requires a lot of horsepower both in terms of people and data. It involves many key stakeholders, including Wood’s discipline experts as well as Chevron’s teams from the Anchor project, operations and quality assurance.”

Jeremy Hall, Wood Project Manager for Chevron Anchor

“I’ve been conducting model reviews for more than 20 years, but this was next level. We had the sudden disruption and potential distraction of COVID-19, but at the end of the day we had to deliver and keep our promise to the client. Our team and Wood’s digital capabilities proved we could overcome latent obstacles, keep to schedule and standards, and make our client proud.”

Jeremy Flessner, Wood SM4 Project Manager  

“Using new technologies as a team has been a game changer for us. Keeping scheduling and meeting milestones is key to our client’s satisfaction, so we have digitally transformed the way we work to respond to unforeseen challenges should they arise.”

Jeremy Hall, Wood Project Manager for Chevron Anchor