(63c) The Challenge of Skilled Labor on Chemical Mega-Projects

Know a good welder?  How about productive electrician?  So much work has become available in the chemical industry coupled with the long dry spell of investment in the chemical infrastructure of the United States that many open skilled labor positions go begging for candidates.  Trade schools are not as productive as once they were, and the years of experience is embedded in a few older skilled laborers that have made it thought the slower periods of the past 20 years by being deeply embedded in the crews of the work that was available.   Developing skilled labor for chemical plants is challenging because the investment that must be made may never pan out as the market forces that drive the variability in the project loads do not account for the ability of the labor pools to carry the various trades between jobs.  Many times projects are dependent upon a few experienced skilled individuals that leverage themselves to support the new labor pool members that show dedication and propensity to develop the skills needed to become proficient at some of the more difficult skills needed on chemical projects.  Mitigating the pipefitter shortage is the use of easier to join materials or the increased use of prefabricated spools versus the traditional stick build in the field approach.  The balance of pressure of being able to complete a job with the flexibility needed due to fast paced market conditions versus the previous simplicity of an on stream strategic system build. Attracting and retaining the skilled labor pool can be facilitated by offering non-traditional schedules to travelers who are always a part of various mega-project efforts.  Man camps have been replaced by the overrun of various local hotels, or the crowding in at the local trailer parks the various 5^th wheels that make up housing for the crew.  It is not uncommon to have a project win out preference over another by the opportunity for hours worked to be increased.  The bane of a project management team is the lower productivity of the crew during difficult environmental conditions or when the balance between optimum productivity and overwork for the desire of being on the clock and racking up the hours allows fatigue to set in and effect the productivity of the crew.  Men, materials and machines, maintaining the optimum balance is the key to a mega project construction execution and many of the current even big name companies are lacking in people experienced in leading the scale of projects on the drawing boards thanks to the resurgence of the American chemical industry.