Press Releases

In the early 1900s, when it took 100 men and several dozen mules to move a load of pipe, the distribution of energy across the west was a slow moving process. No one toiling across the prairies and plains or through rugged Indian territory could have imagined the technology and speed of this industry as we approach the year 2000.

Today, high tech instrumentation, cross-country pipelines, and quick project execution are the norm. And with the dawn of the new century, the deregulation of our nation's energy industries is increasing the complexity of an already complex business.

In spite of the tremendous rate of change in our industry, one thing remains the same: for oil, gas, fossil fuels, and electricity, this energy must still move from Point A to Point B. If the energy doesn't move, our world doesn't move forward.

With deregulation, there are more players in the game than ever before - many competing projects, with abbreviated timelines. This fierce competition has risen from the necessity of moving energy quickly.

Looking at this situation, we have to ask what we can do to keep pace. In an industry as volatile as ours, the companies that thrive will be those that can adapt to a new era of teamwork, revising their thinking and re-deploying their assets to conform with the new demands of the market. That's what we've done at Trigon.

To prepare for the future, we've dissected the traditional approach to managing projects, in order to eliminate the engineer/contractor problems that tend to occur in the traditional bidding scenario. Our goal was to develop a method for ensuring faster project execution and more cost-effective services for our clients.

In the traditional bidding process, the customer, engineer, and contractor are at different points on the profit incentive spectrum. Contractors and engineers make more money by spending more time. Customers don't start generating revenue until the project is done. And the management of risk is rarely discussed.

To address these issues (and many others), we developed a concept we call the Alliance for Success?. It's an approach to projects that offers a significant opportunity for improving execution and quality, quickening completion, and lowering installed costs of capital projects throughout the energy industry.

The Alliance for Success? requires a lot of trust and teamwork, but we believe it's a better approach to working within the changing rules of our game. Here's how it works:

The project owner selects an engineering consultant and a construction contractor (or a company like Trigon that does both engineering and construction). A project team is formed, and that project team includes all players from the beginning - the customer, the engineering company, and the contractor, as well as major vendors and other participants. The team forms early in the project. They jointly scope, dissect, review and refine the schedules, estimates, costs, and risks associated with the project.

The team analyzes the risks in the project to determine which ones require additional attention, to avoid derailing the schedule or adversely affecting the budget. Everyone is on the same page. Everyone is working toward a common goal.

This cohesive team works together, manages risk together, and succeeds or fails together, based on the success of the overall project. Profits for the engineering company and the contractor, and savings for the customer, are all based on the overall project success.

The result of a project approached in this manner is that the goals and objectives of the contractors are in alignment with the project owner's goals and objectives. Problems are resolved earlier. Communication is greatly enhanced. Projects are completed with high velocity utilizing a team approach. At Trigon we are approaching many projects in this way and are already proving its success.

One recent example was a project with a major gas transmission company in the western United States. We provided the engineering and procurement services necessary to modify nine compressor stations in three states during a two-day turn-around. The entire team -- engineer, customer, and contractor -- worked together to make this happen. The project went smoothly and the engineer and contractor made larger profit margins, while saving the customer $500,000 on a $6,000,000 project.

It is true that those on the cutting edge of technology have the competitive edge in this industry, but all companies must work faster and smarter, with better overall coordination. The Alliance for Success? provides a framework for team coordination, and for making projects happen with great speed, low cost, and high quality.

As we move into the new millenium, project size is increasing. Energy companies are merging, and customers have increasing and combined needs in all aspects of the industry. Those who are fastest at placing capital projects in service, with the lowest installed cost, will determine the key players of the next century.

It's certainly an exciting time in our industry. Change can be hard in an environment traditionally known as slow-moving. But no one can argue that today the pace of business has been accelerated, requiring new ways of approaching business and new paths for success. Trigon is creating these new paths, using flexible, experienced teams, to create cost-effective, high quality, extremely fast project results. We can move energy - fast!