The second pilot is treading in less familiar territory. The company is employing AWP on a program that will renovate 54 floors of DTE office space in four buildings on its Detroit campus as well as numerous service centers and powerplant offices. As a new application of AWP, Stasek acknowledges it is more of a struggle. "We are working with contractors that do office renovations for a living," he says. "This is new to them. What kind of work packaging do they need? We are trying to work through that." DTE says that, since its office spaces aren't as complicated as its powerplant projects, it is applying AWP more selectively. "We're not using the whole model. We're taking the portions of it that we can do, and we will add portions as we go." he says. Ultimately, the company plans to develop a scalable AWP model that can work on large and small projects. "We can still follow the AWP model—we just need to consider how detailed and how complex … we need to make it," he adds.

Ted Blackmon, CEO of Construct-X, Houston, a consultant specializing in AWP services, says he also sees potential for AWP in other project types, especially complex projects such as hospitals, airports and other infrastructure. Under current practice in the traditional AEC world, however, he says that would be a challenge today. "Right now, there is too much disconnect between the schedule, the engineering models, the early architect model and the detail modeling conducted by subs and fabricators," he says. "On most [non-industrial] projects, general contractors are just barely dabbling in materials management. Once you can connect those in an electronic fashion and then tie that into detailed plans, it can happen. It may be five to 10 years before it proliferates the AEC world."

Innovations in planning software tools have enabled deeper implementation of the AWP model. CII notes that AWP can be done without software tools. However, using such digital tools can save significant time and allow for greater connectivity between various disciplines on a project. Robin Mikaelsson, a former workface planner and current construction consultant with Bentley Systems, estimates that manual planning averages eight to 12 work hours per package to complete; by comparison, Bentley statistics suggest that package planning can take one to three hours per package using software (see box, p. 37). "When you consider that some projects can have 15,000 packages, that's a tremendous time savings," he adds.

Still, technology can represent a barrier for some users. Mikaelsson says one of the biggest issues he sees with implementing AWP is resistance from people who do not want to use the technology. "Some superintendents fight the technology aspect," he says. "They want to be able to put it on a notepad in their pocket."

That is one of the reasons why CII recommends using a dedicated workface planner. This individual facilitates collaboration among departments and supporting field staff, such as a superintendent or foreman. O'Brien says the workface planner should be a contractor staff member who carries out the detailed planning for installation work packages. "It needs to be someone with field experience," he says. "If they don't have that knowledge, they will have zero credibility."

Adding a workface planner will free up foremen and superintendents to spend more time in the field. "We already have workforce issues and concerns about the skill levels of new craft," O'Brien says. "This increases the ability for senior people to supervise in the field."

Morrow says S&B has built a staff of planners, allowing the company to keep those skills in-house. "As these tool sets get more sophisticated, there's a big learning curve," he says. "We want a core group of craft planners on staff who can maintain that continuity from job to job." With some owners now expecting AWP on jobs, that could force the needed cultural change. "We see a number of clients where there is a full expectation that this will be implemented, and they want assurances in the [team's] capabilities to do this," Morrow says.

Stasek counts DTE among those owners. He says the company plans to consider a firm's proficiency in advanced-work packaging when reviewing bids. "As an organization, we are committed to this," he says.