Expansion of Market Spurs Firms To Adopt Coherent Global Approach
“There is a general blurring between domestic and international projects,” says Rob Smith, president of energy, chemicals and industrial systems at Englewood, Colo.-based CH2M Hill. Citing New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman’s best-selling book The World is Flat, which points to the flat playing field that is evolving across expanding global industrial markets, Smith says, “The world markets are getting flatter, and it is blurring distinctions” between what is considered global or local.
One example is a chemical plant project in Singapore this year in which CH2M Hill assembled a multi-national team of de signers and engineers, with team members representing disparate regions and cultures from Atlanta to Buenos Aires. “On that project, we had people involved from six continents,” Smith says.