● Safety Focus – (“Continuous Education and Reinforcement”)

The number one priority is a safe work site that is totally free of occupational injury/illness.  Unsafe working conditions and job practices are inefficient, costly to the workers, their families, the company, and are totally unacceptable.  Safety awareness starts at the top of the project management team and is enforced through the direction of the site superintendent.  DMW will not tolerate unsafe working conditions or unsafe work behaviors and promotes a “safety first” mind-set. 

● Customer Focused Organization – (“Responsibility, Authority, Accountability”)

In a customer focused organization, the question to be asked is “Who is the customer?”  There are internal and external customers to be identified and accommodated.  Through its project management team, DMW is aligned to be customer focused.

● Cost of Non-Conformance – (“Downtime Cost Impact”)

The project management team must have an established mind-set and understanding of the “cost of non-conformance”.  They must understand the cost in dollars to the customer for delayed launch dates and/or production downtime.  The impact to the customer for lost production reflects poorly on the overall capability and reputation of DMW. Ultimately, we are judged on this basis.

● Customer Involvement – (“Commitment to Everyone’s Success”)

The customer has a major obligation to facilitate the project management process.  This is a “Team Approach” where everyone must win.  The customer’s involvement and communication must be constant from the beginning through the end of the project.  If one group fails, everyone fails.


● Engineering and Site Management – (“The project manager owns the Project”)

Engineering is the most critical element for the success of a project.  Engineering mistakes account for the major portion of the “cost of non-conformance”.  The project manager is the customer’s single-point contact and DMW’s decision-maker.  The project manager has the authority; responsibility and accountability for all project decisions and must always be accessible to the customer.

● Qualified Experienced Sub-Contractors – (“Long-term Relationships”)

Sub-contractors are obviously a key element in any project and should be chosen from the company’s approved sub-contractor list.  These sub-contractors must have proven themselves to DMW and qualified over the long-term. They must be committed to continual improvement in all phases of their operation.

● Modular Design and Build – (“Largest Modules Possible”)

Modular design and build options are intended to eliminate field welds and assembly, as much as practical.  Besides reducing the field hours required to complete the project, there is an enhanced quality effect.  The more equipment modules the project manager can have pre-assembled and tested prior to delivery to the job site, the more he can control the quality of the equipment.  The goal is to build and install equipment in large modules or sections.  These modules should be pre-wired and pre-piped where possible and when practical.

● Project Schedules – (“Be Ahead of Schedule”)

The DMW project manager must always plan to be ahead of his schedule.  If you are just on schedule, you are already behind, especially on short downtime/outage projects. 

● M.B.W.A. “Management By Walking Around” – (“Know the Crew – Handle the Details”)

Attention to detail is the winning approach to any project.  DMW project managers must take a micro-management view, especially on short downtime/outage projects.  Get out of the field trailer and walk the site.  Fix the little problems before they become big problems or show up on the customer’s “punch list”.  Project managers must be accessible to everyone on their team.  The accumulation of all the small work assignments and their completion results will identify problems early enough to allow for necessary correction instead of a subsequent “corrective action”.

● Focus on Complex Areas – (“Check and Re-check”)

The DMW project manager must always ask the question, “What are the most critical areas in the project?”  The answer is usually nonstandard special equipment or automation.    These special items are the ones that will generally shut the plant down.  Documented evidence of their inspection and test is mandated.