Time to market vs. Time to delivery. Managing speed in Engineering Procurement and construction projects

Sihem Ben Mahmoud-Jouini (1, 2) , Christophe Midler (1) , Gilles Garel

1 CRG - Centre de recherche en gestion
2 PESOR

The time-to-market in NPD projects is a key factor in the competition between innovative firms. Research on concurrent engineering has shown that time can be managed as well as a delay and as a speed. Our concern in this paper is to study the time factor in the case of Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) projects, where a customer initially contracts for a project from a contractor on the basis of specifications, budget and delay. Is time-to-delivery a key factor? Does its reduction represent a competitive advantage for the client and/or for the contractor in EPC projects? Is project speed a key variable to be managed, or does it result from other project parameters? We first define an analytical model to characterize a speed profile in EPC projects. We implement this model for six major construction projects developed by a large, international firm. A variety of speed profiles result. We conclude by showing the relevance of NPD project speed management in EPC projects.

Mots clés: Project management; Time-to-market; Time-to-delivery; Speed; Engineering; Procurement and Construction; Speed profile; Construction; Concurrent engineering

Domaines: Management des opérations et des systèmes d'information

Sihem Ben Mahmoud-Jouini, Christophe Midler, Gilles Garel. Time to market vs. Time to delivery. Managing speed in Engineering Procurement and construction projects. International Journal of Project Management, 2004, 22 (5), pp.359-367. ⟨10.1016/j.ijproman.2003.10.001⟩. ⟨hal-00657615⟩