Improvement of Valtech workflow: a pilot study

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Valtech Fabrication Ltd. (Valtech) has focused on projects related to oil refineries, among others. It provides anumber of products and services, including fabrication of Cyclones, Air Distributors, Riser Lines and othercomplex refractory lined FCC equipment. As Valtech businesses have experienced a significant increase overthe past 15 years, it needs a radical transformation of its organization into one that is better equipped with thecompetencies suitable for the increasing market share. In implementing the transformation in Valtech, it wasfound that a customized solution for workflow management is necessary for the company to meet theopportunities and challenges. As EBD is a methodology that could help Valtech develop and implement aworkflow that is easy to follow for the employees and managers, Valtech will work with Dr. Zeng's team on theimprovement of its workflows, which will involve modeling, testing and optimizing of the workflow. Thisproject aims to solve a critical and urgent problem arisen from the fast growth of Valtech over the past fifteenyears: how to improve the competencies for efficient and effective implementation of growing number ofcontracts. Based on many successful applications of Environment-Based Design (EBD) methodology, whichhas been developed by Dr. Zeng's research team, Valtech planned to extend EBD's application to the workflowimprovement in the operation of its business process. Integrating EBD into the work process will enhance theanalytical abilities and provide greater confidence to Valtech team in identifying design and processopportunities. The present project aims to address the critical problem arisen from the fast growth of thecompany: how to improve the organizational competencies for an efficient and effective business operation.Many Canadian SMEs would share the same problem. EBD represents a possible future avenue to tackle suchissues.