Description

Cost overruns can sink even the best-engineered mega-projects — so what actually separates a reliable cost estimate from a dangerous guess? In this episode of Molecules to Market, hosts Nicolas and Uwe sit down with Ashok Sinha, a cost management and project controls executive with over four decades of experience overseeing capital projects worth more than $3 billion annually across nuclear power, oil and gas, refining, petrochemicals, LNG, mining, and infrastructure.

Ashok shares the moving personal story behind his company, Archit Business Solutions, breaks down the AACE International classes of cost estimates, and explains exactly why projects blow past budget — from undefined scope of work to skipped earned value management. He also walks through his own cost-estimating software built during COVID and now used by a major Canadian utility for real class 4/5 estimates in minutes instead of months.

The conversation closes with a preview of an exciting collaboration: applying Ashok's cost-estimating tools to Portfolio Planning Plus's upcoming model refinery project in India, developed together with previous guest Sanjay Gupta.

Chapters

• 00:00 – Welcome and Introduction
• 01:31 – The Moving Story Behind Archit Business Solutions
• 03:57 – What Is Cost Estimating?
• 06:45 – Why Cost Estimating?
• 11:30 – Global Project vs. Individual Asset Estimates
• 17:25 – AACE International and the Classes of Estimates
• 22:26 – Causes of Cost Escalation
• 30:53 – Over-Estimating vs. Under-Estimating
• 36:29 – Engineering Approaches and the Scope of Work
• 41:41 – Collaboration on the Model Refinery Project
• 43:36 – Project Estimates in Seconds: The Software
• 45:20 – How Much Detail Do You Need? Licensor Data and Accuracy
• 51:45 – Known-Unknowns, Unknown-Unknowns, Budgetary Quotations and Reliability
• 59:47 – Comparison with Other Market Software
• 1:03:17 – Simplicity, Transparency and a Live Demonstration
• 1:07:51 – The Software's Value Proposition: Pain Points vs. Benefits
• 1:16:28 – Closing Remarks and Next Episode on Earn Value Management

Resources

• Ashok Sinha's profile on ppPLUS
• Suggest a guest or topic: media@portfolio-pplus.com
• ppPLUS Refining Module
• ppPLUS Encyclopedia of Proces Technologies:
• Entities and production sites on ppPLUS

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