As a recent global trend, the majority of mega-size plant projects are delivered through EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contracts, where a single contract is awarded for engineering, procurement, and construction. Under this contracting mechanism, it is challenging for contractors to carry out the projects under traditional project management processes used in design-bid-build projects. A new EPC Plant, the POSCO Special Steel Plant in Changwon, was built successfully at the beginning of 2012 and it is currently in full-scale production. The project has encountered a number of major difficulties however, with some technical and managerial issues through its development process. As summarized in this paper, the authors (as project participants with the contractor) investigated it as a post construction analysis and recorded the Lessons-learned for future project management improvement.
This study was sponsored by the research & educational funds arranged by the Korean Ministry of Knowledge and Economy. We would like to acknowledge appreciation to the POSCO and POSCO E&C project team for the assistance in collection the materials. The information used in this case study project and the processes and conclusions are not necessarily POSCO or POSCO E&C's ones, as they are based on the authors' own view and judgment.