Robert D. “Danny” Evans Jr. couldn’t help but smile as four lines of self-propelled modular transporters gently backed a new 2,800-ton cracking furnace into position at Chevron Phillips Chemical Co.’s Baytown, Texas, ethylene plant in September 2022. For three years, Evans’ PCL Industrial Construction Co. project team had worked closely with the owner and furnace engineer on a “supermodule” strategy—converting an existing furnace design into four major pre-assemblies and 17 modules that could be assembled offsite then transported approximately one mile to its permanent location adjacent to the plant’s eight existing, operational crackers, for completion and commissioning.

On that long-awaited day, Evans watched with other project team members as the 12-story furnace’s 28 built-in supports lined up perfectly with their pre-set pedestals, allowing workers to drop securing bolts into place freehand.

“It fit like a glove,” says Evans, adding that even with countless hours devoted to double- and triple-checking each element of the supermodule design and heavy lift strategy, “it was amazing at how well it went together.”

Achieving that goal was hardly assured when project planning began in 2019, as modularizing an object as large and complex as a cracking furnace was new to nearly everyone involved, including Evans, whose more than 40 years of industry experience spans a broad range of chemical and petroleum industry projects.

Nevertheless, the team was convinced that overcoming those uncertainties would facilitate a host of potential benefits, including making construction safer, faster and more cost-effective than stick-building a new furnace in place.

Indeed, keeping the project on track amid lingering material and supply chain issues proved to be the biggest challenge after the complex process of assembling and stacking modules began in September 2021.

According to Mitch Krutilek, formerly Chevron Philips chemical general manager for projects execution, the series of repeated hurdles never deterred Evans or the PCL construction team.

“He acted like he was the owner, spending our money like he’d spend his own money” says Krutilek, who has since retired. “When we had an issue, Danny didn’t dwell on the cause. His team found ways to adjust so that the challenges wouldn’t affect the cost or the timeline.”

PCL Construction Manager Evans says of the Baytown Supermodule project, “I’ve never been on a job as good as this one.”
Photo Courtesy PCL Construction

Don Abrahamson, project manager for Netherlands-based furnace designer Technip Energies, adds that Evans’ “calming and methodical approach” was essential for a project that easily could have bogged down at several points.

“He doesn’t get excited; he works through challenges to keep things smooth,” Abrahamson says. He also credits Evans for the supermodule project’s “stellar” safety record of no injuries or recordable incidents over nearly 649,000 work hours.

“All that is from his leadership and management of the jobsite,” Abrahamson adds.

To Evans, the collaborative spirit of the entire project team—from his project partners to the newest trade worker—was the true heart of the Baytown supermodule project, and its resulting success.

“People sometimes can get in the way of a project with their own agendas,” he says. “Here, everybody put theirs aside. The decisions we made were for what was best for the project, not necessarily their own organization’s interests. That’s what made it special.”

Overall, Evans says, “I’ve never been on a job as good as this one.” Still, an opportunity lies ahead for Evans and the PCL team to top themselves, as they are currently using a hybrid of the Baytown modular approach to build seven new crackers at another Chevron Phillips Chemical plant.