Don’t Just Design a Plant — Design a Business

Designing Operations Starts in Study

When major projects enter the study phase, the focus tends to narrow quickly: define the scope, optimise the layout, control the costs, and prepare for investment approval. The plant design becomes the centrepiece of attention. But in the race to define and de-risk the physical asset, one critical layer is often overlooked — the business that will one day have to run, maintain, and continuously improve that asset.

The operational model, the management systems, the digital backbone, and the workforce structure are too often treated as afterthoughts, left to be figured out once construction is well underway. By then, critical decisions have already been locked in, and the cost of change is exponentially higher.

You only get one opportunity to set up a truly modern, agile operation. If you wait until construction starts to define how the business will operate, you've already missed your best chance to influence success. Designing the plant and designing the business must happen together, starting in study.

The Blind Spot in Traditional Studies

Most study teams do a good job of designing physical infrastructure. They understand process flow, geotech, metallurgy, utilities, and logistics. But they rarely stop to ask: How will this plant actually be run? What’s the operating philosophy? What systems will support it? What kind of workforce structure are we aiming for?

Without those answers, decisions get made based on legacy assumptions. We over-engineer instrumentation “just in case,” accept layouts that don’t match how teams will work, and under-specify the data we’ll need to actually run and improve the operation.

This lack of foresight shows up later — in bloated commissioning efforts, chaotic handovers, slower-than-expected ramp-up, and high-cost fixes after startup.

Let the Operating Model Shape the Asset

It doesn’t have to be that way. One of the most powerful shifts a sponsor can make is to flip the sequence: start with the business, then define the asset.

By developing your operating model and operational philosophy during the study phase, you can directly influence the design of:

• Equipment specs that support real-world work routines
• Layouts that match lean operating practices
• Instrumentation and control strategies that support the MOS
• Digital infrastructure aligned to performance management, not just automation
• Turnover deliverables that match operational expectations

This is what we mean by designing the business — and it shapes not just how the plant looks, but how fast and well it performs.

Early Business Design, Exponential Payback

Many owners worry this adds time or complexity to a study. It doesn’t have to. Readiness planning is a focused activity. It involves:

• Documenting the future operating model (not in detail — in principle)
• Setting requirements for the digital asset and system integrations
• Clarifying data, reporting, and commissioning needs
• Aligning org structure and role definitions with design expectations

In practical terms, it helps you write better scopes of work, hold stronger design reviews, and manage the EPCM to outcomes that matter for operations — not just compliance with a spec sheet.

This small investment upfront pays off in better design, leaner capital allocation, improved handover readiness, and a shorter time to full performance. In other words, this is your chance to build the business case into the design — not hope it shows up after.

Culture Is Designed — Or Defaulted

Operational readiness isn’t just about getting systems in place or hiring people late in the game. It’s your one chance to define how the business will operate — and with it, who you are as an organisation.

When you lock in an EPCM, they’ll move fast. If your business design isn’t defined, they’ll make decisions on your behalf — and you’ll be left adapting to them. But when your operational model is set early, you can guide the design to match it. You don’t have to fight the asset after it’s built.

This is your culture-setting moment. Miss it, and your future operation will run on someone else’s assumptions.

Closing Thought

A plant that performs starts with a business that’s planned.