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The Cost of Quality – A Solar IE’s perspective
There’s a well-known business principle called the “Cost of Quality.†It illustrates a simple yet powerful idea: the closer a project gets to completion, the more expensive it becomes to fix quality issues. This concept is especially relevant in industries like solar energy, where design and construction phases must carefully balance time, cost, and quality.
Quality isn’t just about the end result—it’s also about how much time and money you’re willing to invest. In project management, this is often referred to as the “triple constraint†represented by the classic triangle of Time, Cost, and Quality. The idea is that you can optimize two of these elements, but you’ll have to compromise on the third.
In the solar industry, every project goes through a design and construction cycle that requires careful balancing of these three factors. As an Independent Engineer (IE), we always aim to maintain high-quality standards. However, when we review a project too late in its lifecycle, we often find that quality has already been compromised due to time or budget constraints.
The problem with conducting an IE review late in the project is that it limits your ability to make meaningful changes without causing further delays or increasing costs. Developers typically bring in engineers near the end of the project to satisfy owners or lenders, who want to de-risk the project and ensure quality. But by this point, many decisions are already set in stone:
- Design is complete
- Materials have been procured and installed
- Labor has already been spent
- Performance guarantees are locked into contracts
At this stage, correcting a quality issue means either extending the timeline or spending more money—both of which are costly and difficult to justify.
Let’s take a real-world example: a miscalculation in string length during a solar installation. Depending on when the error is discovered, the impact on time and cost varies significantly:
1. **Design Phase**: If the mistake is caught early, it can be fixed by adjusting the design and racking table. There’s minimal impact on time and cost.
2. **Procurement Phase**: If equipment has already been ordered, changing the string length may require reordering parts or redesigning the system, leading to increased costs or delays.
3. **Installation Phase**: Once the system is built, fixing the issue could mean tearing out and reinstalling conductors, adding extra time and cost. It might even lead to suboptimal configurations that complicate future operations and maintenance.
The earlier an independent engineering review is conducted, the more value it brings. Early reviews allow for quick fixes with little disruption, while late reviews often become a "check-the-box" exercise with limited impact. When problems are found too late, stakeholders are left frustrated, and the cost to correct them is at its highest.
Some might argue that the EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) company should bear the cost of fixing errors. While this may be true in some cases, all parties involved still face additional overhead—extra meetings, delays, and conflicts over change orders. EPCs may also resist certain IE recommendations if they perceive them as too costly or disruptive.
In conclusion, involving an Independent Engineer early in the project lifecycle adds significant value. It allows for proactive problem-solving, minimizes the cost of quality, and ensures that the final product meets the intended standards. If you're going to invest in an IE, make sure to involve them from the start—not as a last-minute check, but as a strategic partner in delivering a successful and high-quality project.