BtC12: “We’ll Fix It in Detail Engineering” | With Rob Clark
In this episode of Beyond the CapEx, Cristian Gonzalez sits down with Rob Clark, a veteran project leader with 40+ years of experience delivering multi-billion-dollar capital projects across refining, petrochemicals, power, and emerging technologies.
They break down what actually drives project success in real-world industrial environments—and why so many capital projects fail despite strong technical execution.
This conversation dives deep into FEL/FEED, project leadership, risk management, stakeholder alignment, and EPC execution, with practical insights drawn from decades of global project experience.
Rob shares why communication—not technical complexity—is often the biggest failure point, especially in global teams and low-cost engineering environments. He also explains how misalignment between business, procurement, and project teams creates hidden risks that surface later as cost overruns and schedule delays.
Cristian and Rob explore:
- What a high-quality FEL/FEED package really looks like (and why overengineering is a problem)
- The dangerous habit of saying “we’ll fix it in detailed engineering”
- How to use tools like PDRI to assess true project readiness
- Why risk registers alone don’t manage risk—and what actually does
- The impact of misaligned KPIs and incentives across teams
- Owner vs contractor dynamics and where projects typically break down
- Global execution challenges, including cultural differences and engineering coordination
- The realities of emerging technologies where design continues evolving during execution
This is a dense, high-value episode packed with real examples, hard-earned lessons, and practical frameworks for anyone involved in industrial projects.
👉 If you work in high stakes complex projects, FEL/FEED, EPC, engineering, manufacturing, project management or operations, this episode will help you identify early warning signs, improve alignment, and make better decisions before cost and schedule are at risk.
This is one worth listening to all the way through.
Guest: Rob Clark
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-clark-pe/
Email: clarkrobertw98@gmail.com
⏱️ Chapters
00:46 – Introduction and Rob Clark’s global project experience
02:38 – Why communication is the #1 recurring lesson in projects
07:58 – Global execution challenges and concurrent FEED strategies
11:07 – What “good” FEL/FEED actually looks like in practice
12:51 – When projects think they’re ready (but aren’t)
15:24 – Go slow to go fast: stage gates and readiness
18:06 – Business vs project misalignment and incentive conflicts
22:52 – Owner vs contractor dynamics and alignment gaps
27:42 – Risk management vs risk documentation
31:41 – Procurement risks and managing the uncontrollable
35:30 – Global project realities and cultural differences
37:38 – Emerging technologies and evolving design challenges
42:10 – Leadership under pressure in megaprojects
43:52 – What makes an effective project leader
45:41 – Wrap-up and key takeaways
📩 Contact
Questions or topics you’d like us to cover?
Email podcast@bpmpsolutions.com
🌐 www.beyondthecapex.com
🌐 www.bpmpsolutions.com
More than 40 years’ experience in project management as owner or contractor, in diversified international and regional project management, engineering and construction, with project sizes exceeding 10 billion dollars.
His most recent project manufactured a bio product “Air-Carbon” using microorganisms found in the ocean to convert air and greenhouse gas (CO2e) into a natural biomaterial that has the characteristics of plastic, with the advantage of being biodegradable into constituents that benefit the environment.
Rob was VP-Project Director on a 12 billion dollar project awarded the Hydrocarbon Processing Petrochemical Project of the Year.
Rob’s projects have always been onshore, downstream, in the areas of refining, petrochemicals, power, and environmental, with projects executed in Europe, Asia, North and South America, many of which required relocation. (Aruba, Puerto Rico, France, Japan, Taiwan and Malaysia-twice).
He has presented at conferences in Asia and the U.S. on EPC topics such as Front- End Engineering Design (FEED), Risk, Ethane and Ethylene, Site Selection and Construction Labor. He was a contributor for the Construction Industry Institute Research Team for Modularization.
Rob and his wife of 40 years have called Texas their home off and on since 1980, always moving back to Texas upon completion of their expat project assignments. They have one son, Matthew who is working in the IT industry in Texas. We enjoy the Astros, fishing, travel, hiking, biking, and volunteering in the local community