The Business Roundtable (BRT 1982) identified the piping process as being critical to the success of numerous industrial projects. However, research into improving practice has been lagging until only a few years ago CII conducted a detailed investigation (CII 1996, Howell and Ballard 1996, O'Connor and Liao 1996, O'Connor and Goucha 1996). Major causes for problems were found in the engineering development process, specifically in three areas: (1) piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) problems are caused by inefficient sequencing of priotization, inefficient procedures for P&ID development and review, and inefficient communication of P&ID uncertainty; (2) problems in the supplier data process pertain to communication, coordination, and selection duration; and (3) problems in the packaged units process pertain to supplier quality and design. Whereas O'Connor et al. developed policies, procedures, and checklists to enhance the overall efficiency of these processes, Howell and Ballard studied the impact of uncertainty on downstream performance.