Regionalization of Engineering

International project business is often characterized by the fact that the contracting company is working in many countries. The company's strategic intentions and the often-noticed customer requirement to increase local content are the basis for efficiently sharing different elements of the technical value chain between headquarters and organizations in the country where the plant or facility has to be built. In this paper, we describe a process showing how such regionalization efforts can be effectively executed and managed. The process starts with the definition of regionalization goals and an analysis of the company's specific conditions for regionalization. Various scenarios have to be evaluated in order to decide upon the most favorable one. After detailed planning of the regionalization effort, the first regionalized project(s) may be executed. A possible phase-out concludes regionalization if required. In addition to the process, crucial topics are explained in detail in this paper, such as the evaluation of risks inherent to the regionalization effort, the selection of portfolio elements that could be regionalized and cost / benefit considerations. Experience gained in practical regionalization efforts of a big multi-national company is given in order to illustrate the process and topics chosen and to verify the results.