What if finishing a billion-dollar project on time and on budget is actually a choice? 📦

Global AWP pioneer Geoff Ryan joins Orion to break down Advanced Work Packaging, data center megaprojects, and the future of construction productivity.

In this episode of The Major Project Podcast, Orion sits down with Geoff Ryan—worldwide authority on Advanced Work Packaging (AWP), founder of Insight-AWP, and author of Even More Schedule for Sale. With decades of experience on oil & gas, industrial, and global mega-projects, Geoff explains how AWP became one of the most powerful productivity drivers in modern construction.

Geoff shares how early research into failing projects in Alberta uncovered a simple truth: foremen who receive complete, constraint-free work packages deliver predictable, high-quality output—and those who don’t, can’t. This insight launched the first “WorkFace Planning” model, eventually evolving (with CII’s backing) into the full AWP framework used worldwide today.

He breaks down the fundamentals of Installation Work Packages (IWPs), the pre-work conditions that make them executable, and why even late-phase projects can still recover significant productivity by implementing packages correctly. Geoff also reveals findings from 70 mega-project audits, showing that improving AWP alignment can increase field productivity by 22%, reducing total project cost by up to 10%—a massive impact on billion-dollar programs.

The conversation then shifts to data centers, where 2,700+ U.S. mega-facilities are expected by 2030. Geoff outlines why this build-out is unlike anything the industry has seen: supply-chain scarcity, engineering agility, shifting cooling technologies, and the urgent need for skilled high-voltage labor. He discusses the PEPSI model (Procurement → Engineering → Planning → Construction → Initiation) and why traditional EPC silos cannot keep up with today’s pace or volatility.

From AI-driven procurement, augmented reality on site, and future regulation to the coming shortage of project managers and electricians, Geoff paints a picture of an industry on the edge of its next great leap—and the role AWP will play in shaping it.

• Why AWP was created and how it evolved from WorkFace Planning
• How Installation Work Packages (IWPs) improve predictability, safety, and productivity
• Why optimizing engineering/procurement in isolation harms construction—and how AWP fixes it
• How AWP audits correlate project alignment to 22% higher tool-time
• Why data centers require a PEPSI (procurement-first) model—not traditional EPC
• The supply-chain, cooling, and talent-shortage risks facing data center megaprojects
• What “construction in heaven” means—and why sequencing must begin with field reality
• How AI, global manufacturing data, and augmented reality will re-shape execution
• Why predictable outcomes are no longer “impossible”—they’re a choice