How EPCs can navigate market volatility
Posted: July 22, 2025
A new era of market volatility
It is no trade secret that the world of industry is going through a period of profound uncertainty. Increased prices, and increased price uncertainty as tariffs are implemented, are roiling industry. For organizations across the world, the introduction of tariffs threatens to introduce new volatility to their supply chains and impact their CapEx, which has already been rising exponentially. And yet, while these new market conditions can present real challenges, these choppy waters present an opportunity to create separation from the competition in an industry where 92% of capital projects are delayed or over budget.[1] By recommitting to efficiency, engineering, procurement, and construction contractors (EPCs) can maintain their profitability and not only successfully navigate the turbid waters of the present but also ensure smooth sailing into the oceans of the future.
The burning question: How to stay profitable at low margins?
With EPCs already working with very low margins of profitability—typically 3.5-5%—the increased costs caused by the tariffs threaten not only to reduce profits but also to lead EPC clients to withdraw from projects altogether. Combining this with a more volatile situation for EPCs since Covid, contractors face more supply chain uncertainty and supply disruption than prior to the pandemic.[2] From this perspective, the outlook for EPCs looks bleak indeed.
Yet, such a portrayal of the situation confronting EPCs fails to consider the power that EPCs have to reshape themselves to take on this challenge—and, simultaneously, proactively prepare themselves for the future. To survive and even thrive in this situation, EPCs need to focus on increased efficiency and reducing cost in areas under their control. By rededicating themselves to new efficiency through digital expansion, improved partner integration, and increased visibility, EPCs can reap their share of the $1.6 trillion of value that needs only productivity improvements to unlock and assure themselves and their clients of the golden rule: on schedule, on budget, on quality.[3]
Digital expansion: Boost EPC efficiency
It might sound counterintuitive to suggest investment during a time of rising prices. And it certainly can be expensive and time consuming to turn to new methods. However, with SaaS and cloud options reducing upfront cost, organizations are discovering that there is lots of flexibility in expanding and developing projects through incremental changes—lowering a project’s risk and not requiring too much in the way of initial outlay. In other words: the right kind of investment can result in immediate dividends. By choosing SaaS and cloud options, EPCs can benefit from the synergy of tools and data building on each other. Consider the case of Vista Projects, a Canadian engineering firm that was working for a major Canadian oil and gas firm when it decided that it needed to shift to a more integrated solution to adequately deliver its commission: the FEED for a greenfield, steam-assisted gravity drainage facility. Adopting AVEVA™ Unified Engineering, Vista Projects was able to move from manual entry and paper accounts to digital spreadsheets, reducing engineering hours by 10-15%. This new efficiency also resulted in increased cost savings. With AVEVA Unified Engineering deploying from the cloud, Visa Projects had no need for additional onsite servers and IT infrastructure. It was able to implement the solution right out of the box and improve its workflows with minimal investment and delay. Ultimately, by minimizing handovers with its new digital protocol, Vista Projects was able to deliver its commission at 16% below projections.
Reduce cost through improved integration with partners
Cloud technology isn’t only useful for accelerating digital expansion. It’s also a boon for companies seeking to elevate communication across the globe and thereby reduce costs. When organizations integrate new technologies to streamline collaboration, they accelerate the delivery of commissions—reducing cost and increasing efficiency. While only 7% of organizations employ new technologies to improve the integration of their partners, the rewards for doing so are huge: a 30% higher probability of delivering on time and on budget in brownfield and greenfield projects.[4]
Oceana Shipyard, an EPC firm specializing in the production of AHTS, PSV and offshore supply vessels, is one company that has experienced great benefits since it streamlined its information system. Since deploying AVEVA™ Enterprise Resource Management, which enables blockchain-based collaboration, Oceana has enabled increased access to information for its stakeholders across its assets’ lifecycles and ensured status reports across the company arrive in time to update plans. Requiring only seven weeks to launch, this cloud-based solution has empowered Oceana Shipyard’s global network to seamlessly collaborate and ensure on-time deliveries, reducing both material waste and work hours.
With better communication across the enterprise, companies can improve their efficient delegation of workshare—and produce better outcomes for their stakeholders. When there is real-time collaboration, organizations can deliver projects faster and at reduced costs. Take Wood, the global EPC company, which turned to the cloud to improve its teams’ collaboration. Since combining AVEVA Unified Engineering with CONNECT and AVEVA Enterprise Resource Management, Wood has dramatically increased its efficiency. Indeed, when companies streamline communication, they can also enable the efficient packaging of multisite and modular projects, setting themselves up to benefit from the significantly lower cost of business in India, Mexico, or the Philippines. Even in the midst of price volatility, companies can achieve new efficiencies by improving their communication technologies and protocols.
Optimize workflows with increased visibility
Many factors in business are beyond any single company’s control. There is certainly no way a company can preemptively prevent price volatility. However, with a digital twin and integrated environment on the cloud, EPCs can track and model every step of their workflows—allowing them to proactively respond to fluctuations in price and availability. Using digital technology to enable increased visibility, EPCs can have a clearer vision for optimizing their workflow. As Accenture notes, the capacity to “remotely visualize construction sites” raises a company’s chances to be a top performer by 42%, delivering projects on time and on budget.[5]
One firm optimizing its processes through improved visibility is Promon Engenharia. The Brazilian EPC, which specializes in energy sector projects, has embraced digital twins and an integrated cloud platform to give its teams better insight into and oversight of its commissions. Combining AVEVA Unified Engineering with AVEVA™ Process Simulation, Promon Engenharia has offered new visibility for its clients, who are able to engage the digital twin technology during the project phase, and for its engineers, who are able to validate FEED designs and revalidate them at any period. With these two solutions enabling new workflow flexibility with its clearly legible information, Promon Engenharia has saved 15% of its engineering hours during design and simulation and accelerated its project implementation by 60%.
With the increased visibility that digital twin technology provides, engineers across disciplines are not only able to collaborate through the cloud but also implement changes on the ground faster than before. This visibility enables engineers to minimize rework, develop accurate project costs and schedule estimates, and track project changes and versioning easier than ever before. With the ability to collaborate on 1D, 2D, and 3D engineering all in a centralized and readily accessible cloud environment, teams can follow the digital thread across each step of the process to the commission’s delivery and assure maximum efficiency.
The increased visibility provided by digital twins also means that companies can optimize their material management. Saipem, one of the world’s largest EPCs, has achieved complete end-to-end material visibility with AVEVA Enterprise Resource Management. With this improved knowledge and information about its materials, the company has empowered its teams to continue to refine its best practices and decision-making across the globe.
New efficiency to handle the volatility
This new price volatility doesn’t mean that EPCs have to resign themselves to unpredictability in their operations. With the right solutions, EPCs can ensure efficient management of their information, improved collaboration among partners, and optimize their workflows to be able to proactively respond to changes in supply and demand. This moment might be challenging, but it is also the right time to reflect on and revise business strategy. The solution for the present uncertainty and complexity shouldn’t sacrifice the future—rather it should prioritize it.
A data-driven future isn’t a luxury, but rather a necessity. Embrace a strategy of digital evolution and take a step down the road toward increased resilience and sustained excellence.
[1] “Digital transformation of capital projects,” Accenture. https://www.accenture.com/gb-en/services/industry-x-0/capital-projects
[2] “Resilient pricing for an uncertain world,” Boston Consulting Group, May 17 2023. https://www.bcg.com/publications/2023/resilient-pricing-for-uncertain-world
[3] “Reinventing construction through a productivity revolution”, McKinsey & Company, 2017,
[4] “Blueprint for success: How top performers consistently deliver on their commitments for infrastructure and capital projects,” Accenture. 2025. https://www.accenture.com/content/dam/accenture/final/accenture-com/document-3/Accenture-Blueprint-for-Success-FINAL.pdf#zoom=40
[5] “Blueprint for success: How top performers consistently deliver on their commitments for infrastructure and capital projects,” Accenture. 2025. https://www.accenture.com/content/dam/accenture/final/accenture-com/document-3/Accenture-Blueprint-for-Success-FINAL.pdf#zoom=40
