“WE wish to place on record our immense satisfaction that the R/R package, Maintenance & Inspection job has been completed by MRU team as planned.”
“My sincere appreciation for the excellent job done by L&T MRU team towards the successful completion of critical HMEL Refinery turnaround event”, wrote Mr Prabh Das, MD & CEO, HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL), Bhatinda.
The excerpts from the appreciation letter by a satisfied customer says it all. Customer delight is the focused aim of the Modification, Revamp & Upgrade (MRU) team of L&T Heavy Engineering.
The HMEL Turn Around project is a turnaround in more ways than one – it resulted in a major change of the customer’s perception of L&T’s MRU prowess. Initially, HMEL did not include L&T as one of the bidders for its Coke Drum revamp, but the consistent efforts of MRU’s marketing and execution teams convinced them of L&T’s capability, and the orders were awarded to L&T, beating other players.
L&T concluded this revamp (one of the four revamps it took up) much ahead of schedule, despite the substantial increase of scope. The MRU team also carried out revamps of Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU), sour water stripper and waste heat boiler. The team took up the contractual challenge to reduce the duration of the FCCU revamp by 20% from the contractual duration of about 25 days.
Meticulous planning and engineering, backed up by focused automation and digitalisation with mock-ups / trials, culminated in first-rate execution and led to the eventual success with several milestones, including fabrication and dispatch at the height of the pandemic.
HIGHLIGHTS
Conquering challenges ups the satisfaction quotient of any project. The MRU team overcame several obstacles on its way to executing this project.
Over 1,250 skilled workers were mobilised, after being tested for COVID-19. Despite the extremely cold weather (1o C to 20o C), the project continued to progress satisfactorily. The health and morale of the workers was maintained, which played a major role in project completion.
Several challenges arose unexpectedly during execution, and all were overcome, without compromising on deliverables and quality. The unplanned addition of 40% to the scope of the project was executed within the same time frame – and with limited resources. Advanced Finite Element Analysis and engineering capabilities developed in-house, backed up the execution work.
EXPERIENCE – THE BEST TEACHER
Each project is a learning experience. In terms of knowledge-gathering, the MRU team benefitted greatly from this project. They learnt – pre-planning and resource management ensures that targets are met.
Taking care of the team enables it to take care of the project. Challenging times are the real opportunities, and, if taken in right spirit, gives teams the chance to improve relationships, enhance performance and augment trust – which ultimately results in boosting customer relationships.
