It was mid-May-2014. Mumbai was burning in the unbearable strong summer. Sustainable growth and greener autofuels were the catch phase of the time. One mega project in Mumbai Refinery(MR) was at its peak.
The Director(Refineries)D(R) & ED(MR) was taking a round of the refinery. Suddenly, while going through the diesel producing units, D(R)asked, “Am sure government would bring in BSIV autofuels into the country anytime in near future. Mr. ED, can you take expeditious steps to ensure we are able to produce greener fuel immediately when required?”. Following the same, the project team lead by GM(Projects), commenced the pre-project activity in Jun-2014. The anticipation was so true, Government of India announced the Autofuel policy in Jan-2015 directing that 100% BSIV autofuel are to be supplied across nation.
An interdisciplinary taskforce was formed to find answer to the biggest question, where to fit in such a massive 2.6 MMTPA(million-metric-tons-per-day) DHT in space constrained MR?The taskforce identified a tank farm containing five operating hydrocarbontankscatering as product tanks and intermediate buffer tanks, without which operating units would not be able to carry on day to day operations, as the best fit place. Under normal circumstances no one would take the risk of dismantling the same. But DHT was an exception. In a consensus meeting, joint decision was taken and ED exclaimed, “This is just the beginning. We have to do everything in an exceptional way like this to not only succeed in the project but create an industry benchmark”.
Though DHT projects of similar nature took around 36to44 months from zero-date in other Indian refineries, the BPCL Board gave a stringent target of only 25 months.
DHT project apart from installation of Diesel Hydrotreatment unit, also included installation of utilities & offsite facilities, revamp of existing CDU-3, HGU, SRU, SWS etc. units to support DHT operation.
Back at a project meeting, ED said, “We have to complete in much less than 25 months if we want to make some good extra bottomline”. The project team immediately took on the meticulous task and started microplanning and execution hand in hand.
During the start of the activities, GM asked, “Since the new team hails from multidisciplinary streams, it is important that the team efforts are aligned. How do we do it?”
The planning chief suggested “Sir, let’s go for a Visionary & Leadership Program for BPCL project team & consultant’s representatives and let them come out with a shared vision and team operating principles to be followed throughout the project”.
A two day brainstorming session was organized away from the hustle & bustle of refinery at Lonavala. The team came out with many ideas and plans to execute and ensure adherence to stringent timelines. One of the significant non-technical outcomes was installation of reverse clock in all the team-member’s computer to remind of the residual time available.
With meticulous project management & execution, on bright sunny day of 15-March-2017, the project was mechanically completed in just 19 months i.e. 6 months ahead of schedule. The unit was commissioned on 27-June-2017 as against a target of Dec-2017 i.e. 187 days ahead of schedule thus contributing additional benefit of Rs. 561 crore(3cr/day).
After the closeout, the vendors were felicitated for their support and a book capturing the lessons learnt published for the budding project managers of the organization.
Lessons Learned
- Anticipation of need and timely action decides the fate.
- Quality is everyone’s business.
- Any rework would not only effect cost but also timeline.
- Alignment, enrollment& engagement towards the final goal is of paramount importance.