Page 85 - Impiantistica Italiana

Speciale “ICT per l’impiantistica”

aveva

Solutions that reduce handover requirements
on Canadian potash mine

K+S Potash Canada is an international resources nance activities using trusted, live-action data at
company that has been mining and processing any time throughout the project, without interrupt-
mineral raw materials for 125 years. Working ing the EPC teams to provide such updates.
with major EPC firm, Amec Foster Wheeler (now Without this shared platform, the Owner Opera-
Wood), it is now bringing that experience and tor’s on-site teams would have limited trust, un-
worldclass expertise to the Legacy Project potash derstanding and appreciation of the project mile-
mine and production facility (now known as Be- stones and completions. They would also have to
thune mine). Located near Moose Jaw, this is the work without the benefit of accurate 3D models,
first greenfield potash mine built in Saskatchewan increasing the likelihood of late project changes
in nearly 40 years. and rework.
The project, which is valued at more than € 3.1 bil-
lion, uses a process called Solution Mining, where Meeting the challenges with AVEVA solutions
in situ bore holes deliver water to dissolve minerals, Orlando Amaral joined K+S Potash as Engineer-
making up a solution called brine, which is then ex- ing Systems Administrator for the Legacy Project
tracted and processed at the nearby plant. in the early stages of the project handover. Upon
starting with the company, his first task was to
The problems of size and scale establish a satellite connection to the site using
The completion of the project required a very large a shared platform to give the K+S project teams
workforce. At one point, 11 different EPC firms access to global servers and networks, allowing
from around the world worked simultaneously on communication with the global EPC teams.
the engineering, design and development aspects To enable the transfer of data across all parties
of the construction of the Legacy Project mine. working on the project, K+S implemented AVEVA
These stakeholders quickly built up a vast quanti- NET to compile all the data into one common for-
ty of documents and data, including P&IDs, engi- mat, using the ISO 15926 standard, and provided
neering datasheets and electrical, instrumentation a single source of access to data using a distrib-
and piping data. uted infrastructure.
AVEVA Engage was also implemented on site to
Bringing the information together allow operations and modifications teams visual
It would have presented a major challenge to use access to the asset digitally via a simple, intuitive,
a standard handover approach to provide consi- touch-driven interface. The teams mastered this
stent data from the design houses at the EPC to very quickly, with minimum training, and it is still
the construction site itself, and then pass on this being used to manage day-to-day modifications
data accurately to the operating teams. and maintenance.
This workflow, enabled by AVEVA solutions, al-
The importance of a smooth handover from lowed K+S to achieve their desire for a common
EPC to owner operator platform; it provided ungated access to all project
Due to the global, segmented project team, K+S data as required, and fostered transparency be-
determined that a successful project handover tween K+S and their many EPCs. Regular access
would require constant sharing of information reduced the handover process to a minimum, as
across a common platform amongst all project K+S had already been reviewing the data through-
teams and disciplines within the teams, allowing out the project.
the company continuous visibility throughout the
project. This project execution strategy would al- Supporting the change-management pro-
low the owner to oversee the ongoing construction cess in operations
progress and to plan for the subsequent mainte- Following the final handover from the project

Impiantistica Italiana - Marzo-Aprile 2018 81 81