Downtime costs twice as much during winter

Complex preparatory work

Jernbro won the turnkey contract to replace the superheater in the procurement process.

“Time was an important factor in the contract, because we knew which weeks in May were possible – the replacement should occur at the same time as we had our normal auditing stop. And then it was important that the supplier could handle the complex preparatory work and be one hundred per cent ready when the time came. The new equipment had to meet all standards and requirements, so the manufacturing part was critical,” says Niklas Jakobsson.

Another aspect that was important to him was communication. He wanted to be informed of any deviations from the schedule and to be able to align with other contractors Umeå Energi was using during the same period.

“Jernbro managed it very well. For example, we had one situation when we risked delay and then they added extra resources and increased the pace until it was resolved.”

Another part of the assignment was to take care of all official controls required under the Pressure Vessels Ordinance, which controls everything from permit to execution.

“Good material can be totally worthless in practice if we don’t have the documentation needed. Another control element was connected with the working environment,” says Niklas Jakobsson.

“We have very high demands on the working environment at Umeå Energi. So in the bigger jobs, we do inspection rounds ourselves, but the Swedish Work Environment Authority is also here regularly on inspection.”

IMPRESSED BY THE WORK

Jernbro won a further procurement contract with Umeå Energi. This time it concerned the replacement of two other parts on the superheater and changing parts of a panel wall in the furnace.

For this assignment Jernbro got considerably less time than normal for preparatory work as Umeå Energi was forced to reschedule the work when their audit supplier went into bankruptcy.

“I am impressed by how Jernbro has handled the work so far. We signed the contract in June and the audit will take place in September.”

He adds that it was never an option to have the audit later as they then start to come into the energy-intensive period of the year – quite simply because it gets colder.

“In general, we are extremely keen to reduce the number of unplanned shutdowns in winter. It has a lot to do with economy. One day of downtime in Dåva 1 costs us twice as much during the winter as it does during the summer – and we are talking big money,” says Niklas Jakobsson emphatically.