PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The AP60 Phase I aluminum smelter facility upgrade, a joint venture of Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA), SNC-Lavalin, and Hatch, has been honored by Project Management Institute (PMI) as the winner of the profession’s highest accolade—the 2014 PMI Project of the Year Award.
When RTA, based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, learned its research team had developed new aluminum smelting technology that promised to deliver 40 percent more product at lower costs—and with fewer emissions—than any smelter currently on the market, it knew this process would revolutionize the industry. But first it needed to prove the technology would work. The opportunity to act appeared in 2007, when an RTA smelting facility in Jonquière, Quebec, Canada, was reaching the end of its life and had to be replaced. Since a capital investment would need to be made, the company decided the time was right to roll out its AP60 smelting technology in the new plant. When completed, the AP60 Phase 1 project would provide a template for the company’s future plant projects and showcase the technology to potential customers.
“PMI congratulates the RTA/SNC-Lavalin/Hatch team on this well-deserved honor,” said PMI President and CEO Mark A. Langley. “In overcoming numerous roadblocks to achieve a successful launch of the very ambitious AP60 project, these professionals have exemplified project excellence and teamwork to illustrate, on an industrial scale, how projects are the true engines of innovation.”
The CA$1.3 billion project included construction of 38 smelting pots with an aluminum production capacity of 60,000 tonnes per year, an immense electrical substation and a gas treatment center. Introducing the new technology as part of a project of this scale required careful planning. The team relied on detailed preliminary studies to develop every aspect of its project plan, including how it would transfer information from RTA’s R&D lab in France to the Canadian office, and how it could most efficiently build the components. During its initial research, the team identified six aluminum smelter reference projects, analyzed the applicable lessons learned and incorporated those lessons into the AP60 project plan. The team also interviewed the people who had worked on the reference projects to better understand risks and avoid setbacks.
From the onset, the team was faced with the daunting challenge of integrating and maintaining communication with more than 100 equipment suppliers and 50 installation contractors working on-site at the same time. To address this, project leaders encouraged a collaborative working environment, outlining clear roles and responsibilities and seeking opportunities to improve the flow of information among teams. One way the project team facilitated such open communication was by co-locating the technology and engineering teams that needed to work together to scale up the technology to the industrial level.
As with any industrial construction project, worker safety was a top priority during the implementation of AP60. Due to its immense scope and its use of new, untested technologies, the project posed unique risks to contractors on the job site. By putting safety top of mind, the project team was able to achieve a lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) of .27, which means only one worker per hundred was injured every four years on the project. This safety record represented a 99 percent reduction of the construction industry average in Quebec.
The project’s timing posed an additional hurdle, as construction was underway while an unpopular labor reform law was being implemented across Quebec. To stay on good terms with all stakeholders, the team employed a full-time labor relations expert early in the project and established a steering committee designed to respond quickly to labor-related concerns.
The team’s unity and commitment to the project helped it survive the global economic downturn, which coincided with the project’s planning phase in 2009. Project leaders recognized that personnel changes could seriously impair the schedule and quality of work by disrupting the project’s continuity. So when leaders learned the project would have to reduce spending for an extended period of time, the team instead found ways to reduce the project’s overall cost and improve its business case. The CA$280 million in potential cost reductions the team identified kept the project off the chopping block.
As a final hurdle, RTA requested a CA$75 million scope change in July 2011 to increase plant capacity, when the company wanted to take advantage of rapid growth in the aluminum industry. Rather than lose valuable production time during an expansion project at a later date, RTA wanted to roll the increase into phase one. In November 2011, the team added one month to the schedule and revised the project plan, leveraging as much base work as possible to minimize delays and cost overruns. Monitoring progress carefully and taking corrective action quickly also allowed the project team to control costs.
The work paid off. The team made up the additional month it had added to the schedule and handed the project over to the operations team in December 2012—the original project delivery date. Along with proving the viability of RTA’s proprietary technology at full production scale, the project provided lessons learned during the plant’s construction that can be leveraged during later installations.
2015 PMI Professional Awards Call for Nominations
The call for nominations for 2015 PMI Project of the Year, and other PMI Professional Awards, opens on 1 November, 2014. Visit www.PMI.org/Awards to apply and access complete award information, including nomination guidelines and FAQs.
About Project Management Institute (PMI)
Project Management Institute is the world's leading not-for-profit professional membership association for the project, program and portfolio management profession. Founded in 1969, PMI delivers value for more than 2.9 million professionals working in nearly every country in the world through global advocacy, collaboration, education and research. PMI advances careers, improves organizational success and further matures the profession of project management through its globally recognized standards, certifications, resources, tools academic research, publications, professional development courses, and networking opportunities. As part of the PMI family, Human Systems International (HSI) provides organizational assessment and benchmarking services to leading businesses and government, while ProjectManagement.com and ProjectsAtWork.com create online global communities that deliver more resources, better tools, larger networks and broader perspectives.
Visit us at www.PMI.org, www.facebook.com/PMInstitute and on Twitter @PMInstitute.
