Tertiary extraction at Oxysteel plant

Purpose of the project

The goal of this ambitious project is clear: by means of a new extraction system, installed as an imposing hood more than 100 meters long in the roof, we aim to capture dust and heavy metal emissions during the converter process in a more targeted and efficient way. With the completion of this installation in October 2024, we aim to achieve a significant 50% reduction in dust emissions in one of the plant halls. This carefully designed system will not only reduce emissions, but also actively contribute to minimizing the impact on our immediate environment, while the crucial processes in the plant continue uninterrupted.

Ditio's expertise

Within this project Ditio is responsible for time, money and scope. With regard to time, you can think of setting up a planning, guaranteeing it and checking the planning of the contractors. As far as money is concerned, we are responsible for the budget, ensuring that the project remains within this budget or acting adequately should it deviate from it. As for scope, we initiate the creation of the project scope and ensure that this scope remains secured. All these three aspects must remain integrally linked to each other. So any change in one of the three aspects also affects the others.

Challenge and solutions

During the project, there have been several occurrences where the project was in danger of being significantly delayed. The sooner this is identified, the more likely we are to be able to limit the damage. In doing so, it is also important to strike a balance as to how much a given delay may actually cost. To answer that question, you first need to know the consequences of any project overrun. These are examples of challenges on projects we deal with.

Results

Because we, as integral project managers, have a total overview of all project aspects and know exactly how these relate to each other, we are also best able to estimate what any project overrun will mean for costs.

In the end, unfortunately, the project did get delayed by a few months. This was due to an incorrectly delivered/ordered part with a long lead time. As a result, we had to order a new one and wait for it to be delivered. But none of this had any other major impact on the cost. Although we delivered the installation a few months later, the project did stay within budget.

What did we learn from this project?

In the end, we can take away from this that no matter how well you think you have everything mapped out and the project may be nearing the end, something can always happen that has an impact on the duration or budget of the project. Our job is to act on this as best we can, take initiative and inform the right stakeholders.