After the success of the re-commissioning and training in Foshan in 2003, Arun Control Systems was asked again to supply commissioning assistance to the same Chinese / American joint venture in Foshan, Guangdong province, China.
On this occasion, the joint venture company had purchased a manufacturing line from a company in the Netherlands.
In 2004, the same Arun Control Systems’ engineer, along with regular associate engineer from Galloway Controls, whose expertise is Drive systems, travelled to Rotterdam to assist in the de-commissioning and dismantling of the line from its original site. This involved liasing with the local company engineers and contractors and the Chinese engineers sent over from Foshan.
In July 2005, Arun Control Systems joined a team of 3 specialists from the UK and 6 from Holland who flew out to oversee the re-commissioning of the plant and again to train the local Chinese engineers in the use of the equipment.
Unlike the first project, the re-installation had not been completed by the time Arun Control Systems arrived on site and major construction was still underway.
There were some major differences in the Dutch line to the Scottish one previously installed in 2003, which lead to complications, not least the excavation of a basement under the factory site. Our early arrival meant that we could advise on electrical and safety standards during the installation phase.
Again Arun Control Systems was principally responsible for testing and commissioning the control equipment; this included Eurotherm 900, 2400 and 818 series temperature controllers, 103 trip amps, 425 and 450 thyristor stacks. Plus Modicon PLCs and a FactoryLink SCADA.
“…...the label’s in Chinese, but this drawing is in Dutch!”
Also included was the associated plant, transducers, the IR profile gauge and profile controller.
The total site time was 8 weeks.
The Chinese engineers were trained both in the classroom and “hands on” with the equipment on the line. Some of the biggest problems encountered were down to languages - Arun was required to get Dutch signs, labels and documents translated into English before explaining it to the Chinese translators! However, with the Dutch team speaking very good English and most of the Chinese engineers able to speak and /or write English to a high standard, this aspect of the job was good for pulling the different teams together.
As with the first project, the entire re-installation, testing and re-commissioning was successfully completed close to schedule and within budget.
The 2005 commissioning team
