P 23 End of Visag Innings

P 23

Visag Innings Closure

During my tenure in HPCL Visag, though I have achieved the distinction of One of the FIRST to introduce DCS in India, life was not easy. Though I enjoyed the job assignment fully with the support of my team, there was full of politics- Bombay Vs Visag differentiation. After VREP completion, none of the project team members were assigned any definite role/ responsibility. I took advantage of that  period in completing my Hindi Rashtra Basha examinations and got first class.

 In Aug. '86 I was deputed for one week training course at Khandala/Lonawala- Training For Trainers  conducted by HPCL Training Head Mr Harry D' Silva. That outing in Hill Station that too during Maharashtra monsoon gave me complete relief.  Out of 27 attendees( drawn from all over India) I stood first in the training & final presentation project , got the shield. My return journey to Visag via Bombay/Hyderabad changed the course of my life and career!

I left the training camp by noon and traveled to Bombay by share taxi ; then caught the Bombay-Hyderabad IA flight. The plane was delayed and reached Hyderabad only around 8 PM. When I got down and after claiming the baggage, climbing up the staircase to get out, somebody from behind
shouted my name. When I looked back, it was Sh KK( K Krishnamurthy, former Chairman,HPCL) who called me. He queried that as it is already late, why not we have coffee in the stall and chat for few minutes. Since I have respect for elders like him I readily agreed and went with him.  Initially he enquired about the CO Boiler incident, plant operation conditions and about the welfare of my colleagues. Then he changed the subject asking me, " Is it not time for you to change the job?" After that he asked me to give my CV and said he will look for one. I was taken by surprise shock and queried- are you saying  a change of job in India  or something in abroad? He responded it may be anything but you do not have future in HPCL to grow under the changed management. His was a plain talk exposing the real truth. Since I was on  official tour, I did not keep the CV copy.He understood that and gave me his personal visiting card and asked me to post my CV to his home address at Chembur. On reaching Visag I discussed this subject with my wife. She immediately reacted that since KK and his wife Mrs Naglakshmi are our well wishers, we should send the CV immediately, which I did in August itself and forgotten then. To everybody's surprise, by end November I get a phone  trunk call from KSV & Mrs Kamala Vaidyanathan stating that I should
positively meet Mr PN Devarajan at Madras. On that day evening, when I went to recreation club, my another boss- who retired that week only, said in chaste Telugu- Emira,Elluthava, tappakonda Dr PND meet chai.  In the night about 10.30PM DHPR phoned and advised me to go and meet PND.
So without any hesitation I traveled to Madras to meet PND. When I called on him at Taj Coramandal hotel, he recollected that he has met me earlier! I responded to him saying yes- at Chemplast interview in 1969. Then he said that Sh KK has briefed him enough about me and stated that I will be called for final interview at Mumbai for regularisation and medical test etc. Since I lost my father that year July only, I requested that the final interview date should not fall on 25/26th Dec.,being 6th month ceremony dates. He acknowledged and confirmed that it will not be so late and will be in first week of December itself. I was called to fly out on 7th December'86 for final interview formalities at Bombay.   That is how my Visag innings came to end; Rest is History..........

Key Aspects  :- Surprise & shock, Training, Transfer, Ups&down

P 22 Visag Innings Contd

    P22

Visag innings Contd...
During VREP commissioning we have come across a freak incident. Without realising the importance of flare flame continuity, one of the operations engineer opened the steam valve  in the flare header and put off the flare flame! The whole project&operations team were blinking with crossed fingers. Mr Rama Sundaram, No. 2 of EIL team took a bold initiative to face that challenge.He caught hold of a village urchin and asked that boy to shoot alighted torch  tied with an arrow from his bow, standing on a nearby tall structure. Being a small boy, he was not aware of the seriousness of the situation and shot the arrow.The flare header got re-lit and we were relieved.

In VREP days, though I was Instrument manager by designation I had the opening and opportunities to deal other discipline subjects also.One of it was CO boiler selection. HPCL management( Sh KK) asked me to get in touch with Mr SR Setlur( who was the first Indian Covenanted officer of Burmah Shell , ex CMD of BRPL,  and even presently functioning as adviser to Reliance- aged 84 years) and seek his inputs /recommendations in conceptualizing CO boiler configuration in FCCU-VREP.I called on him at his Janpath office and off hand he has given various tips to ensure what factors to be addressed and DOs & Donts. Utilizing them when we posed those factors to EIL and finally to the selected bidder, they were astonished &fully accepted to incorporate them.
But it is a different fact that after 1 1/2 years of  successful operation, there was a blast in that CO Boiler due to mal-operation. That caused requirement of additional 6 steam control valves IBR certified.
In 1985 August I was on emergency leave  at Madras to attend to my father who had brain cancer  and surgery  carried out. During that time DHPR( DHP Rathnaswamy) phoned me and queried whether I can make an emergency trip to IL Palghat to get these valves on SOS basis.When I responded that I do not have any relevant papers and no money in hand, management convinced me that they will fax the data sheets and specifications to EIL office at T Nagar and travel advance will be extended by Mr Abhraham ,Regional manager, HPCL Madras. Since my brother Venkhat has some contacts in S Rly. he could get me a first class berth in West Coast Express immediately. The funniest part  was that my assignment got over as soon as the train departed from Madras Central.
My co-passenger in that coupe was none other than Mr Kini, GM IL Palghat factory. As we discussed about this emergency requirement during train journey itself, next morning when he dropped me in GH, he asked me to come leisurely and meet Mr GK Pillai.  IL Palghat staff were so cooperative, that Pillai had worked out all details and waited for my arrival.  They said that they can divert valves from NFL Panipat order subject to HPCL agree to pay a premium of 10% cost, which HPCL management readily agreed. The beauty was that the valves arrived at site even before my return to visag.

Naphtha Pump Fire accident burning rack cables:.On one fine morning( some time in peak summer 1985) one gland packing in naphtha pump gave way& a major fire broke out. Though the fire team fought and brought under control, the fire rage burnt all rack signal cabling connected to DCS. Refinery came to crash shut down. As nobody has forecast such freak scenario, no spare cable was available in stock. Immediately the whole company looked for SOS assistance; luckily MRL had that cable in stock. I was flown to Madras to contact Mr AV Krishnan, GM Projects and seek his help. I took the responsibility of getting the cables  issued on replaceable basis and arranged transport.The whole exercise was completed fast and the refinery recommissioned in 3 days flat and production achieved in 5 days.                                                                   Visag innings Contd.....

Key Aspects :-Conviction,  Initiative, Innovative, Multi -Discipline exposure, Technical issue 

P 21 Visag innings Contd

 P 21                                               
Visag Innings
Now having  seen the system commitment& kick-off meeting at Japan, let us look at the factory inspection &material transport/receipt and installation at site.
Whatever we hear about Japanese- the team spirit  &dedication/devotion to task etc., all the facets were clearly visible during the execution of the project.Rather YEW was behind the customers to plan the inspection visits- since three project orders have to be completed simultaneously.MRL team went first in advance&completed their inspection in Jan/Feb '83.Then BPCL/HPCL team went together ;YEW planned the work in such a way  the system inspection and panel inspection for each customer were conducted in two different locations but alternatively so that there is no clash.All of YEW technicians and engineers were well aware of the challenging complex control loops  in a refinery &demonstrated their simulation through the ultimate operator console.Both BPCL&HPCL inspection were completed by end April'83.
Though the final packing & shipment document etc. have been completed very fast,by the time the consignment expected to reach Bombay port, the threat of monsoon was looming large. Added to misery, the process of customs inspection & transportation to Visag by road transport (1200 Kms) was threatening us. Myself, M/S MS Bhagwat and Chavande of M/S Blue Star, Indian counterpart of YEW Japan took that as task  and planned all necessary ifs and buts. But typical of Govt.Babus when we approached customs officials not to insist for opening each crator because of monsoon fury, they flatly refused to oblige.So we were forced to undertake that challenge. Fortunately we escaped the wrath of monsoon and none of our equipment were affected either by water or humidity. At site, M/S Blue Star assigned Mr Amudan to coordinate the site installation.  So the team M/S Amudan, S Kannan of Alkan (my Baroda/E Germany deputy), B S Dalal of EIL under the overall management of Mr Watanabe  took the responsibility. With Alkan services they completed the installation  including the system checks, loop checking of both open&closed loops in flat 45 days. this included 12 panels and system rack panels.Panels came in picture since M/S UOP insisted for single loop integrity. Of course Mr MH Hassan was there to take care of all electrical terminations both in system as well as in panels/racks.
All along so far I have been addressing only the control room system portion. But as Instrument manager for projects,my responsibility included the field side instrumentation also. That load and pressure have been eased by an able team led by Mr AD Sharma assisted by M/S Satyanarayana, Chandra rao & Dixit ( all the three were beginners in their career but enthusiastic to learn). M/S S Kannan and B S Dalal played their part very effectively  and work execution proceeded very smoothly & commissioning went through without any hitch. Here I have to bring out an important
about somebody's career change during this DCS execution !
My classmate Mr TN Somasundaram, who was representing M/S L&T, partner to M/S Fisher Controls during the bid stage, contacted me enquiring whether HPCL/YEW will agree for his visiting Visag VREP site during the DCS field execution. My GM KSV did not have any hesitation and Watanabe of YEW also had no objection. Somu visited Visag and took field rounds; during that time he met Watanabe and they had some technical exchanges. At the end of their discussions, Somu was offered a job to work for YEW,Singapore.His life changed for ever!This happened some where in end 1983 & he is still a Singapore Permanent Resident. Somu worked as Director in YEW, later changed to Emerson &retired very recently.
                                                                                                    Visag Innings contd.........
Key Aspects :-  Delegation,Initiative, Planning &Scheduling, Transfer

P 20 Visag Innings'81- "87 Feb. Contd

    P  20                                       
300 Millisecs Contd...
As far as the task force concerned(including Mr Ashok Parthasarathy) it was decided to split the order into two- not to put everything in one basket; 2 for the lowest bidder and the remaining one for the next. But when it came to commercial finalisation, the finance member called the shots and said that the order should go entirely on L1. Based on that, after the final bid opening, LOI was signed off by JR at 12.30PM on one day on M/S YEW for all the three refineries.But at 2PM, he was asked to HOLD the same , a directive from Finance Ministry! An objection was filed by M/S L&T, the agency representing M/S Fisher Controls saying the final commercial evaluation has not been carried out properly. The issue was- there was sea-saw battle in prices between the two- with spares included or otherwise. Meanwhile Mr Yamato of YEW came to EIL office  and lodged his protest stating that he has already launched the factory production activity in order to make up the lost time by the extended task force deliberations. So on SOS basis, the task force members were reconvened  to completely review and take the final call- whether the order should go including spares or not. Amongst the team
there were different opinion. Some said that if the spares are not included with the main order, the selected vendor may take us for ride after commissioning.So it was concluded that the final bid shall include with commissioning and two year operational spares.
On the third day the final price bids were opened in presence of both the bidders; there was no surprise! Can somebody imagine that considering all these deliberations of task force under DOE control, all three refineries put together. including the spare price component, the price difference between L1 &L2 was only Rs 30,000/- on an order value of Rs 4.5 crores (our original budgeted estimate was Rs 9 Crores). M/S YEW was the winner.
That is how the first DCS system for the country was finalised. In today's cost, that 4.5 crores will work out to Rs 300 crores.
Having finalised the order commitment, the order execution went on fast track. The MOP&G directed all the task force members to be active and effectively participate  in the System kick-off and  ensure all the three systems are executed parallelly ASAP.  So the entire team proceeded lock stock and barrel to Japan to camp in Japan to freeze the entire system architecture and develop the individual loop schematics  etc.  The beauty was it was team effort. All the three end user company reps. were seated  in different tables in central hall and the common members from EIL/DOE were seated on sides and just like orchestra conductor Mr Watanabe, the Project Manager from YEW  used to present and highlight each product features daily. The important aspect  was- the technology was growing in break neck speed ! For some of the devices the spec. got completely changed from their original quote. As the visiting team had experienced professionals from all disciplines, we had good understanding and grasp of situation. Mr Rangamani, as team leader ensured that all members will join together during dinner time daily- irrespective of their company or discipline/status  and take stock of daily discussion points and arrive at common agreed conclusion. Only Mr Sivasubramaniam  of EIL instrument discipline was odd man out  and looked  everything suspiciously and say 'we cannot believe Japanese and they are trying to take us for ride by under quoting'. Sorry to say here- fortunate for us, he broke his spectacles and he could not see or read anything then on. Mr Rangamani virtually used to hold his hands and guide his movement.  That helped the team to complete the assignment and freeze in one month time flat.  It took nearly 10 months to complete the manufacture and factory inspection activity started
                                                                                                     300 Millisecs contd.......

Key Aspects:-  Critical challenge, Planning& Scheduling, Team building

P 19 Visag '81-'87 Feb. Contd

  P  19                           
300 Millisecs
 Mr Ashok Partahsarathy, though technically qualified and competent, by nature he was suspecting everybody and queried why not we opt  only computor based control system developed by ECIL instead of DCS ! He made us to run around.  Whereas BVG of MRL  was hell bent to go for only
Honeywell TDC 2000. Added to misery, the  process licensor M/S UOP were not familiar with DCS  and insisted to  have single loop controller irrespective of whichever DCS chosen  and specified that the total loop response should be within 300 Millisecs! That is the total time taken from the transmitter sensing to controller to the final control element action in the field has to take place within this time slot. They were not ready to listen or even consider that the temperature loop response time  and its time constant is high.
All these conflicting mandate took the toll of task force and it was royal battle for 19 long months
before the team freezing the enquiry specs. for DCS. Within EIL Mr Rangamani had the influence and say  to utilise  the services of M/S Vasudevan, Seetharaman, Vijay Hathmode, the respective project instrument leads to help him to generate the loop I/O counts, functional logic and detailed specification. Mr Ashok Parthasarathy was so doubtful Thomas, he went through line by line of the prepared specification and asked Mr Rangamani to seek a quote  or regret letter from ECIL! Mr Banerjee, GM of ECIL begged us stating that his job is at stake and he cannot issue us anything in writing. Then Mr Ashok asked the team to summon all the international bidders(17 of them) to Delhi  and give presentation of their products and system on offer. Courtesy Sh Ashok , I had the previlage and opportunity to enjoy the hospitality of almost all 5 star hotels of Delhi during these vendor presentation. He himself was physically present to listen to them and interact.
This long drawn task spread nearly 1 1/2 years and I was in Delhi most of the time.There were time that I had gone back from Delhi to  Visag.; on same day after landing at Visag call invite arise. It came to that extent, on one occasion my wife got distressed , she phoned me by trunk call & enquired when are you likely to visit the home!
After Mr Ashok Parthasarathy clearing the document to go ahead floating international enquiry, a different drama started. BVG was firm&adamant that MRL will have only TDC 2000; Sardesai followed suit, whereas HPCL was open. The enquiry was floated to 12 parties and the task force had the responsibility of preparing reviewing/shortlisting criteria- what&which are the factors to be given merrit and which can be overlooked and at the same time meet UOP's mandatory criteria of 300 Milli secs loop response time and single loop integrity. There used to be critical discussions  running extended hours- Process pundits pulling in their direction, computer specialists spelling their knowledge, instrument functional managers showing their maintenance experience in process plants.
Here one important point!In those days since we were bound to follow GOI Rules, late receipt of bids or  OEM quoting through agents or authorised subsidiary were not allowed.Though BVG/Sardesai were eagerly looking for Honeywell offer, that party did not participate directly; even Honeywell counterpart Japanese offer was received late and could not be considered for evaluation.
The task force were left to scrutinize the balance offers in line with agreed technical points. and three were selected for next round of evaluation.-M/S YEW,Fisher Controls and ABB.In next round ABB got eliminated since they could not guarantee loop integrity and response time. That left the other two to bid for final commercial bid. Both the parties were asked to bid including their recommended spares. Then another drama unfolded .                                                 300Millisecs Contd.........

Key Aspects:- Planning &Scheduling,  Technical issue

P 18 Visag Innings '81-87Feb.

  P  18                                       

300millisecs
Without delaying any time, I got relieved from SAIL Villipuram and joined VREP in May.'81 as manager-Instrumentation for project execution.  The set up was led by Mr KS Vaidyanathan,GM and under him there were M/S DHP Rathinasamy and PRK Raju as DGMs.,under whom  we were various discipline lead managers..
 It so happened that before settling down itself, third day itself a team from MRL &BPCL called on us &explained that the Petroleum ministry is expecting all the new refinery projects  in the country have to go in for DCS (Distributed Control System ) instead of old conventional pneumatic analogue system. Only Cochin refinery was an exception since by that time they have already committed the order on M/S Taylor-ABB. Since that day,I became busy and engaged in that task as one of task force members of the country. Here I have to narrate a big story:
M/S EIL was the engineering consultant for all the 4 upcoming refinery projects & everty project activity was managed and controlled by them only. As electronic instrumentation was yet to pick up in India,  every sourcing was regulated by the Department of Electronics at Delhi. To follow &abide that control,MOP&G formed a task force.
Chairman-Petroleum Minister
Top Leaders- Mr Ashok Parthasarathy, Jt.Secy, DOE
                      Mr. Ganapathy,Jt Secy, Finance Ministry
                      Dr  SKLN Dixit, Director, EIL
Functional Committee
 M/S Rangamani- EIL, Project coordinator

KRS Narayan- GM, BPCL
MB Lall, Oper. Mgr, BPCL
Sardesai-   Inst. Mgr, BPCL

NR Narayanan,GM,MRL
Chetty,Oper.Mgr, MRL
BV Gopalakrishna,Inst.Mgr, MRL

A Ramanathan,Inst.Mgr, HPCL
G Raghunathan  Process Systems Mgr, HPCL
Anjaneyalu Oper. Mgr, HPCL

Mrs Bhattacharya
Dr Jeevanandam                 from EIL
Sivasubramnaiam

Saxena                                from DOE
Chetty
Here it is important to highlight that 2 top lead rep. from EIL have retired from service & lastly Mr J Rangachari held that position since the task force tasks continued for nearly two years courtesy Mr Ashok Parthasarathy.
                                                                 
                                                                                             300 millisecs. contd..........

Key Aspects : -  Opportunity, Team building