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 

P 17 Free lancing as stop gap arrangement

P  17

A small innings at Southern Agrifurane ,Mundiambakkam,Villipuram

Mr ARRajagopal,ED SPIC  offered me a job assignment contract for 3 months to shoulder the responsibility of completing the left out engg. by M/S Power Gas Corporation, prepare the specs. for balance instruments &identify the requisite pipe fittings/tube fittings/valves/compression fittings etc.
I was given free hand to travel to Madras and Bombay, contact the respective traders and source the materials. As I have been involved in IPCL/MRL/MFL construction earlier,the traders recognised me and offered complete cooperation, fair rates and quick delivery. To ensure quality, I personally carried out the necessary tests/inspection and cleared them for dispatch.
Typical of any project, the project could not be completed within 3 months and my term was extended by another 3 months. The inter- dependence of other discipline delayed the front clearance for instrumentation. Initially Mr Navaneethan was the process and plant manager for that furfural plant project. Furfural is an extraction in a reactor from the bagasse collected from sugar factory. Furfural is widely used in hydrocarbon processing refinery. It has the same characteristic as methanol.
Considering its process hazards and challenges in involved technology, SPIC management identified an experienced refinery operations person- Mr Swamy, ex GM, IOC as Works Manager. Mr Swamy
with his back ground experience/expertise took control of the plant start-up operations. Me, being the sole instrument engineer in the set-up, used to directly interface with Mr Swamy in loop checking, system tests and initial trials etc.
Here I would like to mention" Mr Swamy has joined SAIL only to ensure my career settlement"!
One day, when we were deliberating about my future path &career settlement, he voluntarily expressed that his ex-colleague Mr KS Vaidyanathan has joined HPCL, Visag as GM Projects  and he is looking for an instrument manager for projects. He took the initiative of writing to KSV about me &recommended.
Mr Swamy died in the plant due to an accident during the plant start-up operations.

I attended HPCL  Visag.  interview in April'81 competing with 6 other more experienced professionals that too coming from PSU. I was not sure whether the interview committee will consider me- having only 10+ years experience for a position of"D" cadre manager in public sector undertaking !There was a full fledged interview panel headed by Mr K Krishnamurthy, that time Director-Production, 2  GMs, 2 DGMs,HR/Accounts rep. During the course of interview, one of the DGM Mr G Jaya Rao asked the question about measuring the air velocity and flow in an air-condition duct. My reaction and response was spontaneous saying PITOT TUBE. The whole committee applauded and immediately announced that I am selected.
That break made me as Manager-Instrumentation from client side for a 3 MMT/Annum crude processing refinery project at HPCL,Visag.-a public sector undertaking.  That project was called VREP, a part of capacity enhancement by Govt. of India for all oil processing companies.That time only PSUs had the right to put up refineries  in India.

 Career in visag. was a different challenge, which I enjoyed thoroughly and got enriched experience.

                                                                                         Visag. innings continue........

Key Aspects :- Faith 

P 16 E Germany Toyo Job Contd.

P  16

E.Germany Toyo job Contd.
Recognizing my experience and potential ,Mr Nakamura asked me to take the lead in work planning and job allocation including to Japanese engineers.As it used to be too cold even in the month of May/June, my working staff used to finish off the day's assignment by 11 AM itself and take shelter in humidified porta cabin until evening to catch the bus back to camp.They were so efficient that even Japanese used to wonder.My staff work quality and team effect was so good that Mr Nakamura appreciated them time&again.
On Saturday afternoon Toyo used to run shuttle bus for all to go to West Berlin to spend the week end. The distance was 48 Kms passing through NAZI camp.The bus used to stop at East end before the Berlin wall .All used to check in five star hotel costing only 28 E marks.Have hot shower &then leave for West Berlin through the gate- every time getting the passport stamped. People enjoy evening in different world and come back to east based hotel in late night and enjoy 5 star benefits; next day morning after breakfast go back to West Berlin to do Sunday shopping. Ensure to be back in hotel by 3PM to board the bus back to camp. This was the mechanical life we experienced.
Though everybody had about thousand E mark in hand, one cannot purchase as they feel like since everything was ration.
One memorable incident make me happy even today!Once we ran out of stock of cutting wheels and I requested  Mr Kabori to source them from West Berlin market to meet the urgent requirement. But he retorted saying" Ramasan, Chotho(HOLD),JAL plane arriving afternoon; please wait until then.Only Japanese material to be utilised in this project." For info. even the toilet tissue are to be imported from Japan only.That showed their National Spirit!
In the camp I enjoyed my stay.I had the comfort of Kannan,Vanch&Madhu  taking care of my food. Also the other staff used to share their eatables with us. But personally I had huge problem both physical and psychological.The windy cold climate did not suit me  and family separation added the misery.Leaving wife and 4 year old son at Madras had knock on effect on me.At one stage even Mr Nakamura felt bad about my health condition and suggested that I should leave the site handing over charge to Kannan (Alkan).  After talking M/S Nagamatsu and Nakamura I made arrangement to travel back to India. In the airport, though I had 1000E marks in pocket, I could not pay for excess luggage and left some clothes there and put the money in airport coffer.Came back to India empty handed.

On returning to India, as forecastm different story was awaiting!since M/S JK Shivdasani and Shyam Sundar left Alkan and started their own firm, M/S Ameer and CSSNarayan suspected my motive of coming back.They insisted that either I should return back to EGermany at my expense or leave the company forthwith. I chose to leave and hand drafted my resignation letter; when I requested CSSN to help me in typing that, he said manuscript copy will do and relieved me immediately. He planned to with hold my PF accumulations. So without a penny  and no job in hand I travelled back to Madras with my father by train.
Next day when I tried to contact Mr CP Srinivasan for help, pleasant surprise was awaiting. It seems SPIC  was looking for my where about ! Mr AR Rajagopal , ED-Spic was looking for some instrument engineer with project experience for completing the furfural plant at Villipuram, half finished and left by M/S PowerGas Corporation. Rest is another chapter...........

Key Aspects:- Incident analysis, Planning&scheduling, Recognition, Ups& down

P 15 miserable first trip abroad

P  15

E Germany job with Toyo deputed by Alkan

Having waited eagerly for 8 long years(after Qatar trip cancellation)my first trip abroad, even during travel  was nightmare!
M/s Alkan did not carry out full study of the local conditions/climate &Governmental regulations at GDR(East Germany) and every thing went wrong for the company as well as people. In my case even the overseas posting emoluments was wrong!When GDR Govt. &Toyo engg. indicated that each employee posted there will get a daily allowance of 28E Marks/day, the company converted it as 28X4.5=Rs 126/day(that time Deutche Mark was rated at Rs 4.5) but they did not realise that E mark is not exchangeable at all!! Moreover they booked my travel ticket in Polish airlines via.Beirut. Not realising that GDR is cold country even in April, they gave me only half sleeve sweater.

I left Mumbai,India in the early hours of 4th April 1980 Mumbai-Prague flight. The aircraft halted at Beirut for refuelling and passengers were asked to get down and move to underpass walkway.There I had the horrible sight of intruders firing AK 47 rifle in dead night. one can imagine what would have been my feeling that too first time foreign travel! somehow on boarding back the aircraft landed in Prague 15 Mts. before scheduled time. I heard announcement of my name to hurry up to catch the connecting flight to Shonefield(that time only airport in E Germany) which I followed. On landing
I had the shock of waiting in open atmosphere that too  wearing only half sleeve sweater!Since mine was visa on landing, the local police authorities prevented me entering the airport premises.At that time SriLankan immigrants were entering Europe illegally which made them suspect every Asian.I waited in the open shivering nearly for two hours or so. At last Toyo driver John arrived(Indian from Delhi) and then they called me. The formalities took only two minutes. John took me for lunch in airport cafeteria. There I had to choose a dish between pork and beef and no other choice.I chose beef streak with French fries. Then he drove me to the camp where all expatriate staff reside.He took me to Toyo Kannan's residence.That being Friday afternoon I have been instructed that I should not venture even to move out of building until Monday morning.I was told that without work permit badge nobody can move around even in the camp.So literally I was on house arrest for 2 days;but Kannan and Nair took care of me and made me feel at home.
On Monday I traveled with Kannan and went to report to Mr Nagamatsu,Toyo's administrative manager at site. On receiving me Mr Nagamatsu was surprised to see me with only a half sleeve sweater! out of humanity, he instructed Kannan to issue me full set of warm wear and PPE.He asked me to communicate to my office Alkan in Bombay that the balance team should be equipped appropriately before travel.I did carry out the same by telex but no effect, since Mr CSS Narayan was end by himself and did not bother.
I had a team of 22 including me.AR&2 engineers(Kannan&Vanchi)+1 administrative officer(Madhu)
+18 workmen-mix of fitters/welder/ electrician/ khalasi(riggers). Our scope of work was limited to field instrumentation only covering stand post fabrication,erection, instrument mounting with protection hoods,impulse piping/tubing, copper tubing for control valves, junction box mounting and cable termination at field end and testing them.The main cable tray erection, cable pulling, DCS system installation and rack termination was under scope of an Yugoslavian contractor.All these were under overall supervision of Mr Nakamura,Toyo manager. he had 2 Japanese engineers- Kabori and Sugiyama and they were asked to take directions from me.
                                                                                                                  Contd.......

Key Aspects:- Human relations, Incident analysis, Leadership, Ups&down