GEA India – Verka Dairy Construction Management

Project Info

  • Construction Date

    Dec 18 - Apr 20

  • Client

    GEA Process Engineering (India) Ltd

 

Project Scope

The Verka Dairy in Amritsar, Punjab is a unit of The Punjab State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation Limited (MILKFED). Under the Operation Flood, it was urged to develop a lucrative milk market to the state milk producers by value addition and marketing of produce, along with providing technical inputs for the enhancement of milk production.

Verka Dairy at Amritsar manufactures milk and milk products, and is one of the largest milk producers’ in Punjab. The project aimed at building new units with 250,000 L/ Day of Milk Processing capacity, whose Liquid Milk Processing (LMP) section is supplied by GEA. This milk used to produce fresh milk products, Beverages, Butter & Ghee, Cheese and Spreads, UHT Milk, Ice Cream, Sweets, and Milk Powder.

 

PMG Deliverables

PMG Team was responsible for Construction Supervision of all project site erection and commissioning activities (mechanical, electrical, automation, safety management, store management, construction power, site office, etc.) including leading multiple contractors, and coordinating with several process and engineering experts of GEA, locally and remotely.

Key Activities included:

  • Mobilizing a team of Site Engineers (mechanical, electrical, automation, etc.), Store In-charge, and Safety Officers to comprehensively operate the Project Site
  • Setup and Maintenance of Project Site Infrastructure (Local Accommodation, Travel, Food, IT Assets, etc.) and Site Office, and related services
  • Project Site Security services (24×7)
  • Coordination with GEA Design team for timely release of Good For Construction (GFC) drawings
  • Coordination with GEA Procurement/Project team for timely delivery of major and minor equipment and items.
  • Continuous re-conciliation of site inventories and raising pro-active requests for shortages at site, so that work is not affected.
  • Final Checks and Validation of all design documents for any clashes or mistakes viz-a-viz project site realities
  • Prioritization of Jobs and Resource Planning of Contractors
  • Daily Operational Review (DOR) with all stakeholders at site to review work done, work planned, identify and resolve issues, and escalate & report suitably to GEA Project Management towards achieving overall project objectives
  • Ensuring safe-work-practices across site by leading and training contractual manpower via Toolbox Talks, Contractor Field Audits (CFA), etc.
  • Leading Pre-commissioning and Commissioning activities in coordination with GEA Experts
  • Snag-List preparation and completion, vetting of Contractor Bills, supporting as-built drawing preparation, etc.

Key expectations included:

  • First Time Right Execution and Zero rework
  • No delays on account of material shortages, lack of manpower planning, or delayed decisions at site
  • Implementation of the concepts of food safety and hygienic engineering in Equipment Installation and Pipeline Fabrication
  • Taking care of all site organization and expenses (travel, local accommodation, food, IT assets, miscelleneous) of resources
  • Continuous monitoring and support from PMG Head Office of the engineering resources to ensure quality of deliverables

Differentiated Value Creation

PMG Team has an alignment and long term commitment to GEA towards building an full-time team of competitive engineers (all domains) who can support GEA in their projects in a reliable and qualified manner. Such an arrangement was conceived by GEA Senior Management and actively implemented and supported by PMG Management. It has proven to be a win-win proposition, wherein GEA is able to optimize project cost by minimizing internal resources and associated management cost towards greater competitiveness and profitability in projects, while PMG gets a long term and sustainable business generation from GEA.

In addition, PMG Team consisting of a number of competitive engineers across all domains is able to deliver:

  • engineering resources and expertise on short notices, especially providing additional resources during the peak/ critical erection and commissioning stages
  • support in engineering studies and works which do not fall exactly under site supervision, and is more diverse
  • centrally manage site organization and expenses (travel, local accommodation, food, IT assets, miscellaneous)
  • location-based tracking and attendance of engineering resources
  • continuity of trained and experienced resources as all resources are full time employees of PMG with a clear and progressive career path

In all sincerity, PMG Team has drifted away from the traditional model of providing manpower, to providing construction supervision service with much higher ownership and accountability of project objectives. And that has led to a significant differentiated value creation for GEA.