On 28 April 2020, Mr Guna, CEO of Econ Engineering Malaysia, proposed to complete an abandoned boiler
Question:
On 28 April 2020, Mr Guna, CEO of Econ Engineering Malaysia, proposed to complete an abandoned boiler project that no one had dared to revive. He knew that the project was 60% complete before it was abandoned but after the years of being neglected all the documents and the initial design were lost. How would Mr Guna kick off the project without any details of the initial design and documentation within five months?
Econ Engineering is the main distributor for Forbes Marshall Boiler, Effimax and other steam accessories in Malaysia. It also caters for the boiler room management system, Effimax 4000, which increases fuel efficiency by reducing blowdown and oxygen content in fuel gas paths. The system has been installed in major food and beverage companies like Nestle and Pepsi Cola. With only four in house workers, this company receives jobs through its relationship with various expert engineers in various fields.
Back in 2020, Mr Guna was handling a project to restore a polluted pond in a village. Near the village, there was an abandoned factory. Mr Guna wondered what happened to the factory. Mr Chan, the owner of the factory, said that the only problem with the factory was that the boiler room was not finished because the boiler company that took the contract fell into bankruptcy while the project was 60% unto completion. The project was neglected for almost ten years before Mr Chan decided to look for another boiler company to finish the project. Due to ten years of abandonment, all of the initial design and important documents were lost and the change of the boiler operating properly according to the initial design was almost zero. None of the local boiler companies dared to continue the project after learning of its condition. After a short visit to the factory's boiler room, Mr Guna knew what exactly had happened to it since it was his field of expertise. He told Mr Chan that he could make the boiler operate as it should.
The factory, Synergy Sdn Bhd was located near Sungai Gong, Rawang, Selangor. The nearby pond was polluted because the trash sent to the factory could not be fully used to generate electricity and the unused trash was accidentally polluting the pond. Generally, the factory needed to supply 5.5 megawatts of electricity per hour to the national grid. This can be achieved by using trash as fuel to operate the boiler. In order to generate that much energy, the boiler needed to operate as originally designed.
In the beginning of the rebuilding process, a lot of effort was needed. The boiler room was in such a mess with fungus and dust all over the room and the boiler itself. The cleaning process took one week to complete. Most of the materials in the boiler room could not be used any longer and had to be replaced. In order to operate the boiler, a standard operating procedure was developed so that the boiler could function as planned. Mr Guna knew that he could not handle this project whit his knowledge and expertise alone, so he called all his outsource teams which were experts in instruments, architecture and programming to visit the boiler room and to study the problem together.
The replacing process was done by an instrument expert team. The team identified what needed to be replaced and what materials were needed for the boiler. A thorough inspection was done due to the massive broken parts. Some rusty parts needed to be removed, and the removing and replacing process was done by Econ Engineering's in-house workers.
The architects recreated the initial drawings for the boiler and the piping system. The drawing process was done carefully stage by stage. The first stage was the sketched of the overall view of the boiler. The details of each part of the boiler came after all the inspection was done. When all the data had been verified, the drawings were done using the AutoCAD software. All the sketches and details were transferred into multiple AutoCAD drawings which represented each detail of the boiler room and the piping system.
The previous equipment installed in the boiler room were fully touchscreen devices, and programmers were needed to create flow of the boiler process. A massive effort updating the documentation and analysing the boiler room process was executed. The documentation and analysis was completed within four months. The installation process of the company's in-house workers within 15 weeks. This is where Mr Guna's field of expertise played its part. All the equipment and knowledge in Econ Engineering was utilized to recover the boiler.
Required:
i. Based on situation, why do you think Mr Guna has to perform strategic system planning to ensure his project will finish as per scheduled.
ii. Mr Guna needed to proposed estimated cost for this project to ensure the sustainability of the project. This is to helps management determine whether and how much benefits received from a proposed system. Briefly explain.
Macroeconomics Principles, Applications, and Tools
ISBN: 978-0132555234
7th Edition
Authors: Arthur O Sullivan, Steven M. Sheffrin, Stephen J. Perez