Satyam Slashes Plant Shutdown/Turnaround Time
- Reduced shutdown time resulted in 5.8 days of additional production, which enabled production of an additional 3,650 tons of calcined petroleum coke
- Solution can be applied in numerous industries, including chemical process, petroleum refining, steel, etc.
- Also applicable to plant expansions/upgrades,Greenfield projects
GRAMERCY, Louisiana, October 27, 2008: Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (NYSE: SAY), a leading global consulting and information technology services provider, announced today that Rain CII Carbon, the world’s leading producer of calcined petroleum coke, reduced the turnaround time at its plant here by 25 percent. The expedited shutdown enabled production of an additional 3,650 tons of calcined petroleum coke, primarily used for anode manufacture by aluminum producers.
By applying a management solution recently implemented at a Rain Commodities Ltd. cement plant in India, Rain CII Carbon brought its plant back online in 17.4 days, compared to the approximately 23.2 days it had planned.
Satyam helped Rain CII Carbon employ a solution based on the Theory of Constraints (TOC), which was developed by Israeli physicist Eliyahu Goldratt. Satyam implemented the solution based on the TOC’s Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) methodology, which has been used in numerous projects to ensure on-time (or ahead-of-schedule) project completion, without changing original project scope and budget.
The solution is not industry-specific; it can be used in industries like chemical process, petroleum refining, steel, etc., that have planned maintenance turnarounds and for which increasing uptime of critical equipment is paramount. It can also be applied to reduce the duration of plant expansions and upgrades, as well as Greenfield projects. The Rain Commodities cement plant in India, for example (a sister company of Rain CII Carbon), reduced shutdown duration by 28 percent and enabled manufacture of an additional 15,000 tons of cement.
Part of the methodology’s success stems from breaking two longstanding project management beliefs:
- First, that the amount of safety factored into task time estimations is not enough to protect against uncertainties that typify project environments. In fact, changes to the way project safety is managed can result in significant benefits without compromising employee or equipment wellbeing.
- Second, that a focus on completion of each task on time is the only way to guarantee a project will end on schedule. Actually, a diffused focus on numerous activities is ineffective. At any given time, only one task poses the highest risk to on-time project completion; this task, according to TOC, is the only one that needs to be highlighted for recovery.
“The TOC solution has helped us break new ground in how turnarounds are planned, monitored and executed, and we are rolling out this solution to all our plants in the US,” said Stephen L. Rowland, Rain CII Carbon’s Chief Operating Officer. “Clearly, it is a transformational approach. Additionally, this success was achieved despite the fact that the scope of work increased substantially as equipment was brought back online—typical of any plant turnaround.”
In the Gramercy plant, the team’s ability to concentrate on critical tasks was especially helpful.
“By applying Satyam’s proposed simple, yet revealing measures, we brought considerable management focus to areas and tasks where it was truly needed,” said Jimmy Delaneuville, Plant Manager of the Gramercy plant. “The shutdown featured 166 tasks, but we were able to focus on the critical ones; we did not diffuse our focus by micromanaging all of them. Additionally, review meetings were brief and efficient, and really demonstrated the importance of focusing on the right tasks.”
About Rain CII Carbon
Rain CII is the world’s leading producer of calcined petroleum coke. Its operations include calcining plants in the United States and India with a total annual production of more than 2.4 million tons of calcined petroleum coke. It has served the aluminum industry since 1959, and it is also a major supplier of calcined coke to the TiO2 industry.
About Satyam
Satyam (NYSE: SAY), a leading global business and information technology services company, delivers consulting, systems integration, and outsourcing solutions to clients in 20* industries and more than 65* countries.
Satyam leverages deep industry and functional expertise, leading technology practices, and an advanced, global delivery model to help clients transform their highest-value business processes and improve their business performance. The company’s 52,865* professionals excel in engineering and product development, supply chain management, client relationship management, business process quality, business intelligence, enterprise integration, and infrastructure management, among other key capabilities.
Satyam development and delivery centers in the US, Canada, Brazil, the UK, Hungary, Egypt, UAE, India, China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia serve 690* clients, including 185* Fortune 500. For more information, see www.satyam.com.
*As of September 30, 2008
Safe Harbor
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of section 27A of Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The forward-looking statements contained herein are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. Satyam undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements. For a discussion of the risks associated with our business, please see the discussions under the heading “Risk Factors” in our report on Form 6-K concerning the quarter ended June 30, 2008, furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 25, 2008, and the other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. These filings are available at http://www.sec.gov.
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