A year ago I was called by Antonio Arruti, president of GDK, who told me: “with this collection of equipment that you represent, Fluxo should partner with companies like ours, you supplying the equipment and automation, which are your specialty, and we focusing on our core business. That way, we could certainly establish a win-win partnership.”
The advice received at that meeting actually led us to seriously consider this alternative. After all, we were experiencing new moments at Petrobras, which, for the automation of Rnest and Comperj, for the first time, established the MAC (Main Automation Contractor) as a contracting method for all the automation and instrumentation of these new refineries. Through this format, Petrobras started to hire companies that are responsible for the entire supply of instrumentation and automation, concentrating the supply interface in a single company, which in the past consisted of dozens of interfaces. In a joking way, we say that the contract was for chicken to bird and now you buy a whole chicken.
When I discussed the matter with Fernando Barbosa, superintendent director of Odebrecht's offshore area, I realized that we were really on the right track, as this is the modality successfully applied abroad, in any type of project. It allows the TOC (Total Cost of Ownership) philosophy to be achieved, which takes into account not only the purchase costs, but also the expenses that keep the products in operation. The contractor contracts the package from a single company specialized in the matter, which brings advantages such as the drastic reduction of interfaces and better control in planning and supply, in addition to the main benefit for the final customer, which is having, at the end of the project, equipment and standardized instruments, of world quality, with lower operating costs and after-sales technical assistance assured in the country.
Mendes Júnior was one of the first to hire Fluxo in this modality, in its TABR project, (Terminal Aquaviário da Barra do Riacho), which is an LPG terminal to be operated by Transpetro. She realized that the addition of the terminal automation technology to the pipeline automation technology that Fluxo has would allow the MAC that was offered by Fluxo to be able to understand the supply of all the instrumentation, through a MIV (Main Instrumentation Vendor) package, of the represented Emerson, which includes the supply of measuring stations, through the represented Daniel, and the supply of motorized valves, with the conjunction of Fluxo's partners: KSB, MNA and Rotork. The integration of the plant was carried out by the affiliate Automind.
Galvão Engenharia, which leads the Alusa, Galvão and Tomé Consortium, also contracted the MAC from Fluxo, in its TAIC project (Ilha Comprida Waterway Terminal), also an LPG terminal. In both, in addition to the aforementioned equipment, Fluxo also supplied the maritime loading arms of its represented FMC, which brought more density to the project. The agreed deadlines for the two deliveries were met, despite all the changes made to the projects.
In this MAC and MIV package, Fluxo's scope is not restricted to supplying only the equipment. It also comprises conditioning, commissioning, calibration, factory tests, qualitative supervision of the assembly of these supplied items, monitoring of field tests and start-up. A management team is placed specifically for delivery and, when necessary, with the manager located within the project offices. To avoid the bureaucracy of going back and forth with documents to be approved, Fluxo organizes, when necessary, joint efforts with the engineering company hired by the contractor, the same and Fluxo, where drawings and documents are approved, reducing precious time spent on the paperwork.
Another interesting aspect of the delivery is the use of AMS asset management software as a project validation tool and to assist with commissioning. This software, intended for the maintenance of instruments, control valves and equipment, is compatible with the vast majority of instrumentation project management software such as INTOOLS, from Sisgraph, which is used as a standard by Petrobras' E&P projects. We use the software as a validator of the execution project itself, insofar as a database can be created, at the beginning of the detailed project, with the models of the equipment that are being supplied. Throughout the development of the detailed project, this database is used and any discrepancies between the physical and the project specifications can be immediately verified. At the end of the detailed project, we have the parameterization of instruments, analyzers, control valves and other items, ready and fully aligned with it, eliminating errors and simplifying commissioning actions. At the end of the project, the AMS software will have all the maintenance base ready, properly configured.
• Article written by the president of Fluxo Hideo Hama