This article was written in close collaboration with Mr. Kenneth Tanimomo, Eng., Project Engineer, AGF Steel and Mr. Pierre Colangelo, Procurement Manager, AGF Group.
In August 2012, AGF Steel obtained a contract for the supplying and bending of reinforcing steel for the Hebron oil rig project. It is a major project, designed according to the highest international standards, thus allowing AGF once more to show its know-how and prove that the company is a key player in the reinforcing steel industry. It is a source of great pride. The project is due to be completed in March 2015.
Hebron is a GBS (Gravity Base Structure)-type oil rig. The base is made of reinforced concrete lying on the sea bed. That base holds the tanks of oil to be pumped and supports the superstructure. For that contract, AGF must produce over 40,000 MT of steel, with peaks at more than 1000 MT per week. All the steel to be used is of 500W type, reinforced via a special chemical process imported by Norwegian engineers. It is manufactured at the Mittal mill in Contrecœur and sent by barge to Newfoundland. Before the steel is shipped, all test certificates are submitted to the client representative for approval. Once the steel is delivered, all castings are sampled by the client for retesting.
Phase one consists in a partial construction of the rig in a dry dock prepared especially by erecting a temporary levee in a small cove. That levee will then be dismantled and the cove flooded once again, allowing buoyancy to lift the massive structure and make it float for towing offshore. Phase two will then start, with barges transporting materials to the offshore site.
Since AGF had not worked in that area before, everything had to be set up. It was quite an operation to mobilise resources and 10 weeks later, a manufacturing plant was cutting the first bars meeting a very tight schedule. More than twenty thousand (20,000) metric tons were produced and shipped to the site within 10 months, to the customer's complete satisfaction.
The working team is made of Newfoundlanders, who were trained by experienced workers from AGF plants in Quebec. Mr. Jules Paulin and Kenneth Tanimomo have been running the Newfoundland plant since the beginning. The number of employees varies between 30 and 40. We can talk here about AGF synergy and strength at work.
An interesting fact: that plant is the first one to use the aSa system for the entire follow-up of production and shipping, in response to client requirements. Steel traceability is effective and computer-assisted via scanners and the aSa “Material tracking” module. With only one click, it is possible to identify the heat number, the packaging number, the date and time, and the operator relative to the production of a given bending. Inventory management is done using the “Bundle Inventory” module. All those processes position AGF as a leading-edge player in its sector of activity.
Our production is subject to regular inspections by a quality control representative and to this day, there wasn’t any case of non-compliance.
In terms of health and safety, everything has been done to provide our workers with a safe work environment, and we have had no serious injuries.
Hebron is also a report project: weekly reports of hours worked, weekly production reports, inventory reports, health and safety reports, weekly meeting reports, health and safety committee reports, machinery inspection reports, etc.
We wish to thank everyone who works ceaselessly for the overall success of that project.
