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HotLine about you AND USvolume 2 | no. 5 | November 2010

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Wiebe van den Elshout:

“Andus Group has grown

substantially over the past

decade. It's a healthy organisation

with a turnover of some

200 million euros and 900

employees. It’s pretty amazing

how that growth has been

achieved in such a short time.

But we have now reached a point

where the organisation is so large

that you cannot let it depend on

only one person at the top. If

you add to that the fact that we,

as Andus Group, want to grow

further, then it's understandable

that broadening is sought.”

Enterprising banker“I have known Tom van Rijn

now for about seven years from

my previous job, so we are not

strangers to each other. I come

from the banking industry,

but consider myself more of

an entrepreneur. So far, we

have not yet made any official

division of responsibilities,

that will come later. It is in

line with the expectations that

I will be more concerned with

financial management and

personnel policy. Still, I would

like to emphasise that I am not a

numbers fanatic bent on imposing

bureaucracy on the procedures

here or someone who just looks

at the costs. This feeling can

rapidly occur when you’re coming

from the world of banking. That’s

why it is good to know that in

my previous employment, I was

responsible for the ‘business

banking’ section. That puts you

constantly in touch with business

and with ‘enterprise’, with

discovering opportunities and the

effort to exploit these, rather than

just the finances.”

Strength of the company“What I’ve seen so far of

Andus Group, I really like. It

is a professional, horizontal

organisation where decisions

can be made quickly. Let’s say

you have the joys of a small

company but not the burdens

of a large one. I have also

already been able to shake a

lot of people's hands. Everyone

impresses me as being very

committed. That is extremely

important for an organisation,

that’s where its strength often

lies. Finally, I think we make

beautiful finished products. It’s

great to work for a company that

creates tangible, often impressive

projects and products. In

short, Andus Group suits me

perfectly.”

a pleasant introductionOn 1 July 2010, Wiebe van den Elshout (42) was appointed Director of Andus Group. Together with Tom van Rijn,

he is one of the two directors of the group and is responsible for future policy. This concerns a future in which

continuity will be further ensured and growth ambitions will be realised.

Teambuilding

in True duTch

weaTher

On 15 September, some 75

Andus employees got together

for an exciting team-building

day. In the Frisian town of

Hindeloopen, in the morning,

the group was treated to an

inspirational address by Gerard

Kemkers, the famous ex-skater

and successful coach. Then the

Frisian waters were conquered

in rough weather conditions.

A great day in which it was

once again demonstrated how

strong the team is that we have!

It will not be long before it

becomes mandatory under the

Building Decree to manufacture

steel and aluminium construc-

tions in accordance with the

NEN-EN 1090-1 and 1090-2

standards. That has a number of

implications for our manufactur-

ing and assembly process. Not

only are very strict requirements

placed on the materials we use,

but also on all our work in the

factories and on construction sites.

But if we meet all the require-

ments, then we can proudly

say that we deliver CE-certified

constructions: the well-known

European mark of quality which

already graces many a product.

And that’s good. It is a recognition

of our quality and moreover, every

country in Europe will then be

obliged to approve and accept our

products without being able to

impose additional requirements.

Because we already want to

meet these requirements now,

a course was held in September

at the head office in Eindhoven

given by three experts in this

area. In five sessions - from

3 p.m. to 8 p.m. - twenty of

our employees, ranging from

production and assembly man-

agers to engineers, project

managers and quality control

people, struggled through

the four inch thick course

folder. They are now carrying

this knowledge further to the

various business units, after

which we will yet again place

our procedures critically under

the spotlight. One thing is

certain: once the standard

becomes mandatory, we’ll be

ready for it!

course in-house

In February 2009, Total E&P Nederland awarded to HSM Offshore the Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract for the K5CU

North Sea satellite platform. Iv Oil & Gas is a partner for the engineering. Around a year and a half later, the ‘topside’ could be positioned

in the open sea onto ‘the jacket’ that had meanwhile been anchored onto the seabed.

pluG in and Gas out

latest news!

A simplified ‘sketch’ of an

offshore platform: a steel frame-

work consisting of four legs is

positioned on the seabed. In this

case a construction weighing

800 metric tons and 49 metres

high. This jacket is secured to

the seabed with pipes penetrat-

ing 52 metres into the seabed

which are filled with ‘grout’.

Then the topside is put onto it:

an ingenious construction, every

square centimetre of which is

used for the efficient extraction

and processing of the extracted

gas. In the case of this plat-

form, the topside weighs 800

metric tons and is three decks

high (17 metres). Ultimately

the construction reaches a

height of some 66 metres. The

construction of the topside is a

very complex puzzle, precisely

because of its compactness and

its layering. Timing is crucial.

One deck must, in fact, be

completely finished, including

processing equipment, before it

is ‘closed’ by the next deck.

Delivered completeSuch a platform is already

impressive because of its sheer

size. But when you consider that

it is delivered ‘plug and play’,

that is simply amazing. Once

a period of installation and

connection has taken place, the

platform is ready to produce.

The gas is extracted, purified

of water and transported to the

parent platform elsewhere in

the North Sea. Without anyone

being present on K5CU. It is, in

fact, controlled from the parent

platform or from the control

room in The Hague. In order for

all of this to happen, there have

been months of prior testing on

land. Every cable, switch, pipe,

meter, etc. is tested. The gas

and diesel generators, lighting

of the helipad, the fire extin-

guishing system: everything

must work f lawlessly. Including

the kettle in the pantry for the

maintenance crew. Because even

that is included.

HSM Offshore and ABB AB

Offshore Wind Connections

have recently reached agree-

ment for the design and supply

of a transformer platform. This

platform will be part of the

C-Powerfarshore wind farm on the

Thornton Bank in the North Sea,

about 30 kilometres off the

Belgian coast. HSM designs,

builds and delivers the platform

including all internal instal-

lations. The ‘load out’ weight

will be some 2,000 metric tons.

In February 2011, manufacture

commences and delivery will

take place in March 2012.

A Cat Cracker is a system

for the catalytic cracking of

petroleum products. The large

molecules of ‘heavy oil’ are

broken into smaller fragments

by heat, high speed and a

catalyst. In this way, the oil is

converted into different types of

gas, high octane petrol or diesel.

This is quite an aggressive

process taking place in large

steel towers. The reactor tower

is lined on the inside, because

otherwise the ‘powdery’ catalyst

would grind away the steel in

literally no time.

Filling holesFrom the ground f loor, the steel

reactor cylinder rises to a height

of some 40 metres. Diameter:

about twelve metres.

And inside: Gouda Vuurvast

employees in ‘space suits’

manually demolishing the old

coating. Inside the cracker, the

highest possible safety regime

is in effect. Next, a process of

blast cleaning and grinding

of the walls follows. Then the

inside of the reactor is covered

with a steel honeycomb profile.

Over 450 honeycombs per

square metre. When all profiles

are welded to the walls, you’re

looking at about 300,000 ‘holes’.

Then ‘the filling’ is produced

at the Shell site in the specially

equipped Gouda workshop.

It is a chemically bonded

greasy mass that looks like

putty. But it hardens tough as

stone. Concrete is nothing by

comparison. Finally the ‘donkey

work’ begins, unparalleled

craftsmanship. Each honeycomb

must be carefully filled using

one's thumb and tapped with a

hammer. 300,000 times and up

to a great height… Impressive.

quick switch at shellSuddenly, somebody at Shell Pernis raised the alarm: the Cat Cracker-2 had to be taken out of service unexpectedly. Repair it quickly?

No, it was decided to bring forward the regular maintenance originally scheduled to take place in six months' time. In no time, the site was

provided with accommodation for the hundreds of people who would then have to get to work. Gouda Vuurvast Services also got off to a

flying start: the company had been granted the order to install the new fire and wear-resistant coating of the cracker.

Some more details from

Bouwen met Staal: "For the

facelift of the existing terminal

'a box' measuring 120x96x22m

(lxwxh) with glass roofs and

façades will be placed on only

eight principal columns (slim

oval and tapered columns with

branchings). Diagonal roof-

lines lead travellers to the four

new passageways, resulting in

deformation sensitive parallelo-

grams." Almost enough to make

your hair turn grey, but not for

the men of Steel Engineering

and Contracting: “It is complex,

but great fun and challenging.”

Open during renovationsChallenging you can certainly

call it. Not only the production

of the main oval columns out of

rolled steel plates and cast steel.

And not only the production of

the 900 metric ton roof struc-

ture or a total of 780 metric

tons of working platforms at 15

and 19 metres height. Also the

demolition of the old roof and

the installation Is a gigantic

project. The construction must

not actually disturb any traffic.

The 120,000(!) passengers per

day must be able to go about

undisturbed. That means the

bus, tram and train traffic conti-

nues as normal during the reno-

vation. In addition, it is difficult

to access the site and dimen-

sions are tight. So everything

must be planned to the small-

est detail. The position of the

three cranes has already been

carefully measured up. And

‘very simply’: those cranes don’t

work in the daytime, because

that would be dangerous for

the thousands of people on the

ground. So work goes on through-

out the night so as not to be left

empty-handed the next day.

It will be a while yet before

OVT-2 is ready, but then it will

be something really splendid.

We can be justifiably proud of

such a prestigious project!

120,000 people on siteRijnDijk Steel Contracting has again scooped up a nice order. Commissioned by Strukton Bouw, in 2011 manufacture and assembly will begin

for the main steel structure of the public transport terminal roof, the Openbaar Vervoer Terminal (OVT-2) in The Hague. In the words of the

trade journal Bouwen met Staal (Building with Steel) June issue: the jewel of the terminal.

Source: Bouwen met Staal 06 2010

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Gouda Refractories has very specialised knowledge to hand. It is therefore not so very strange that ‘the big petrochemical giants of the

earth’ every so often come knocking on our door in picturesque Gouda. This is always a nice compliment. This time, it’s for an order from

GASCO, a joint venture between ADNOC, Shell, Total and Partex based in Abu Dhabi. Tecnimont KT is our principal client for this. They are

providing the entire processing line for the removal of sulphur from natural gas. Gouda Refractories is supplying the fireproof lining.

Gouda Goes deep into the desert

Deep in the desert in Abu Dhabi,

there are gas fields of unprece-

dented production potential.

Whereas previously the extracted

‘raw’ gas was exported straight-

away, the policy has changed

over the last ten years. The gas is

now further processed into semi-

finished and finished products.

That means that massive

chemical and petrochemical

complexes have emerged as well

and are continuing to be built.

One of those is Habshan 5,

an extension of the existing

Habshan plant.

Pure customisationBecause the gas in Abu Dhabi

is relatively high in sulphur,

the sulphur is first removed

in so-called ‘Sulphur Recovery

Units’ (SRUs). These consist of

vats up to a diameter of about

6 metres and 20 metres long.

At least for this order. That

makes this the largest SRU

project in the world, consisting

of four identical ‘SRU-trains’

from the main burner up to

and including the top of the

chimney. Because in the course

of processing the temperature

rises to about 1200°C, the inside

of the combustion chambers are

clad to a thickness of 0.5 metres

with high quality fireproof bricks

(2,100 metric tons of material).

In addition, various types of

fireproof concrete (3,000 metric

tons of material) ensure the

correct temperature reduction

for the vats and the chimney.

And naturally, this is where

Gouda comes onto the scene.

An exceptionally complicated

task, because it is not simply a

matter of just baking bricks.

First hundreds of hours of

engineering are involved before

production can begin, it is pure

custom work, brick by brick.

The first delivery is planned

for August 2011 and twelve

months later the project will be

completed and can be added to

our list of completed projects,

along with the SRUs already

shipped worldwide to, amongst

other places, Saudi Arabia, China,

Europe, the USA and Canada!

When train wheels are running

over iron rails, iron filings are

produced. These filings remain

on and around the rails and

points. Sometimes that is not a

problem, but in track sections

with insulated block joints

(electrically insulated joints) it

can cause a short circuit. When

that happens, the safety system

thinks that the track section is

occupied and the well-known

message comes over the tannoy

that a delay has been caused

owing to a signal failure.

With the PPM, that need no

longer happen.

Force of attractionAfter the PPM had been

installed on a number of track

sections in the Netherlands,

there followed years of research

and fine-tuning. With success!

In some sections of track, the

number of signal failures has

been reduced by as much as

90%. And as with all ingenious

solutions, the operation of the

PPM is simple: the magnet is

mounted next to the insulated

block joint and ‘catches’ the

f lying metal dust so that the

joints stay clean. The success

in the Netherlands did not go

unnoticed in Europe. In France,

Sweden and Denmark, mean-

while, PPMs have been installed.

And to top it all off, the British

Network Rail approved the

magnet in ‘no time’ for the

English railways although they

have the strictest admission

criteria there. The result: an

impressive order for P&K Rail

of 1,000 PPMs in the canary

yellow version!

MaGnet conquers europeA few years ago P&K Rail brought a product onto the market that had been invented in cooperation with

VolkerRail: the so-called permanent particle magnet (PPM). The PPM has been patented in the meantime,

and has already prevented many a train delay.