NKT Does Complex Work – CHPE Project
The Champlain Hudson Power Express is an electric power supply initiative to facilitate the transmission of sustainable hydropower from Canada to New York City. The 1,250-megawatt transmission line is one of the largest infrastructure investments in New York City’s history and will contribute to the state’s ambition for at least 70% of electricity generation and consumption to come from renewable energy sources by 2030. The Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE) Project includes the manufacture and supply of submarine cable, onshore cable, and accessories for a route from the U.S.-Canada border in the Northern United States (The State of NY) down to New York City (Queens).
The Champlain Hudson Power Express route has been carefully designed to minimize its impact on the environment. Burying the line keeps it out of sight and also protects it from extreme weather. The project will utilize waterways, existing roads, and railroad rights of way to remain out of sight. It will also be avoiding environmentally sensitive areas near the former GE Hudson River plant and the protected sturgeon habitat in Haverstraw Bay. Two five-inch-diameter cables will be placed underwater or underground and run 339 miles from the U.S.-Canadian border, south through Lake Champlain, along and under the Hudson River, and eventually ending at a converter station that will be built in Astoria, Queens.
NKT needs to produce what will be installed, and every high voltage cable is a unique, project specific product that has never been done before. What NKT does, based on client specifications, over the average span of five years, design the new cable, produce a small quantity, test it, and if the cable sample withstands all tests, we go into production, then we install it and finally we commission it.
Alessandro Parisi, NKT Head of Project Planning – Supply Chain HV Solutions Division, narrates NKT’s values with project planning, employee development, and his department’s experience with Plan Academy.
Challenge: NKT Knows the Importance of a Good Plan
In simple words we would be lost without Planning and Scheduling. To us planning and scheduling is like the car’s navigation system. If you travel to a new location without a navigation system you can still drive the car and have a vague idea where you are and when you will reach your destination, but if you use planning properly you can have full control of the project, from what has been done, what remains to be done and when, to making scenarios and taking more effective decisions based on solid assumptions.
An average high voltage cable project lasts five years. An additional layer of complexity is added since we are running many cable projects in parallel in the same factories and they can all influence each other creating heavily impacting cascade effects. Therefore, on top of the single project plans, portfolio planning is crucial.
The Plan Academy training platform has been key to raise the general planning and P6 knowledge level in my department and every new member gets enrolled in the trainings, either for refreshing knowledge or to start a new career as a planner - Alessandro Parisi
Solution: Plan Academy has What Your Team Needs
Michael and the Plan Academy videos where the videos were the most convincing, really easy to understand, entertaining, and filled with solid planning knowledge. I was introduced to your training module, I tried it myself and since then we are using it as standard training for planners in NKT.
Our experience with Plan Academy is incredibly positive. One of the most common comments is that you can do the trainings at your own pace between meetings because many topics are addressed in short videos of a couple of minutes each. Also, senior planners appreciate them because they can easily search for specific topic and refresh their memory in a quick way. The addition of free webinars had added content and value for our planners, no matter their level of knowledge.
Results: NKT Knows the Importance of Employee Development
Our people are our most valuable asset. The skills, the experience and dedication of our colleagues are fundamental to our success as a company. Not investing in our staff would be extremely shortsighted from our side.
When I started in 2016, we had a team of six planners, no indication on how to plan and everyone was delivering planning support to the project purely based on personal experience. Now we have 29 planners and growing. To make it work we had to streamline the way of planning and scheduling, starting with a standard WBS tailored for the cable business and a schedule management procedure. Now we have manuals that guide all planners in each step of a cable project, from how to include weather contingency in our schedules to how to correctly perform a delay analysis. We also have company templates for all main planning reports, such as lookaheads, S-curves, progress reports, linear planning, milestone trend analysis etc. By streamlining the way of working we are able to plan also on portfolio level, we ensure robust quality standards, gain control over our projects, and boost the confidence of our clients.
As a manager I believe that it is not sufficient to buy expensive training; each team member needs to be mentored and supported during the entire development process. Development and achievements shall be praised and if for some reason they are not at the expected level we need to understand the root cause and fix it.