Commissioning of a HV battery cell coating line in China

Scope

Strama-MPS GmbH commissioned Faircom to undertake the turnkey commissioning of a high-voltage cell coating line at its Ningde location in China. The objective was to bring an installed line not yet operational into full production swiftly despite the challenges presented by the pandemic.

Faircom was responsible for the entire project and construction site management locally. This included commissioning the line, optimising it on a technical level, planning and carrying out quality acceptance inspections and producing and continuously tracking an updated overall project schedule. Faircom also coordinated the suppliers involved and regularly reported progress to the end client’s management.

Another key aspect was planning and safeguarding the production launch in order to commence mass production on schedule despite considerable project delays.

Project details

Sector: Automotive (e-mobility)/plant and mechanical engineering

Client: Strama-MPS GmbH

Location: Ningde, China (100%)

Undertaken by: Waldemar Graf

Time period: 2021–2022

When Strama MPS commissioned the project, the coating line was already physically located at the Ningde site in China. However, due to coronavirus travel restrictions, it was impossible to use German technical staff on site. The project was already at an escalation stage and significantly behind schedule. There was a high risk that the planned production start would not be achieved on schedule.

The objective was to recover lost time due to critical project delays, minimise the risk of production stoppages and steer the project back to re-establish a stable workflow. Faircom assumed responsibility for local project and site management and designed strategies to enable simultaneous commissioning and production.

The coronavirus-related travel restrictions made work on site exceptionally challenging. The project team mainly comprised Chinese specialists. Due to the tight time frame and staffing challenges, extremely high workloads were required with working weeks of about 80 hours during several months. This effort was necessary to make up for lost ground and put the project back on track.

Despite all the challenges, Faircom managed to complete commissioning successfully. The lost time was recovered using a new strategy: carrying out commissioning and production simultaneously, which Waldemar Graf coordinated and implemented in agreement with the end client. The quality acceptance inspections were successfully completed and the line was handed over to the operator.

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