Salcomp Manufacturing Unit, Sriperumbudur, Chennai

Karmaa SR Consultants Pvt. Ltd. has been working with Yokohama/ ATG Tire Group for the last five years. This is the third plant for which our company has been retained as engineering consultants and PMC for the project.

Since the client is in different tire segment in India, they briefed us that they are planning to put the Off Highway Tire (OHT) plant in this location.

The technology for the production and methodology for the project implementation adopted was altogether different than the earlier plant our organization had completed for the client.

INITIAL THOUGHT
In all the Industrial projects undertaken by our organization, the focus is mainly on achieving the efficiency on man and material movement with smooth flow for production process. The basic thought process was for this project was playing with masses to achieve rhythm and ease in overall process.

Initial idea was to create structures that shall appeal architecturally as well as have feel and functionality by keeping in mind the client’s requirements. Also, there was difference in contour of the plot to the extent of 3.0 m from one end to other and the idea was to use natural topography of the land to achieve natural gradients.

CHOICE OF MATERIAL
The first and foremost reason for selecting the steel structure is the timeline of the project. Discussions were held on the various permutation and combinations of steel material versus pre-fabricated concrete structures or composite steel and concrete structure but after detailed analysis, the decision regarding going with the steel structure was finalized.

Apart from this, the ease of handling steel members in such mega projects was very convenient for erection of the steel members. The cost of building with steel structure was found out be comparatively economical. Technically, the physical properties of the steel material met all the design requirements which any structural engineer looks for.

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES
Open planning was considered having convenience in circulation inside the buildings. A combination of functionality and design features has been considered. Adequate natural light and natural air ventilations derived from windows and vents has been achieved to enable comfort in plant building specially. Overall scheme has been done by selecting light colors for buildings with patches of landscaping. The Mechanical utility corridor has been planned on one side of the plot, feeding all the desired utility services efficiently to the equipment. The external pipe rack which runs for more than 8 kilometers in the plant area, with a number of pipe racks, has been positioned and routed in such a way that while moving in the plant area, it serves the desired utility services at different location of the plant building.

“When such mega projects are planned, detailed engineering of every aspect of the project becomes very important. I must appreciate the dedicated efforts of our entire architectural and engineering team along with client’s project team; we hardly come across any major challenge while implementing the project. The detailed engineering of the project was done before start of the construction activities, which proved in saving the time of the project implementation. The aggressive timeline target set up by the client senior management team was worked out with backward analysis of the project activities in consultation with the client’s project team and each construction activity was seriously tracked for its completion.”

Rajesh Ukey, Director, Karma SR Consultants Pvt. Ltd.

GEOMETRICS
Geometry of the projects has been decided based on the aspect ratio of the building with the linear production process flow. Sufficient space movement for all MHE’s and around machine movement has also been planned. All other auxiliary buildings have been planned mostly considering the aspect ratio of length to width and mostly straight lines concept is used.

SOFTWARE USED
The software used for planning this projects are AutoCAD, STAAD PRO V8i, SAFE, REVIT (BIM for clash detection), ETABS, DIALUX, ETAP PIPENET, SPRINCAL, MS Project, 3DS Max, V-Ray and Duct Sizer.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE
From day one, the focus was on critical activities of the project, in consultation with the client’s project team. All the GFC drawings were made ready in advance so that there were no issues with respect to drawings for construction activities.

Looking at the massiveness of the project, a number of civil contractors and number of subcontractor for erection of the steel structure were deployed. Perceive work has been done on the interfacing of civil construction activities and PEB material supply as well as on the erection of PEB steel structure. Since this project was executed during peak monsoon season, in order to have free movement for erection equipment, the floor was casted with PCC for the erection of PEB steel members. To expedite the erection of the steel members pod cast method has been used, which saved almost 30 per cent of the time of erection.

IN CONCLUSION
The total construction area of the project was appx. 200000 Sq.M with all MEP services. The project timeline was 18 months including resource mobilization, but the project was successfully completed in 15 months’ time despite of obstructions like the second wave of Covid- 19 and peak monsoon period. The plant was inaugurated by Honorable Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on 16.08.2022. As a token of our steadfast efforts, our company had been honored with “Best Performing Partner” recognition award by the senior management of Yokohama.

Fact File
Client: Yokohama/ ATG Tire Group
Architect & Structural Consultant: Karma SR Consultants Pvt. Ltd.
Steel Supplier & Fabricator: Kirby Building System
Project Management Consultant: Karma SR Consultants Pvt. Ltd.
                                                 & Client’s Management Team