2639 comprehensive approach to piloting, process understanding and scale-up, Falcondo achieved spectacular start-up success. Falconbridge carried out four stages of piloting at site – as regards the smelting step, the last two stages used a 0.65 MW furnace for Stage 3 and a 1.5 MW furnace for Stage 4. The commercial plant, which started in 1971, had three, 44 MW rectangular furnaces. The power scale-up represented a stretch, but still at an acceptable level of 29 times. Nevertheless, like all new technology implementations, some modifications after start-up were required. In this case, these entailed adding water-cooled copper elements to the furnace walls to achieve acceptable refectory life. The following section discusses how to achieve accelerated ramp-ups with the right people and delivery approach to enable operational readiness and ramp-up excellence. 5. DISCUSSION 5.1 Phronesis of the Project Team Phronesis is practical wisdom through accumulated knowledge and experience. Since 1998, McNulty has examined project case histories and identified having the right people with common sense / practical wisdom as a characteristic supporting successful ramp-up performance, whereas a lack of it ends up resulting in project failure [1]. Wasmund also studied project case histories and flagged the importance of having the right people to enable a successful ramp-up. [9] Flyvbjerg’s work also stresses the importance of a project team with phronesis. [8] The dilemma is that in the last few decades, many highly experienced engineers, designers, and plant operators have retired, causing loss of phronesis. Enrollment in mineral engineering curricula has steadily declined, requiring substitution with other disciplines. Personnel shortages have led to advancement beyond the rate of development of experience and judgment. A simple illustration of the role of phronesis in project outcomes is presented by Figure 2. Note: TRL stands for “Technical Readiness Level”, a technology maturity scale developed by NASA in the 1970s. [10] Figure 2 – Understanding how the “phronesis” of the project team can impact ramp-up outcomes. This concept is perhaps best described by Ed Catmull, “If you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they will screw it up. If you give a mediocre idea to a brilliant team, they will either fix it or throw it away and come up with something better.” [11]
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0Mzk2