A team of 2 people holds the role of Capital Projects Coordinators at Alcoa. This role consists in supporting 22 different facilities situated in Iceland, Norway, Spain, United States, South America and Canada. This team works with the management teams to facilitate the approval process for the projects. The annual capital budget is roughly 100 USD.
Every year there are over one hundred plus projects that attain the FEL2 stage. For Alcoa this is when the Value Analysis process begins. A criteria list exists to determine which projects the Value Analysis process must be followed. The activities must be held in the different plants and we must have the right people around the table, usually about 10 people are present. The activity may take 1.5 to 3 days depending on the complexity and cost of the project, which has to be very well prepared ahead of time to be able to meet objectives over a short period.
During the first 6 months of 2017, there has been 25 Value Analysis activities held in the Alcoa plants, since 2014 around 60 activities. The initial project cost of these 60 projects was approximately 258 million USD. From this amount there has been cost avoidance or cost deferral of about 45 million USD which is about 17%. The budget is not reduced when this happens, it permits the plants to add other projects to their list to improve each plant’s performance.
These activities clarify the Business Case and provides detailed Solution Analysis and facilitates communications between the Production, Maintenance and Engineering people. All standards and protocols are respected to ensure sustainability of each project. Everyone has a very clear understanding of the Scope of Work and the layout.
Value Analysis gives credibility to Management during the Project Approval process.
The Deloro Mine Site Cleanup Project deals with the complex legacy of environmental contamination caused by the former owners of a historical mining, refining, and manufacturing site at Deloro, Ontario.
The Ontario government has spent more than $32 million on a number of actions to significantly reduce the amount of arsenic coming off of the site. The Ministry of the Environment assumed responsibility for this site when the owner failed to comply with orders to stop pollution. The ministry has made significant progress in dealing with the complex and multifaceted environmental issues at the site. Final remediation plans have recently been developed and are currently underway. It is expected that the entire cleanup will take six to eight years to complete.
In 2009, the Moe initiated a Value Engineering Study to review the design of the Deloro Mine Site Cleanup. This review allowed the owners, designers and independent team members an opportunity to examine the design with an objective of improving the value of the investment as the project is carried forward.