L&T GEOSTRUCTURE
V Kamalak Kannan,
Project Manager, L&T GeoStructure
The 22 km long Mumbai Trans Harbour Link will be the country’s longest sea bridge and V Kamalak Kannan (KK), Project Manager for Marine, Inter-tidal & Land Piling Works is enjoying the rigours of his first project with L&T. “I am absolutely overwhelmed,” he gushes, “to have been given the responsibility of complete piling operations after having been a P&M man for 25 years. Working on an iconic project, using state-of- the-art RCDs and given the onus to build and lead a team is almost too good to be true.”
It is obvious that he is completely consumed by his project and building a structure on mudflats is a challenging proposition that requires careful planning and needs to be executed considering the shifting tides. “We needed experts for the RCD piling rig operations, maintenance, assembly and commissioning and hence trained 20 people. Another team was prepared for main liner extension welding that has reduced the time taken for the activity to exactly half. Time,” he says, “is crucial because a lot of our work has to completed during low tide; material logistics on barges and tugs has to be planned during high tide and shifting of heavy equipment from one finger to the other cannot disrupt other activities.”
KK and his team have had several opportunities to enhance operational efficiency. “A careful study of the working and idle time prompted us to increase shifts in the marine section from 2 to 3 to avoid the idling of machineries for 2 – 3 hours in the morning and evening by which we increased working time from 18 to 24 hours per day. A huge saving,” he exults. “We implemented a parking liner system for BHA temporary storage to reduce the time taken to re-build the drill string and in the process saved around 10 hours per pile.” He shares about the design improvements in the PGF (Pile Guide Frame), IPG (Internal Pile Guide), modifications to the discharge connection by using bends to protect the RCD gooseneck and building working and concreting platforms to reduce the reliance on man baskets and thereby reduce cycle time. “The QIR and Safety apps have hugely improved the quality and safety of our execution,” he shares, giving a thumbs up to digitalization.
KK’s wife, K Kalaiyarasi, is a homemaker and they are blessed with two sons, K Rupesh and K Parameshwara. Hailing from Kattu Mannar Koil, in Cuddalore district, the methodical KK “cycles in the morning, swims on Sundays and reads before going to sleep!”
Nowshath hussain A,
Project Manager, L&T GeoStructure
Project Manager, Nowshath Hussain has a special love for fishes and his hobby is looking after his aquarium tanks at home with his wife. An apt hobby, one might say, for someone who executes projects in marine environments. “Presently, I am Project Manager at the IOCL Refinery project at Paradip Odisha, in charge of DCIS piling and stone column works activities,” he shares energetically, adding, “we have casted 550 mm dia piles to a depth of 26 m and with this pile length we are achieving 20 piles per rig per day.”
Having wet his feet at other projects involving DCIS piling like the APTIDCO projects at Palakolu and Ongole, Nowshath feels that his biggest challenge at site is to extract greater productivity from his machines. “Piling works are process oriented so our rig machines have to generate an average productivity of at least 20 piles per day. So, we analysed the client’s drawings to draw up a detailed rig movement plan to create the work front for a whole week to avoid idling of resources. This detailed rig movement plan has saved the project unwanted piling rig movement and saved us a lot of costs and time,” he smiles triumphantly. “I am also driving effective implementation of our quality and EHS systems and my project was awarded a ‘Certificate of Special Mention.’” Another smile!
To improve operational efficiency, Nowshath conducts regular meetings with the site team and clients, regular maintenance of rigs and mobilisation of resources required for the project based on requirements. On the digital front, he says, “the IDs of individual piles have been uploaded in Procube along with the pile coordinates so that once the piles are completed, the concerned site engineer updates his login which is approved by the planning engineer that is displayed on a dashboard to show overall progress for the day.”
Nowshath’s native place is Salem, Tamil Nadu, and apart from his aquarium-loving wife, Farheen A, the couple are blessed with two sons, Muhib Hussain N and Shoaib Hussain N. “My most memorable moment was when I was given the role as Project Manager to carry out piling activities,” he laughs.
“I would like supply chain management to be digitized,” he offers as a change he would like to make and adds “The dedication of our people at L&T is what is enhancing our operational efficiency.”
Vinod Bapurao Thakare,
Senior Manager – Execution, L&T GeoStructure
“My most memorable moment was when we were appreciated by the then CM of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, for successfully completing the diaphragm wall at the Polavaram Dam project in 2018,” shares Vinod Thakare with all the excitement of a child having passed a tough examination with flying colours. “Completing the (Polavaram Dam) project was just a milestone but for me it was more than a story,” he shares with feeling. “In 414 days, we constructed the second deepest diaphragm wall in the world. The kind of challenges we faced only we will know and there were many times we thought we would have to give up but as a team we stood firm as a rock. It was a roller coaster ride, but we did it and to summarize it in one line: for me and each one of us in the team it will remain in the history of the construction industry as a great team effort!”
The impact of the Polavaram project is so great on Vinod that most of his innovations are from it! “During the compaction of river sand, our vibroflots couldn’t penetrate more than 15 m though we had to reach a depth of 20 m. It took us 45 minutes plus for a single operation. After soil investigation and studying penetration data, I suggested a modification to the vibroflot assembly with additional fittings. Not only were able to penetrate more than 20 m depth but penetration time reduced to 10 minutes from 45 and we were able to complete a column in 27 minutes as against 73 minutes earlier.” Again, during the trenching for the cut-off wall, the trench cutter had to be removed after trenching at depths of 90 – 93 m for cleaning and general maintenance that was prolonging the cycle time to 270 minutes. “Based on the trench cutter operator’s B-Tronic data sheet and after observations, I suggested deploying additional jetting pumps and manpower for the entire process and cycle time reduced to just 150 minutes.”
Vinod mentions that he and his team have targeted specific areas like equipment downtime, idling of resources, cash flow and competence levels to improve operational efficiencies. “We also ensure maximum utilization of machinery, day-to-day monitoring of operational activities, close monitoring of movement of machinery to avoid idling and mandatory weekly reviews with all departmental heads.”
“I always try to learn new skills during my free time,” he says, “reading job-related books, journals and online articles.” Hailing from Amravati, Maharashtra, Vinod’s wife, Lakshmi, is a homemaker they have a son and daughter, Teja and Geetika.
“Given a chance, I would place more emphasis and focus on leadership development, training and opportunities for non-managers and executive assistants,” he concludes.
G Boobathy Vishwanath,
Senior Manager – Execution, L&T GeoStructure
“In the specialized area of underground construction, people are always scared to attempt new technologies and constructions methods to improve efficiency, but I have found that by being brave and daring to try new techniques, I have had great successes at my projects,” says G Boobathy Vishwanath (GBV) with conviction. “For example, at the Purushothapatnam lift irrigation project, we attempted to construct a diaphragm wall using a trench cutter with polymer. It had never been attempted before in India, but I took up the challenge and we not only succeeded but we achieved the wall with quality and safety, to the complete satisfaction of our client, and we actually completed the project ahead of time,” he smiles triumphantly. “Closely linked to attempting new techniques is the quality of our people and it is team building that has really helped me improve overall efficiency at my project sites,” he says with utter honesty. “I believe in my team, I listen to them, buy their ideas even during construction that increases their participation, their confidence and the overall process improves.”
A DET of batch 2003, GBV has had a long run at L&T. “I was the foundation coordinator at the Foundation Engineering Competence Cell from 2005 to 2011,” he points out after which he was planning in charge for the CMRL underground stations for a couple of years. Thereafter, he has been involved with station diaphragm wall works at UG-02 & 03, large diameter barrrette piles for CMRL stations, ‘D’ wall for entry/exit works at UG-02 & 3, balance works of the ‘D’ wall at UG-02 and the Purushothapatnam Lift Irrigation project. “Presently, I function as a coordinator for special foundation jobs responsible to ensure the timely completion of projects by providing every possible support from HQ. Being a special foundation contractor and since our works are below ground level, our main challenge is to deal with the soil strata. Also, since our works are primarily driven by equipment and special crews, extracting productivity consistently from the team is a huge challenge.”
He strongly advocates greater empowerment at sites, “it will quicken decision making and fetch us the desired results,” he points out. “Always valuing customer needs and meeting their expectations along with our robust systems, processes and strong culture are what I believe will bring us continued success going forward.”
GBV hails from Madurai, Tamil Nadu and his better half, Shobitha is an IT professional with Cognizant Technologies and the love of their lives is their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Aradhana. “I was most thrilled when I saw my offer letter from L&T after my campus interview,” he laughs.
Amit mishra,
Assistant Manager – Planning, L&T GeoStructure
As Project Manager of the Coal Terminal Project of L&T GeoStructure in Paradip, Odisha, some of the most serious challenges that Amit Mishra faced were to weather three storms during a single year! “Of the three (storms), Cyclone Fani intensified into an extremely severe cyclone but on all three occasions, we took all the necessary precautionary measures at site that resulted in no property loss to any of our assets and site establishments.” Even though a number of their activities are below ground like piling, constructing diaphragm walls, excavating for the coal berth, creating connecting retaining structures and the like, Amit says, “we executed a lot of our work during the monsoons to deliver the project in time.”
The Paradip assignment is Amit’s third after having been involved in the construction of CW & MUW Systems at the NPGC Power Plant in Nabinagar, Bihar and the construction of a diaphragm wall for a cut & cover portion of the Korukkupet Metro Station, for Chennai Metro Rail Limited in Chennai although Paradip remains his favourite thus far. “We planned a critical activity of executing 600 micro piles with a tie beam arrangement to protect the shallow foundations of the conveyor line that had been on hold for more than 4 months.” He mentions engaging the appropriate quantum of trained work force split between building the coal berth and the retaining structure and the right selection of sub-contractors for critical activities like capping beams, tie rod fixing, precast slabs, in-situ beams and the like as vital contributors to improve the efficiency at his project.
Hailing from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, Amit’s better half, Vandana is a home maker and the couple are blessed with a baby girl, Avni, who is understandably the love of Amit’s life. “Her birth is one of my life’s most memorable moments,” he gushes with eyes alight and adds, “Receiving the award for the Best Planning Manager in 2019 from our CEO and the Safety Trophy for the Coal Terminal project were lovely moments too as also was the time when I got selected as a GET in L&T in 2012.” Amit loves to solve problems of logical reasoning and watch and play cricket, whenever he gets the chance.
While systematic procedures and digitalization are what he flags off as efficiency drivers at L&T Construction, he feels that “although we have very good HR and training departments, we can still identify more execution engineers for suitable training depending on their competence.”