The Hindu Business Line : HCC scales `new peaks' by adopting SAP

Challenges
The process had to be completed before the roads leading to these sites are buried under snow in the winter.
The work had to take place under such harsh weather conditions, backed by adequate medical services.

Mumbai , Dec. 20

Hindustan Construction Co Ltd (HCC) has taken information technology to greater heights, literally.

The construction and infrastructure development company has implemented SAP, which integrates different work stations of an organisation through an online network, at its site locations in Nimoo Bazgo in Jammu and Kashmir, located 11,000 ft above sea level.

World's highest

This is believed to be the highest SAP implementation location in the world, the earlier record being at 6,800 ft above sea level in the Rocky Mountains, US.

Braving harsh weather conditions and unpredictable terrains, the HCC team managed to go live with SAP at its hydroelectric project site locations at Chutak (10,000 ft above sea level) and Nimoo Bazgo (11,000 ft), recently. The SAP project, named "Sanklap", ensures that all HCC's offices and sites have continuous access to an integrated online database, including information about project planning, execution, equipment availability, accounts and finance, costing, procurement, stores and overall material movement on a minute-to-minute basis.

Testing times

HCC had to face a host of problems in implementing the project at these high-altitude project site locations. It had to be completed before the roads leading to these sites are buried under snow in the winter. Then, there was the challenge to work under such harsh weather conditions, backed by adequate medical services.

More challenging was the problem that all SAP hardware needed an earth neutral voltage of 1 at all times, but this region had a much higher voltage of 5, which could cause damage to the equipment. This problem was overcome by setting up special earth pits, created with charcoal dust and salt — these pits have to be watered every day to maintain the desired earth neutral voltage.

Also, special quality cables were deployed for networking, as the temperature variance is extremely high (plus 45 degree to minus 45 degree).

On the hardware side, two VSAT systems were chosen, with one back-up as a precaution.

The SAP implementation was completed at both the sites with KU band systems and another VSAT system with extended C-band was installed along with de-icing kit, which melts the snow automatically in case of heavy snowfall.

"Project sites like those in J&K are testing grounds for the company's IT initiative. Moving large equipment typical of the construction industry to such inaccessible areas can be daunting. The SAP implementation will help our project managers to anticipate such situations much more easily and source their requirements well in advance," Mr Satish Pendse, Chief Information Officer of HCC, said.

The company is engaged in the process of implementing SAP across all its 35 offices and site locations spread across the country.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page