Wastewater technology specialists Landia have reported significant cost and environmental benefits from the new online commissioning of its pumping and mixing equipment it has implemented in response to the Coronavirus lockdown. 

Established in 1933, Landia says it thought it had faced all possible challenges to its business, but nothing quite like this.

One positive outcome however of the travel restrictions caused by the global pandemic is online commissioning, which in many cases is reducing manhours for all parties by as much as 90 per cent.

“Online commissioning might not become the new normal”, said Landia’s Export Director, Thorkild Maagaard, “but our new eServices are here to stay. In fact, we see no limitations as to what we can offer our customers online. All they need is a smartphone and an internet connection”.

 Photo: Photo Mix 

Maagaard cited a recent example for a Landia installation in Hong Kong.

“Before the lockdown”, he added, “we would have had to send an engineer to go through the installations before a Commissioning Approval Certificate could be signed. We are at an advantage because we have a dedicated team in Shanghai, but the cost would still have been around 3,000 Euros. The visit would have included:

•  Pre start-up check, dry test
•  Pre start-up check, wet test
•  Education of service staff on site

“But if we’d had to send over one of our engineers from our manufacturing facility in Denmark, the cost would have been in excess of 5,000 Euros. Either way, online commissioning is a fraction of the cost”.

According to Landia, with typical time-consuming delays such as the contractor usually having to wait for a supervisor, on- site commissioning for a project of this size could take up to 8-10 days in total. In comparison, online commissioning would take the equivalent of just one day. Online commissioning also offers the added benefits of:

• Pre-installation meeting with the Landia Project Manager
• Supervision on demand. Minimum of one online meeting per day
• Supervised ‘Talk through’ guidance during the installation
• On-line dry test
• On-line wet test
• Approved commissioning. Written acceptance from Landia.

“Quite rightly, we could be asked why we haven’t done this before”, continued Maagaard, “and we’d be the first to admit that the lockdown forced us to think differently. The more we looked into what we could offer, the more ideas we saw to support our global business – ideas that at the same time, mean less air travel and a much-reduced global footprint for us, our customers and the planet”.

As for disadvantages, Landia say that different time zones require a bit of organising but that they are already very used to that – and where unstable internet connections persist, a video can be made and sent for download.

During a recent 2-week total lockdown on the island of Jersey, where no planes or ships were permitted, Landia was able to provide online commissioning for maintenance of its digester mixing systems. As was the case with Landia’s online commissioning for Hong Kong, costs were reduced for both parties by 90 per cent.

“Naturally, we all look forward to the end of lockdown and being out on site to see our customers and those we work with”, said Maagaard, “but we are already looking to expand our new Landia eServices for the training of maintenance staff, problem-solving with technical issues, supervision of repairs and annual inspections. A considerable part of the way we do business has now changed”.