Qatalum to Norway for casthouse training

Jan Erik Ødegård demonstrates the processes on his PC at the Reference Center's casthouse. Supervisor Logesh Murugan and project traning manager Geir A. Olsen follow along.

In all, the 26 employees will spend five weeks in Norway. The first week will be dedicated to theory on machinery and Hydro's procedures. This will take place at Sunndal's Reference Center, where employees have the opportunity to cast different alloys and test various types of equipment.

After the one-week introduction, the employees will be split into groups and follow the work at Hydro's casthouses in Karmøy, Årdal and Sunndal, to better understand the procedures and machinery.

Reference Center

The Reference Center at Sunndal is likely to be the world's only "classroom school" for aluminium casting with training, testing, research and development. Consequently, the center provides a unique opportunity to learn and understand the technology that will be used at the casthouses at Qatalum.

Further, the center is nearby the metallurgical research center, the actual casthouses, and Hycast, which is delivering much of the casting equipment to Qatalum.

The team of Hydro employees who are instructing the Qatalum group talk about the progress that is being made.

150 years of experience

The first group to arrive from Qatalum included 16 persons from Ghana, Mozambique, South Africa and India - with 150 years of experience in the aluminium industry between them.

They are 15 operators and supervisor Logesh Murugan, who joined Qatalum from the Bayside aluminium plant in South Africa.

Qatalum will have employees from 27 nations, and many of the people are accustomed to varying standards and procedures. Communication is an important theme. English is the common language used, but with so many cultures challenges will always be present.

Standard operating procedures

Hydro's Standard Operating Procedures represent an important piece of information used in the training at the extrusion ingot and foundry alloy facilities.

Qatalum will have three facilities for primary foundry alloys, totaling annual capacity of approximately 250,000 metric tons. Extrusion ingot capacity will be around 375,000 mt, giving the company capacity of some 625,000 mt of aluminium products.

These activities will employ about 150 people, divided into four shifts, with employees working 42-hour weeks.

"The machinery in Qatalum is very similar to what we have here at Sunndalsøra," says Geir A. Olsen. "In order to give everyone proper training, we are breaking them down into small groups and following the production at Karmøy and Årdal as well... to avoid incident."

The first group of casthouse operators from Qatalum, together with instructors and Hydro operators, outside the Reference Center in Sunndal.

More instructors for Qatar

Most of the instructors from Norway have already spent time in Qatar. Several will be moving there in the middle of August to support the project during the hectic homestretch and start of production.

A lot of competence will be transferred over a relatively short period of time.

The first remelting operations in the casthouses will occur around October 15, when the equipment and procedures will be tested. Ordinary production will begin gradually as the 704 electrolysis cells are started up.