DEUTZWorld - Edition 3 - 2017

DEUTZ WORLDWIDE DEUTZ WORLDWIDE 22 DEUTZ WORLD 3 I 2017 23 A bridge made of coconut trees for DEUTZ power units DEUTZ Carolinas becomes DEUTZ Power Center Southeast I n early 2017, the state-owned energy company PT. PLN and PT Maxi Utama Energy, an authorised DEUTZ dis- tributor in Indonesia, visited DEUTZ AG for an initial, exploratory meeting. Only shortly after, the successful power units from Cologne got the job. As early as April, 2017, DEUTZ and its Indonesian partners signed a contract for two bun- dled offers including 103 units at 100 kW (BF6M1013EC) and 136 units at 200 kW (TCD2013 L6). The contract further cover- ed a long-term maintenance agreement to ensure the availability of spare parts at remote locations. D EUTZ Power Centers provide dedicated application engi- neering and technical sales resources closer to smaller and mid-sized machinery manufacturers. Unlike DEUTZ Service Centers, they also offer an extensive range of value-added products and services to match customer needs and expectations. The DEUTZ distributor PT Maxi displayed great initiative and commitment to sup- plying its extensive shipment within 4 months as planned. Mr Malik, Chairman of the Board of PT. Maxi Utama Energy, explained: “We have invested a great deal of effort in completing this order from PLN and the government. A total of 37,500 kilowatts had to be installed in a timely fashion within the scope of a demanding delivery schedule and fitting works to be carried out on remotely located islands.“ The project required rigorous commitment and intense cooperation between the PT. Maxi Utama Energy project management team and the Asian subsidiary DEUTZ Asia-Pacific. It ad- ditionally involved suppliers of trans- formers, switch panels and cables, construction com- panies, forwarders and local contrac- tors who worked together like gears in a clock to com- plete the work at all assembly sites at the same time. A total of 239 generators were installed on nearly 100 different islands all over Indo- nesia. Most of these islands had neither a harbour nor on-site lifting gear. The timely delivery of the generators, transformers and other equipment frequently called for considerable creativity. Tenny Septina, Chairman of the Board of PT. Maxi Utama Energy, describes the circumstances in which the units were delivered and in- stalled. DEUTZWorld: Tenny, in which Indonesian region are the installation sites? What spe- cific challenges did the location raise? Tenny: We have delivered 239 power gen- erators to around 100 remote islands and regions, all of which have their own ethnic groups and cultures. Some of the sites are so far out that only 20–150 families even live in the area. Sumatra consists of many smaller islands, including Riau, Belitung, Bangka, Nias, and so on. Maluku and Papua have smaller islands that require a month’s travel by sea and land. The Kali- mantan islands were even harder to reach: there are no roads or paths there. Due to the low water level of the river, the boat could not carry the whole power generator during the summer. We had to disassem- ble the parts and load them onto smaller vessels for transport. DEUTZWorld: How long did the transport and installation take? Tenny: We established five project man- agement teams and had to decide which sites were particularly critical, requiring prioritisation and special attention. The contract specified that all units had to be supplied within four months. Assembly and production of the 239 units generally took one to two months, and so did the shipments from Jakarta and Surabaya. We needed a further month to install and start up the units on site. Unfortunately, the roads were in a terrible state at the time Same commitment to enhanced support and product availability under a new name. DEUTZ continu- es its commitment to the successful Power Center concept the company launched in 2016: DEUTZ Caroli- nas is now officially DEUTZ Power Center Southeast. Three years ago, the newly elected Indonesian government decided to expand the country’s existing electricity grid to supply its rural regions with energy. To master this challenging project, the government chose the reliable power units produced by DEUTZ. and we needed to improvise a lot. That included looking for coconut trees to build a makeshift bridge, which took up to two weeks and incurred additional expenses for hiring local helpers. We also had to dis- assemble the power generators to use the road and the bridge. In the end, the gen- erators needed to be reassembled on site. And those were not the only challenges: stretches on sea were often affected by high waves and tropical storms, and travel on the river was extremely difficult due to the low water level. These difficult circum- stances at the various sites meant that we could only install the silenced power gen- erators using the knock-down system, i.e. with the generators completely disassem- bled into their component parts. DEUTZWorld: How did the people living in those areas react to the installation of the generators? Tenny: Those living on the very remote is- lands might have been under the impression that the government was not doing enough to improve their standard of living. On one is- land at the Malaysian border, the locals pro- tested and even considered moving to the neighbouring country for better living condi- tions. When we delivered the power genera- tors to those places, they were being await- ed eagerly already. The locals kept a keen eye on the installation process and stayed with the technicians all day. They even urged them to start the engine immediately, even though the powerhouse was not completed yet. Our technicians weren’t even allowed to go check on other sites before the power supply had been switched on. DEUTZWorld: In retrospect, was the hard work worth it? Tenny: Absolutely! The local people were waiting for power, and seeing their joy was definitely worth all the obstacles and strains involved in the process. „When I started working at DEUTZ Car- olinas in September 2013, the first thing I did was visit customers to understand their prior experiences with DEUTZ,” said Brian Fox, general manager of DEUTZ Power Center Southeast. „It became clear that customers in our region needed more attention. I had experience developing business plans that focused on service, expectations and employee behavior, and our staff at DEUTZ Carolinas began im- plementing such a plan. That’s where the DEUTZ Power Center idea began to take shape.” DEUTZ Service Centers provide regularly scheduled maintenance and emergency service of DEUTZ engines, either at the Service Center location or at the custom- er’s site via traveling service technicians. Service Centers also sell genuine DEUTZ parts and fluids. DEUTZ Power Centers do all those things, plus design, engineer and manufacture DEUTZ-branded products. Customers within a Power Center’s des- ignated sales area can also purchase new DEUTZ engines powered by diesel fuel or natural gas, as well as DEUTZ Xchange re- manufactured engines. „Our Power Centers make it possible to provide OEMs with custom value-added production and assembly services,” said Robert Mann, president of DEUTZ Corpo- ration. „As a result, we can ensure that any custom engine specs and configurations fully comply with an OEM’s needs. And, we can ship engine inventory on a just-in- time basis to OEMs in each Power Center region, who can then install those engines directly upon receipt.” To learn more about DEUTZ Power Center Southeast, as well as its complete line of diesel and natural gas engines, please visit www.deutzsupport.com . Tenny Septina