Industrial EPCM services help support Finnish circular economy

Sweco acts as a construction contracting consultant or industrial principal designer in many projects. The principle designer of industrial plant projects focuses on managing production interfaces and coordination. Risk management is one vital part of the cooperation.

“Project management includes, in addition to safety aspects, the management of operational risks, e.g. through HAZOP, hazard and operability study. We ensure that the project stays on schedule and within its budget and that its goals are kept. In the end, risk management is all about managing the project in its entirety,” Kierikka says.

Virtual solutions support smooth cooperation

Good cooperation is just as important to EPCM services as competence.

“If cooperation does not work, the goals cannot be reached,” summarises Sweco’s Leading Specialist and Project Manager Arto Hakola. According to him, good cooperation is an essential requirement for also keeping the project in schedule and within the budget. Cooperation methods are constantly refined, and virtual technology is one example of the tools available for supporting the dialogue.

“Sweco’s VirtualSite solution creates a detailed VR model of the industrial plant, and it enables, for example, demonstrating the changes that the new subprojects will cause to the existing process,” Kierikka says.

Successful dialogue can also be seen in the end product’s quality. An efficient, well-managed process ensures a purer end product, which is essential to circular economy projects.

“For our part, we will ensure that the quality of the recycled product will meet the demands set for it in relation to the original raw materials. The higher the product’s quality, the more valuable refined products,” Hakola states.

Active cooperation to promote circular economy

Sweco has decades of experience of circular economy projects, processing of industrial side streams and recycled fibre projects, e.g. from wood to textiles. Thanks to strong partnerships and multidisciplinary competence, the handprint of Sweco’s experts is widely visible in the Finnish circular economy.

“We provide EPCM services for several circular economy projects. For example, we are involved in the largest plastic recycling and refining projects in Finland,” Kierikka says. “Our common goal is to bring the recycling rates in Finland to the shared target levels determined by the EU.”