schedule, ABB restored basic power operations by in just about a month’ s time.
Fernandez said:“ When a critical facility such as this faces disaster, standard timelines simply don’ t apply. Our teams across Europe came together across divisions, borders and time zones, recalibrating our existing processes to act as an extension of Novelis’ s operations.”
Two parallel teams then cleaned and tested equipment at the sites’ substations while replacement parts were transported across the continent. The substations were re-energized in September, a critical step to resume production on the hot rolling, followed by the cold mill – weeks ahead of initial projections.
Senior Project Manager Stefan Kumm from ABB’ s Process Automation business was already in Switzerland for a separate Novelis modernization initiative, and swiftly
Minimizing downtime and restoring production as rapidly as possible was vital to maintain our standing as a trusted partner to our customers.
pivoted to support the emergency response.
“ Our first task was triage, determining what could be salvaged and what needed replacing,” Mr Kumm explained.“ The sheer scale of the challenge became clear when we saw the mud-covered switchgear in the substations as well as the 160-ton main motor and hundreds of submerged control systems. Time was critical and every second counted.”
The successful restoration has since strengthened ongoing relationships between Novelis, AluInfra and ABB.“ The speed of the response was critical for us,” said Gaudin.“ ABB’ s teams minimized the impact on our customers and ensured we could maintain our position in the supply chain during a very challenging period.”
The rapid restoration was a crucial contribution to resume production at Novelis’ Sierre plant and maintain continuity in the global automotive supply chain. It ensured the site could continue running consistently for its automotive customers and demonstrated how cross-border collaboration and quick response to infrastructure challenges can prevent wider industry disruption.
As extreme weather events become more frequent across Europe, the response in Sierre remains a benchmark for rapid industrial recovery.
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Issue 81 PECM 7