John Sowa, George Penthum & Edu van de Haar
In aviation, safety is priority number one. Part of keeping aviation safe is testing aircraft engines after complete overhaul or repair in the KLM engine shop. This takes place in a special KLM test cell in Building 420 at Schiphol-East. Engines from various airlines come there for tests and inspections before they are reassembled and can take off safely. To ensure that the building continues to comply with the latest technology and current legislation and regulations, a number of major maintenance projects had to be carried out within the building. Together with KH Engineering, KLM provided an integrated approach to these projects.
The building has been in use for quite some time (built in 1972) and a number of technical facilities were in need of renovation,' says George Penthum, KLM Programme Manager Real Estate. For example, the building's sound insulation had to be replaced and the paddlesof the air-intake in the building had to be blasted and repainted. In addition, various systems needed to be replaced: the distribution and electrical installation, the cabling, lighting and the fire extinguishing system.
Just three weeks 
In short, a series of major renovations, each of which would have a major impact on the availability and operation of the test cell. And the longer the test cell is at standstill, the longer it will take to earn money again. George: 'That's why at some point we came up with the idea of considering the 'shutdown' approach, as is usual in the chemical industry. This means that you carry out all the projects at the same time. We then carried out an assessment with the KH Engineering project team. We thought it was feasible and decided to carry out the entire renovation in just over three weeks.
Back on time
Corporate Real Estate Manager John Sowa of KLM continues: ‘The big advantage of this is of course that you have everything done at once and not just one part at a time over a period of three years. Otherwise you might have to close down six times for a fortnight. Edu van de Haar, Team Leader Engine test cell & Transport at KLM, thought this was very good news. ‘It was important to me that we could start again on time. You have to keep in mind that we normally test aircraft engines here seven days a week. And maybe 'over three weeks' doesn't even sound like a very long time, but for us it is a rarity that happens maybe once every ten to fifteen years. The pandemic did cause less air traffic, so in that sense this was also a good time to tackle everything at once.'
Good preparation
An important condition', says George, 'was of course good preparation with good engineering, a lot of attention for safety & compliance and smart logistical solutions. For example, we ensured that all the necessary materials were on site two weeks in advance and a large scaffold was engineered in advance and erected pre-fab at the adjacent car park. During the execution, the scaffold was hoisted into the right place of the building in one go. And at the peak of the job, we had to work with 150 people a day in the relatively small building, which required a lot of thinking about the right routing. John: 'Not to mention all the Covid measures, of which we knew little about at the time of preparation'.
Good atmosphere was a success factor
KH Engineering took care of the engineering, project management, QHSE, construction management and all other project organisation. I think the good atmosphere was an important success factor', says George. Everyone was enthusiastic, KH Engineering had a good mix of experienced people and "young dogs" who are very eager to learn, and everyone was very motivated and dedicated. We worked well together, both during the preparation and the execution, which really showed in solving often acute problems.
Impressed
There is definitely reasonfor satisfaction. We managed to complete all projects and restart them almost on time. The test cell was modernised in a stroke. John: 'I was worried whether the team would be able to do all this work safely and within the agreed time, but they did more than well, in all aspects of the project. I went to see for myself at various times during the implementation and was impressed by the good organisation and the ability of KH Engineering to really think of everything and communicate well with clients and subcontractors.
State-of-the-art 
For Edu, the most important thing was to be able to start up again on time: 'We were operational almost within the agreed time, so that we could help our customers again. Combining all these projects saved a lot of time and therefore money. The test cell is now completely state-of-the-art again and can last at least fifteen years in a solid way.
For more information about the test-cell, visit https://www.klm.com/.