EEW's scope of supply included components for all 84 jackets as well as the 204 associated pin piles. This resulted in a total quantity of 7,432 individual components, most of which were delivered pre-assembled (point-to-point) to four different customers, Seaway7, Bladt Industries A/S, Smulders and BIFab Ltd. (Burnt Island Fabrication Ltd.).
A special challenge in the project was the coordination of a total of 256 delivery lots from six manufacturing plants, which were individually assembled, shipped to ten different destinations within Europe. EEW took over the logistics of the entire "primary steel" of the jacket components as well as that of the pin piles.
Thus, in 2016 and 2017, components were transferred between the production sites EEW PPE, EEW SPC, EEW Korea, EEW KHPC, EEW Pickhan and the mobile production site EEW Vlissingen as well as subcontractors and customers in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Finland and the United Kingdom.
"We are particularly proud of our adaptability to different customer requirements and projects. In the case of the Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm, it quickly became clear that it would be necessary to manufacture the pin piles, which were to be delivered in one piece, on the Dutch coast in order to deliver them directly from there to the customer's installation logistics. However, since EEW does not have a production site there, we quickly set up a mobile site," reports Jörg Bottenberg, technical director of EEW PPE and project manager of the Beatrice project. These mobile plants can be installed within a very short time wherever there is a demand from customers or logistics. This expands the possibilities in the prefabrication of components, relieves capacities of project partners and can reduce logistical impact factors. "We understand that a large part of a successful project is in the start-up phase. As one of the first suppliers within a project, we have adjusted to colliding constraints on the customer and supplier side. Relying only on long-standing relationships is not enough. We become active ourselves and shorten delivery deadlines on the supplier side through a global purchasing strategy and support this with individual production layouts, such as our geographically largely independent mobile plants. As a model of perfect cooperation in the offshore wind industry, the Beatrice project impressively demonstrates our ability and willingness to adapt to these requirements, as well as our flexibility in developing customized technical and commercial solutions," Bottenberg continues.
