Ahlstrom Mundra (Industrial) Mitigation Case File
Ahlstrom Mundra (Industrial) Mitigation Case File
Date: 10th October’ 25--> Location: Mundra, Gujarat--> <!--
This case study provides an overview of the installation of 1 meter high flood barriers at the Ahlstrom Fibrecomposite factory at Mundra, in the state of Gujarat. The Kutch region is notorious for heavy downpours which leads to flooding. Mundra specially is known for flooding on yearly basis. Ahlstrom is the global leader in combining fibers into innovative and sustainable specialty materials
Ahlstrom Fibrecomposite Pvt Ltd decided to be proactive and the company management wanted to barricade all access points into the factory like Main gate, Material entrance gate etc with flood barriers. Based on its knowledge and experience Frontier Flood Barriers India LLP (Frontier Polymers Pvt Ltd) became a natural choice for them. Frontier worked closely with Acquastop, Italy, SRL for their innovative and industry proven barriers.
On appointment, team of Frontier visited the site to carry out risk assessment from main gate. Ahlstrom’s senior Project & Maintenance team explained in detail the scenario and it was decided to go for 1 m high barriers keeping in mind future flood like situations.
Acquastop, Italy became the natural choice for barriers due to their vast global experience and great support. H-Frame barriers in 20 cm height were selected to cover longer spans and fast deployment. These barriers also formed compatibility with the factory layout as least amount of civil work was to be carried out for installation. The close collaboration between Frontier and the Acquastop technical office at Italy, allowed the design of the custom-made solution and the subsequent production of custom-made elements specifically for this project. With removable intermediate columns the entrances retain their wide openings. The Intermediate columns and flood barriers are stored away in the maintenance room when not in use. .
(Casting of “C - Channel” for heavy truck movement)
(Casting of “C-Channel. This helps in a secure foundation for heavy vehicular movement and good contact of gaskets to the steel plate)
The Project and Maintenance team at Ahlstrom was extremely fast in carrying out wall / floor rectification with their civil contractor team. They understood the work and ensured it was done effectively, suitably, and correctly. Having a good civil team is very important on site to keep timelines in check. Much of the civil work was carried out prior to the flood barriers reaching the site. This ensured immediate fixing of side brackets on various locations. Parallelly fresh civil work was being carried out at multiple locations to ensure our timelines for fixing of barriers was met.
Truck entry/ exit gate of the factory is 9 meter wide and now is protected with a 1 m high Flood Protection Barrier.
Office staff entry gate of the factory is 5.5 meter wide and now is protected with a 1 m high Flood Protection Barrier.
The Raw material storage gate is protected with a 0.8 m flood barrier.
Installation team at Frontier ensured positioning and anchoring of the flood barriers at various locations, securing the barriers using appropriate connectors and brackets. After installation, through inspections and quality assurance checks were carried out.
Ahlstrom also has pumps to throw out water from rainfall from within their factory. Job of the flood barriers is to protect the factory from flood water entering from the road into the factory.
After installation, training to the factory personnel regarding flood barrier deployment was carried out.