Herning - The Installation Phase Begins

The construction of Topsoe’s Herning facility is more than just a building project; it’s years’ worth of innovation, dedication, and further progress into the future of sustainable technology. As the site moves from the construction phase into the installation phase, the collective excitement and pride within the Topsoe team is palpable.

To mark this milestone, we spoke with a number of key project leaders on-site to provide a snapshot of the progress so far and the key focus areas for the team in the coming months.

Powering Motivation Through Strong Leadership

Much of the project’s ultimate success relies upon maintaining motivated, engaged and dedicated team members, and the importance of this cannot be understated.

“If we don't have the engagement of the people, we cannot do this,” says Helle Melgaard, Senior HR Business Partner.

As Helle points out, motivation is crucial to deliver results efficiently and on time, and key to this is ensuring there are effective staff engagement programmes in action and the right level of support in place.

“One of the things that we have worked on a lot of course is also to keep people motivated. This comes down to leadership, and also having good colleagues that can support you on the way.”

Mastering Coordination and Technical Challenges

The Herning facility is a parallel phase project involving a meticulous approach: “It's a huge coordination effort,” explains Jan Højer, Project Director for SOEC Plant Development. “We are executing, designing and engineering at the same time, which gives us a challenge. Explaining the significance of conducting rigorous briefings with key partners, Jan continued, “We control the installation and through that we ensure the installation company has all the right documentation to proceed with their installation parts and materials.”

Milan Porubski echoes the importance of a detailed oversight: “All the preparation and coordination with many different stakeholders and being able to manage all the new equipment is the big challenge here. Because of the pioneering nature of the project, we are getting people in who are largely unfamiliar with the format. So, we are trying to involve them as much as possible into project activity.”

“A lot of the production is at sub-suppliers,” commented Jonas Skovborg, Head of SOEC plant development. “We do factory acceptance tests; we do site acceptance tests. So the primary goal is to make sure that we are on track with the time schedule and of course with the budget.”

With the desire to make one of Europe’s pioneering manufacturing facilities, this approach helps Milan’s and Jonas’ teams prevent delays and keeps the project moving forward smoothly, promoting a strong execution of tasks on schedule.

Preparing for a Seamless Production Ramp-Up

As the facility gears up for production, automation will play a critical role in ensuring resources are deployed effectively and the team’s time and expertise is used in areas where it can deliver the greatest value, as explained by Peter Aggerholm, Production Manager: “We have a higher grade of automation here to make it easier and not as reliant on people. This strategic move ensures efficiency and reduces reliance on manual processes, supported by thorough training and robust R&D backup.”

Excitement for the road ahead

The team’s enthusiasm for the future is infectious, and there is an unmistakable sense of excitement around the different areas of the project that will come together during the installation phase. For Jonas Skovborg, it's the blend of technical aspects and working with experienced, driven individuals. “I love the fact that we have so many highly skilled people motivated to come here and work. This gives me so much energy.”

Whilst for Peter Aggerholm, being able to see the product developed by R&D in operation will be a significant milestone: “Hiring this team and building it up has been such a great experience. But I'm really looking forward to seeing it all in operation within the next couple of years.”

Whereas for Jan Højer it will be the daily challenges and the camaraderie in overcoming them with sense of shared success: “We are in this together and we also succeed together.”

Every day, the Herning facility moves closer to completion, and it’s clear that along that journey the Topsoe team is meeting any challenges faced with enthusiasm, managing complexities with precision and looking forward to the future with anticipation.