Trusted partner IDO Hutný projekt

TRUSTED PARTNER

IDO Hutný projekt, based in Bratislava, is a multi-discipline engineering company providing comprehensive project management services for various industry sectors. It has a strong customer base in central and eastern Europe and has been selected as one of the fastest growing companies in Slovakia. Romana Moares reports.

IDO Hutný projekt has a solid tradition of nearly 70 years of providing engineering project management services such as construction project design, procurement and specialist consultation. It is the oldest and largest project engineering company in Slovakia. With its annual engineering capacity of around 250,000 man-hours, the company has the capability to implement Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) projects of up to €40 million.

Since 2015, IDO has been a member of the Switzerland-based Safichem Group, a leading industrial group of companies focused on a selected variety of uniquely interconnected, high added value business areas: complex engineering in the chemical and oil & gas industry, energy, water engineering and foodstuff industry, machinery equipment manufacturing, pharmaceutical industry, renewable sources and real estate. Altogether, the Safichem Group employs 1400 people and its companies have an international reach, which means it can easily support IDO Hutný projekt when required. This has significantly strengthened the company’s position in both local and export markets and extended its portfolio of services.

Comprehensive service

IDO’s key construction engineering management services include obtaining all local permits, project design, FEED studies, construction management, project management and procurement, and the company primarily focuses on the power, oil & gas, chemical, pharmaceutical, automotive and metallurgy sectors.

“IDO Hutný projekt uses value engineering to drive innovation to solve the most complex engineering challenges. Our construction-driven executions ensure a smooth transition from study phases to construction and commissioning, using the most comprehensive, powerful and tightly integrated plant engineering and design solutions available,” says Ján Kukučka, the company’s commercial director.

He further explains that by combining improved performance in design projects and new technologies to enable novel and more efficient project execution processes, significant time and cost savings may be achieved and potential causes of costly construction work eliminated. “This is a clear competitive advantage and one of the reasons for the company’s solid position in its existing markets,” he claims. The overall objective is to ensure, by integrating engineering, procurement and construction activities, a timely completion of projects within given budget, fully in line with customer requirements.

Key asset: People

One of IDO Hutný projekt’s major competitive advantages is its highly qualified and experienced team of over 130 engineers. Its

construction team is focused on HSE, quality and schedule performance. An HSE specialist is assigned to each project to ensure the health and safety of employees working on site. Meanwhile the presence of a quality specialist ensures the correct implementation of the quality programme. “Our company is focused on several aspects: on meeting and exceeding all occupational health and safety regulations (for which we are proud to have acquired the OHSAS 18001 Certificate); on meeting customer requirements and expectations (ISO 9001 Quality Management Certificate); on information safety, i.e. information confidentiality, integrity and availability (ISO 27001 Certificate); and, last but not least, on environmental protection and improvement (ISO 14001 Certificate). These are our four pillars which we will strive to further develop and sustain,” the commercial director explains.

He further stresses that investing in people is an ongoing process at the company and its management is fully aware that it is the employees who have most contributed to IDO’s success in global markets. Another ongoing investment is being made into software upgrades and modernisation. Worldwide operation

The list of completed projects in various industry sectors would be too long to detail here in full. IDO’s customer base is spread across Europe, North and South America, Africa as well as Asia. However, the largest volume of projects has been implemented in the domestic market and neighbouring countries: the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria.

“Currently most of our engineers are fully occupied with another prestigious project – securing the engineering service permissions for the construction of the new Jaguar Land Rover V plant in Nitra, Slovakia,” says Mr Kukučka. “But of course we must make sure that we can also satisfy those clients with whom we have long-term partnerships. These include major players in their sectors such as Slovenské elektrárne a.s. (Mochovce nuclear power station), Duslo a.s., Slovnaft, a.s. and many others.”

So will the company have sufficient capacity to expand into new markets? “The Slovak market is small. To grow, it is necessary to look beyond the borders. This is our strategy for further development – increasing our presence in existing markets, penetrating new markets and being more active in tendering for new projects abroad,” Mr Kukučka concludes. n