Case Study - Renewable Energy

Staffing a Renewable Refinery Project

Our client is a leading, integrated, downstream energy company, and was managing an EPC project - the addition of a new bio-diesel processing unit on a refinery in North Dakota.

This unit was an innovative project that would produce diesel from biofuels and renewable resources such as vegetable oils, rather than traditional crude oil feed stocks. The new process unit required significant engineering, material procurement, and construction execution. The project’s engineering would kick off in California, and then transition to site in North Dakota for construction.

To complete the project, the client needed to source an entire project team of qualified personnel, and with the work being performed across multiple states, they were presented with additional challenges related to sourcing candidates in both locations and managing mobilization and travel between the sites.

The client needed highly skilled personnel in various disciplines across Project Controls, Engineering, Procurement, Logistics, Construction, and Quality Assurance. The candidates needed to possess niche knowledge and have experience in new construction projects within a refinery.

Lastly, the client needed the personnel onboarded quickly and compliantly, which added an extra challenge because the work location was remote with extreme weather conditions.

The Solution

NESF sourced, onboarded, and mobilized a total of 30 personnel across various disciplines in a 12-month period.

The processes and procedures we developed around timekeeping and expenses ensured compliance and better cost management. As part of our dedicated service to the client, we:

  • visited the client site to ensure the project ran smoothly
  • benchmarked fair market wages to ensure client did not overpay for personnel
  • performed headcount and cost reporting frequently throughout the project
  • managed all aspects of employment of the contingent personnel, including the onboarding and compliance requirements in relation to mobilization needs on multiple site moves
  • compliantly managed all payroll needs, including tax, per diem payments to meet IRS standards and facilitating electronic timekeeping 
  • assisted in the migration of all personnel into the client’s onsite timekeeping system -TRACK
  • put on happy hour and team luncheons to promote comradery and morale

The Results

NESF acted as a trusted partner for recruitment and payrolling of a project team consisting of highly specialized personnel for a niche project with critical deadlines.

All positions were filled within appropriate timelines and we saved our client an average of 10% through our strategy and competitive pricing model.

  • We afforded the client significant time, cost and procedural savings which enabled the project to go ahead on time despite the many challenges they faced.
  • We delivered and mobilized qualified personnel, compliantly, while ensuring fair market wages were offered and at a highly competitive pricing model to the client.
  • We managed all onboarding, employment, and mobilization of personnel from various locations across the US and Canada to California and North Dakota.
  • Through proven performance and compliance, we became the preferred payroll provider of referred candidates.

After four years of successful partnership, we have expanded to support this client’s contingent staffing needs across several of their other refinery locations.

Client Comments

NES exhibits excellent communication skills and consistently exceed my staffing needs; their opinion is held in very high regard and I would not hesitate to offer high praise and recommendation.

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