A message from your E&I leaders, Sep '22

Welcome everyone to the September edition (and my first) of On the Wire. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Iain Hannant the E&I Operations Manager.

As Stuart mentioned in the August edition there have been a few people movements and I would like to thank Stuart and Martin for their support and assistance in ensuring a smooth transition. Stuart has now commenced his new role leading the Engineering Construction Strategy and Growth team, whilst Martin has commenced his international assignment, overseeing the Mongolian Project where there is plenty of further opportunity for future growth. 

September has seen several projects demobilise successfully, contributing to our strong reputation and ensuring we are held in high regard with our customers as, hopefully, first choice contractor for future works.  

We will start with the South Flank Inflow Team who, since practical completion, have remained on site by the request of the customer’s team, to assist with the ramp up to nameplate capacity with multiple modifications, shutdowns, additions, and other unforeseen engineering challenges. The most important part of all is that they completed the works safely. 

Whilst we talk about working safely, I would like to give a special shout out to our Kemerton Lithium Plant team who also demobilised in September. They completed the scope over a 300 day period injury free. An outstanding achievement for the team lead by Zeljko Rezic who instilled the right culture from day one. 

Moving on to our recently completed shutdown at Western Turner Syncline where zero energy was successfully achieved, even with the unrecorded additional cables added over a 40 year period. To finish the shutdown without any injuries, on time and to a high standard is a credit to Luke Jenke and his team. 

In the east, the Gladstone Team continue to kick goals with a strong pipeline of works in front of them and a couple of upcoming project awards which they have a chance of securing. Moving down to Broken Hill, the Tronox Team are in the thick of it, undertaking their critical shutdown component of their project which, to date, is tracking well. 

Internationally the Oyu Tolgoi Project in Mongolia is fast approaching site establishment with Martin Mackay, as previously mentioned, heading up the international assignment. Whilst we are still overseas, the Lihir Front End Recovery Project winds down with the remaining employees due to be demobilised over the next six weeks. This is a credit to Greg Jones and the team over in PNG, as they have had challenges thrown at them from the get-go of the award and have ground out what is to be a successful project. 

Back in the office, Kev and the estimating team are under the pump which is a good sign for the emerging projects that will hopefully come to fruition soon. There is also plenty of focus on securing stand-alone E&I works whilst also tendering integrated projects. 

Finally, spring has definitely sprung, the footy season is over and the year continues to get away from us as we edge closer to Christmas. During this period, you will start to see or be involved with the development and rollout of our traditional “Finish Strong, Start Stronger” campaigns. It’s a timely reminder that, as we enter this historically “higher risk” period, we keep our teams focused on the tasks at hand. 

Thank you to everyone for your commitment and remember to look out for each other.