We recently exhibited at the Operational Optimisation Conference in Birmingham. The conference is attended by industry experts to discuss industry challenges including pressures to reduce downtime, increase availability and improve throughput, whilst operating safely and keeping costs down with ever more stringent emissions regulations.
One presentation stood out for me – ‘One year on: lessons from a new ERF’ delivered by Laura Bratby of Encyclis.
Laura is the Operations Manager at the Newhurst ERF in Leicestershire, which had achieved the highest ever availability relative to operable hours by a Hitachi Zosen Inova plant. The availability was 99.8% from 8260 hours of operation.
Laura described how hard the team worked to achieve this, and what they did to make it happen.
The main focus was getting the right team together. The obvious direction would have been to hire from within the industry, but the decision was made to hire from a broader range of industries to gain a wider skill set and fresh insights.
Having a positive work environment with everyone pulling in the same direction was going to be key, so regular team building exercises were carried out. Some of the team were also involved with HZI during the build and commissioning phases to better understand the design of the plant.
Taking a proactive approach with maintenance including identifying the key spare parts and locating them in the best place for use means tasks can be carried out more efficiently.
It was a very interesting and inspiring presentation which highlighted how having the right people with the right attitude, all pulling in the same direction can achieve impressive results.
Blog by Dominic Sheedy