The most powerful insight regarding process improvement from the benchmarking studies and participation in Roundtable activities (see entries below) was the importance of eliminating repeating failures.If failures requiring remedial work are allowed to fester and repeat within an organisation then valuable, finite resources are consumed leading to a shortage of labor leading to new errors and failures. This negative feedback loop is seen in every type of enterprise from handling… Show more The most powerful insight regarding process improvement from the benchmarking studies and participation in Roundtable activities (see entries below) was the importance of eliminating repeating failures.If failures requiring remedial work are allowed to fester and repeat within an organisation then valuable, finite resources are consumed leading to a shortage of labor leading to new errors and failures. This negative feedback loop is seen in every type of enterprise from handling claims by an insurer, to treating patients in a hospital or maintaining equipment.Conversely if faults are identified early, causes identified and eliminated then they do not reoccur. Labor otherwise wasted is freed up to find and eliminate more flaws, thereby freeing up more labor. This virtuous feedback loop is at the heart of most improvement processes.Elimination of repeating problems can only happen if the true causes of failure are treated. Too often we work on the symptoms or fail to understand the true cause and consequently waste our efforts on work that does not eliminate the problem.Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman talks about "fast thinking" being intuition and experience influenced by cognitive bias and "slow thinking" being more analytical styles of thinking.We need "slow thinking" when our intuition lets us down but the negative side of slow thinking is that it is slow. Particularly if a methodology is adopted that is overblown for the problem at hand. Cracking a nut with a sledge hammer. At RCA Rt we have been working on an approach that progressively escalates the problem solving process so that it matches the problem to provide the most efficient and productive result. Advances in the web and software that can support these concepts has revolutionized the ways that companies can share their business rules and methods with their personnel so they focus on the problems that actually matter to the business outcome.Read more at www.rca2go.com/site/blog Show less

SIRF (see entry below) ceased operations in 2000, however we were encouraged to continue on with the Roundtable concept within a new entity called SIRF Roundtables.The Roundtables had been very successful in Victoria thanks to the enthusiasm of members who were stimulated by seeing new ideas and contributing to improvement of the collective knowledge base. The opportunity was to extend the operation across Australia and New Zealand by replicating the Roundtables in each region… Show more SIRF (see entry below) ceased operations in 2000, however we were encouraged to continue on with the Roundtable concept within a new entity called SIRF Roundtables.The Roundtables had been very successful in Victoria thanks to the enthusiasm of members who were stimulated by seeing new ideas and contributing to improvement of the collective knowledge base. The opportunity was to extend the operation across Australia and New Zealand by replicating the Roundtables in each region. This opportunity led to an intense period of strong growth, often in excess of 30 % per annum, as we were able to duplicate proven learning opportunities around the Commonwealth.By 2013 the model was complete with a very active program of more than 300 workshops, forums, conferences and workgroup meeting per year involving in excess of three hundred of Australia's and New Zealand's finest companies in activities designed to share best practice.The organisation had grown enormously and was in danger of losing flexibility so the decision was made to divide into two separate but highly linked organisations. I took the opportunity to step out of the organisation and hand over the leadership of the organisation to people who had been Roundtable facilitators. Show less

The Strategic Industry Research Foundation (SIRF) was an initiative of the Victorian Government in collaboration with CSIRO. SIRF's goal was to stimulate innovation and improvement.In 1993 SIRF brought together representatives from 17 companies to see if there might be interest in improved approaches to maintaining plant and equipment.I was hired to become the facilitator for this group which became know as the Industrial Maintenance Roundtable (IMRt). Our approach was… Show more The Strategic Industry Research Foundation (SIRF) was an initiative of the Victorian Government in collaboration with CSIRO. SIRF's goal was to stimulate innovation and improvement.In 1993 SIRF brought together representatives from 17 companies to see if there might be interest in improved approaches to maintaining plant and equipment.I was hired to become the facilitator for this group which became know as the Industrial Maintenance Roundtable (IMRt). Our approach was not to advocate a particular methodology but instead to identify "pockets of excellence" wherever they might be and in some way convene a meeting of our members at that site so that members could see and discuss and think about how the approach might be further improved. This became an exciting and rapid exchange of ideas.The Roundtable supported a number of projects. One of these was a comprehensive benchmarking study of practices within organisations maintaining plant and equipment. The studies involved 3 visits to site for each study, typically over a 6 month period, teaching the site how to gather data, validating the data and then reporting on observed strengths and opportunities. I was involved in all of the more than one hundred studies which were conducted between 1996 and 2006 across 5 continents using the same benching instrument. The reports containing comparison charts, observations and interpretation provided participants with objective data that they could use for management decision making. For me it was it was a remarkable opportunity to see virtually every conceivable approach to maintenance and reliability and quantify the outcomes in terms of cost and benefit and bring these ideas back to the Roundtable.Government initiatives of this type have a finite life so funding was withdrawn in the year 2000. The SIRF board strongly encouraged the facilitators to continue with the Roundtable concept so the valuable outcomes would not be lost but without support from the Government. Show less

A variety of assignments conducting reliability studies and implementing computerized maintenance management systems particularly Maximo at Huntly Power Station and various other systems at manufacturing operations in Victoria and New South Wales

Responsible for the maintenance department in the Brooklyn manufacturing plant.Conducted reliability studies and implemented a computerized maintenance managements system.

Responsible for the planning office in a large petrochemical facility.

Commissioning engineer for a variety of systems within Liquids Recovery Plant at Moomba gas treatment plant at the Southern edge of the Simpson desert during a significant expansion of the plant.

Specification and commissioning of Water and Sewage Treatment Plant at a variety of locations in Metropolitan Sydney and country NSW.

Design of broad acre farm machinery including air seeders, cultivators and ploughs.