John Conran Email & Phone Number

Port Kembla, NSW, Australia

Port Kembla, NSW, Australia

• Technical management of a major upgrade and modernization of the Plate Mill process control systems (Jan 2017 to Aug 2018)
• Technical management of a replacement width and length measurement device at the Plate Mill (July 2013 to April 2015)
• Designed and managed technical integration of a replacement automatic gauge measurement system (PLC based) at the Plate Mill (April 2006 to Feb 2007)
• Designed and managed technical integration of a replacement gamma ray thickness gauge measurement system (PLC based) at the Plate Mill (Oct 2005 to Feb 2006)
• Designed and project managed technical integration of a plasma cutter device into the existing automation infrastructure at the Plate Mill (Feb 2004 to Jun 2006)
• Managed prototyping and deployment of thin client replacement of “dumb” terminals (2003)

• Implemented process and quality improvements derived from technical agreement with Sumitomo Metal Industries 1995, accomplishing an overall reduction in process variation, operator intervention and product losses with.
• Managed a cross disciplined support team delivering improved operational support, process improvements, process capability, and system availability, serviceability and reliability.
• System administration - performance tuning, backup and recovery, fault determination and resolution, database maintenance and development, system builds, reliability analysis on a GEC4190 system
• Team management - liaise with production personnel, coordinate team members, schedule improvement requests, risk analysis, balanced resources between current system and system upgrade project tasks
• Process improvement - identify opportunities for improvement, trial software modifications, analyse results and documented
• Participated in a cross-departmental team responsible for design of a new Standards Management System for grade and product management.

• Technical refreshes for BHP Steel’s Port Kembla Hot Strip Mill (2000-03) and Plate Mill (1996-98):
• Integrated CORBA based grade management system into Java based architecture.
• Managed technical aspects of two process control system’s upgrades, meeting budget and schedule, 1980’s technology to UNIX based RISC platforms. Integration of legacy mill setup and measurement systems. First published.
• First production implementation of upgraded specification management system within BHP.
• Negitiated new hardware support contracts with external vendor yielding 30% saving for ongoing maintenance.

• Redesigned operator interfaces and server side applications for product tracking in the reheat furnace
• Implemented an inter-system communications link carrying final product processing information to business systems.
• Optimised mill pacing application to reduce system loading.
• System administration for a GEC 4190 process control server.

• Commissioned an on-line hot leveller set-up calculation and control system installed with Hot Plate Levelling Machine during plant shutdown of Dec/Jan 1985/1986
• Developed an expert systems for improvement to control of plan view shape. Use of knowledge gathering techniques to obtain observations of process behaviour from the 'experts'
• Assisted design of operations control desks and operator HMIs installed with process control system in Apr/May 1987
• Managed departmental Standard Practices & Procedures
• Designed and coded departmental reporting systems
• Trained operations personnel in principles of Total Quality Control and documentation of workflow

Bmath, Computer Science

Activities and Societies: MetSoc

Bmet, Metallurgy

Activities and Societies: Metallurgy Society (MetSoc)