Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

So the honeymoon period is well and truly over on the MOF project. I’ve managed to pick up every bit of “unallocated” work going ranging from non conformance reports for link span pivots through to the co-ordination of electrical works. (note that the term “easy meat” can be applied to electrical works; this is simple primary school engineering unlike the technical challenges of hardcore civil works such as concreting!) Hours are longer (16 hour days, 6 days a week), breaks non-existent and the days/weeks fly by in what seems like no time at all!  I am not complaining about this (although Lisa is) as it’s a good challenge, great for experience and a cracking eye opener.

The last 3 weeks have rolled into one solid mass of work from my perspective and it often feels like groundhog day to an extent, hence why this may not be as structured as normal and more of me downloading my thoughts in no particular order.

The first thing I must tell all about is welding.  Now i didn’t know much about welding until approximately 3 weeks ago but i am now a ninja in comparison producing weld maps and traces in my sleep. Why the sudden knowledge gain, because all welding on-site was stopped by the client Bechtel when they realised that the site had been operating without a single weld procedure in place for 15 months! Ha ha you are chuckling to yourself, unlike the QA manager who has just received over 100 non conformance report for the weld splicing and other structural welds across the whole project.  i feel some commercial bun-fights coming on…

What this actually shows us though is the poor state of affairs that the MOF project is in. The history (what i can gather from those there at the start) is that there were never design reviews, pre project procedures were never followed and that the vast majority of decisions were made in isolation by the PM at the time.  This is no surprise as the PM has continued in the same vein throughout the project resulting in a 44 day delay to the project due to his whimsical decision to drop the designed dewatering plan and simply pump out to save time.  Oops we all merrily chuckled to ourselves in a told you so kind of way only to realise that the heat is well and truly on us to make up some of that lost time over the next couple of months.  Luckily for us the PM has now moved on to pastures new (not entirely his choice is the word on the street via jungle drums from the client) but he will not be overly missed; mainly because he never spoke (including morning pleasantries) to any one less important than the construction manager, made decisions that affected everyone without consideration for that effect and his good ideas were no more than that – ideas with no direction on how to implement or resources to deliver.

Enough about that – as Steve Dollimore might say “he clearly failed the Leadership 101 module in life”

Next on the agenda has to be the strained relationship between the principal contractor (Bechtel) and the sub-contractor (John Holland).  Over the last 2 months it has deteriorated to the point where fisty-cuffs have almost appeared which is not good at all.  Why this has come to this is simple; a lack of trust between the 2 parties combined with the fact that until now JHG have failed to deliver as per the ITP’s, often sub-standard as well as making last-minute design changes and failing to inform Bechtel until moments before ITP inspections.  I have seen the effect that this has had on the morale of the workforce first hand and have taken a positive approach / stand against the Bechtel engineers in order to deliver something.  The result is that instead of pouring 5-6 pile plugs at a time I set us up to pour 2 which is more achievable and manageable. This is giving a series of small “wins” across the project and keeping the workforce moving. It seems that little and often does really work!!!

Over the next few weeks I am going to endeavour to improve this working relationship by getting my head into some of the areas in which we are failing.  A lot is to do with the passage of information and improving the timely communication of design changes/issue of revised design drawings. I plan to audit the endless list of approved RFI’s that the designers have sent back to us and forward the critical detail to Bechtel including getting the design drawings amended.

The final thing that is really causing friction is working in isolation and proactivity. Each of the crews seem to have little to no concept of the works programme and even less of an idea of their part within it.  The programme has changed so much recently that almost all work fronts have lost their float and are on the critical path.  This has happened to most of my areas of responsibility and the pressure is mounting. Fortuitously I have broad shoulders and can manage the added heat but others are cracking.  this means that they are becoming solely focussed on their responsibility and failing to think of the areas that they impact in undertaking their works.  It is an issue and needs resolving.  So much so that the construction manager has moved his office to the coal face in order to sort out the issues and get the project moving once again as a cohesive organisation instead of the disjointed until it has become.

Whilst the above may sound largely negative I have actually got very little to complain about as I am taking the opportunities available to deliver effect  and add value to the project.  I have managed to gain the trust of the work force, my supervisor and the construction manager and just by sending out a weekly forecast of works I have manages to change people’s thought processes.  Where the JHG employees lack training is in project management at the lowest level and using what I have learnt from both RD and the APMP/management training I am able to show the team the benefits of breaking tasks down into the constituent parts, identifying risk(s) and planning accordingly.  My eyes have also been fully opened to the wonderful world of procurement and resources, something I have previously left for a QM to sort out.  Whilst not as simple as ordering by NSN it holds many of the same principles and an engineer is judged here by his planning skills. Plan well and all is good, fail to plan and the whole project stops whilst awaiting for the delivery of a critical nut, washer or other constituent component!

Overall, life remains good for Team Serevena.  Austyn has been on school holidays driving Lisa insane but starts back this Monday. Elliot is improving in his speech and is obsessed by dinosaurs.  Harrison is doing well at 10 weeks, feeding well and getting big so fast! Lisa is keeping herslf busy with friends and arts & crafts as well as keeping the house together in my extended absences of ridiculously unsociably long shifts. We are off on our holidays again next week (Heron Island at a special “locals” rate)as the project goes onto a close-down from Thursday-Monday although the pressure is on for people to work through it to gain some momentum on the programme. As for me, nothing new to report, looking forward to the break and a bit of diving!

Stay safe,

Roy