Experience makes a difference

Ian Gordon, Senior Associate

Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (Hons)
Grad Dip. Naval Engineering

Ian has broad engineering and managerial experience in both petrochemical and discreet manufacturing industries, with successful outcomes for operational performance and optimisation of value over the life-cycle of large and complex industrial assets. Ian went on to gain 8 years executive experience with a leading asset management company (3000 employees) that provides alliance partnerships in maintenance, operations and asset performance management.

Ian now specialises in providing expertise in the interrelated operational, technical and commercial complexities that organisations are confronted with when managing the performance and risks inherent in large industrial facilities. Ian’s demonstrated leadership strengths include:

  • Capacity to lead strategic thinking.
    • Expert in Operational Risk Management, and Operational Asset Performance.
    • A deep practical knowledge of ways that create superior industrial productivity.
    • Engages clients in ways to achieve sustainable reliability & maintenance strategies.
    • Expertise in developing resilient multi-functional alliance partnerships.
    • Innovative lateral-thinking approach to complex socio-technical issues.
    • Engages people with meaningful objectives.
  • Expertise in building meaningful working environments that deliver business results.
    • Leadership based upon comprehensive practical knowledge of productivity in the workplace, elimination of waste in managerial and shop-floor processes, and the strength of multi-disciplined teamwork.
    • Sets up organisational capability (including software systems) for safe commercial performance of complex asset systems.

 

  • Effective communication and influencing skills at all levels.
    • Converses across multiple layers of organization, from executive to shop-floor.
    • Brings visualization to enhance meaning in discourse of complex issues.
    • Translates meaning between commercial and technical world-views.

SPECIFIC PROJECT EXPERIENCE

SILCAR Pty Ltd – Manager, Technical Services Sep 2002 – Apr 2011

Silcar is a Siemens–Thiess Joint Venture specializing in asset management.

  • Brought insights from manufacturing practices and processes which were instrumental in developing Silcar’s approach to quality of service delivery, risk management, strategic planning, operational planning, and execution.
  • accountable to the CEO for developing innovative “hand-carved” value propositions, and developing the capability (systems, processes and people) to deliver the asset management service.
  • Formulated value-propositions for most major tenders, proposals and contract renewals of recent years, including Telstra ($400m critical infrastructure), Koniambo Nickel ($38m Power Station Operation & Maintenance), Airservices Australia (whole-of-life asset plans), Defence (Navy support ships maintenance), NSW Health (high-tech assets), Wellington Electricity, United Energy Distribution, TruEnergy Yallourn Power Station, Yallourn Mine, Portland Aluminium, Australian Paper, BlueScope Steel.
  • Pioneered Silcar's holistic value proposition of "Asset Performance Management" for new Clients, including service delivery via enduring “alliance” partnerships.
  • Led a team of professionals to create a world-class enterprise-scale asset performance management capability, incorporating the Meridium® software platform, Silcar’s reliability engineering best-practices, and cost estimation within whole-of-life scenarios that enable life-cycle cost and/or risk optimization.
  • Collaborated with Meridium Inc (USA) as a partner in the “asset performance management” module of their enterprise software. Collaborated with Asset Performance Technologies Inc (USA) for the incorporation of asset knowledge libraries within the Silcar software system.
  • Synthesised the disciplines of risk, safety, and asset management into a generic system of diligence and governance for large scale, complex technical-commercial-human systems.

KODAK (Australasia) - Reliability Manager Sep 1997 – Aug 2002

  • A major Kodak manufacturing facility in Melbourne Australia that supplied the Australasian and South East Asian region, and consisted of three production business units: Photographic Film, Photographic Paper and Photochemical Liquids, with a combined annual revenue in excess of AUD $1bn.
  • accountable to the Manufacturing Director for reliable performance of production lines operated by the three business units.
  • Transformed manufacturing productivity to achieve Kodak’s lowest cost-per-unit for each of the three production businesses worldwide, (lower cost-per-unit than China, Brazil, Mexico, and all other production facilities).
  • Created a “proactive” workplace culture where operators and tradesmen proactively engaged in process improvement, and took responsibility for instantaneous production performance.
  • Created “single line-of-sight” performance measures between shop-floor, production planning, and financial outcomes – demonstrating that reliability & asset performance practices are successful on any technology in any manufacturing process.
  • Extended the improvement program to Kodak plants (worldwide) through thought & practice leadership based upon the success of the Melbourne site.

KEMCOR - Senior Maintenance Superintendent and Manufacturing Team Leader Jul 1992 – Aug 1997

Kemcor was a joint venture of Exxon Chemicals and Mobil that was formed to combine the independent operations of four antecedent companies. It now operates under ownership of Qenos.

  • Australia’s largest integrated petrochemical complex consisting of four manufacturing sites producing polyolefins, gasoline and synthetic rubber from ethane and gas-oil feedstocks.
    reported to Plant Manager for commercial and safety performance of major maintenance projects, for business restructuring through multi-disciplined manufacturing teams and information systems upgrades, and for custodianship of plant documentation, internal and statutory standards.
  • Applied the superior “planned” administrative culture to all sites in the newly formed Kemcor, resulting in dramatically reduced overall maintenance costs.
  • Established a new Enterprise Agreement with metal trades unions that transformed the workplace from a “reactive” to a “planned” culture, further reducing maintenance costs, but more importantly - improved production performance.
  • With the confidence of the workforce, introduced “proactive” techniques that encouraged operators and maintainers to take responsibility for equipment condition and performance, resulting in better production outcomes.
  • Created visibility of performance via a single operator-generated hourly measure that was ultimately used to prioritize all workload (capital, maintenance, technical, and operational) across multiple departments.
  • Introduced SAP R/3 as “business process re-engineering” for maintenance and materials, rather than as a technology upgrade. Pioneered the use of SAP project tools to establish activity-based management of maintenance budgets.

Altona Petrochemical - Maintenance Superintendent - Senior Instrument & Electrical Engineer - 1981 –1992

A joint venture of Exxon Chemicals (managing partner) and Mobil.

  • The Olefins plant is the largest single petrochemical site in the Altona complex, with multiple production units converting ethane to ethylene, and gas-oil to propylene, butadiene and gasoline.
  • responsible for Industrial Relations and maintenance planning at the Olefins site. Preceding that, responsible for instrument, electrical & control systems design, installation and commissioning, including construction and safety standards.
  • Engineered and project-managed multi-million dollar control systems installations and upgrades, with critical safety and production impacts.
  • Established installation and maintenance standards for new technologies.
  • Pioneered an agreement between major unions (AMWU and ETU) to enable dual-trade certification, leading to the elimination of chronic demarcation disputes.
  • Introduced administrative reforms to harmonize operation of three key departments (Production, Maintenance, and Engineering).
  • Transformed the “reactive” culture of the Maintenance department to a “planned” administrative culture.

Royal Australian Navy - Naval Officer 1970 - 1981

  • Professional naval training as Cadet Midshipmen, followed by training in UK and USA, sea-going service, and service at naval headquarters in Canberra.
  • responsible for performance of ships missile and gunnery systems, radars, and combat control systems, and for testing, evaluation and commissioning of weapons systems at sea.
  • Acquired leadership qualities and experience under exacting technical requirements, and demanding environmental, organisational and human-stressed conditions.

CAREER ACHIEVEMENTS

Senior Management Career

  • Silcar Pty Ltd ($500m revenue, a Siemens-Thiess joint venture) 2002 - 2011
    Technical Services Manager, reporting to CEO.
  • Kodak Australasia ($1bn revenue, manufacturing) 1997 - 2002
    Manufacturing Reliability Manager, reporting to Manufacturing Director, and to USA.
    Maintenance Manager, reporting to Manufacturing Director.
  • Kemcor (multi-site petrochemical, an Exxon-Mobil joint venture) 1992 – 1997
  • Earlier career involved engineering and management roles at Altona Petrochemical Company, and the Royal Australian Navy.

Key Achievements

  • Wealth Creation: Created world-class Asset Performance Management capability, consisting of enterprise-scale software systems, best-practices, and skilled people. Cost benefit of $200m in Telecoms (2001-2008). Saved another client $50m in capex avoidance.
  • New Business Development: Formulated value-propositions that were critical to gaining new clients and/or extending contracts with existing clients. Pioneered the holistic value proposition of "Asset Performance Management" in Australia, across multiple industries.
  • Business Productivity: Transformed manufacturing productivity to achieve lowest worldwide cost-per-unit for each of the three production businesses, (lower than China, Brazil, Mexico, and all other production facilities).
  • Business Restructures: Created “proactive” workplace cultures involving broad strategic re-education of management, engagement of workforces, and new Enterprise Agreements.

Tertiary Education & Professional Development

  • Monash University – Melbourne Australia, 1988 – 1990
  • Master of Business Administration (12 of 16 units completed)
  • Royal Naval Engineering College – Plymouth UK, 1975
  • Post Graduate Diploma of Naval Engineering
  • University of New South Wales – Sydney Australia, 1973
  • Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (honours)
  • Former Member, Institution of Electrical Engineers (UK), Chartered Engineer, 1979 – 2004
  • Management “Black Belt, Advanced Lean Manufacturing Training, Kodak Corporation 1998.

Industry and International Involvement

  • Founding Member, Industrial Maintenance Roundtable (Australia)
  • Establishment committee member, and member of judging panel of the inaugural “Australian
  • Maintenance Excellence Awards” established by Strategic Industry Research Foundation (SIRF), and the Institute of Engineers (Australia).
  • Former Member, Society of Maintenance and Reliability Professionals (SMRP, USA)
  • Speaker at SMRP, Meridium and ARC conferences (USA), various Australian conferences.
  • Publications:
    • “Innovation and Improvement for Telstra’s Australian Energy and Cooling Systems: A Ten Year Case Study” INTELEC, June 2010.
    • “Clarification of failure terminology by examining a generic failure development process”, International Journal of Engineering Business Management, Vol.1, No.1, July 2009.
    • “Silcar Operating Philosophy” White Paper, May 2007.
    • “A Manufacturing Strategy Based on Maintenance”, European Industry Conference, July 1997.

 

 

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