Excellent technology and software – but don’t forget the human factor
OVERVIEW
Site Control®
In May 2024, Renteca completed a 5-week equipment and tool store project to support UGL undertaking overhaul works at Eraring power station, achieving outstanding results.
Managing $3.4 million of equipment, tooling, and consumables comprising some 7000 items, we reduced losses to very low levels compared to industry averages delivering considerable cost savings.
Project scope
Renteca was responsible for issuing and controlling all equipment and tooling for UGL’s overhaul contract comprising (roughly)…
- Renteca supplied equipment including 85 electric multi-process welders, and site-wide power distribution.
- Free-issue UGL supplied equipment and tooling or supplied by other contractors.
- Management of consumable product (gloves, safety glasses, earplugs, abrasives, fasteners etc.) supplied by others.
- Gas bottle management: including monitoring safe stock levels and re-ordering.
Renteca mobilised our transportable mobile equipment store, maintenance facility, and service kiosk supported by satellite equipment distribution points.
We brought our tooling management system to site which provided the latest inventory, issuing, tracking, and reporting software integrated with scanning equipment.
Reducing losses – what made the difference?
However, while good gear and technology is critical, reducing losses was more about process, culture, and collaboration with our customer UGL.
We were able to provide UGL with the tools to know which gear hadn’t been returned, where to look, and provided high-integrity data before site demobilisation.
Our approach is based on industry experience and learnings from years of managing shutdown projects requiring equipment supply and control systems.
An overall Turnkey Tooling package that we call Site Control®
CHALLENGES
Shutdowns are tightly planned and managed events.
Overhauls take place within a defined time-window into which are crammed works that are either routine, overdue repairs, or upgrades that can only take place when the plant is off-line.
Tool control is typically poor on sites controlled by overhaul contractors.
They have limited processes for reducing equipment and tooling losses, because (in the past) the practical realities of managing a large manifest of tools couldn’t provide the information soon enough to allow site supervisors to be accountable for direct losses.
The main tooling control challenges are:
- Trades and technicians working on site attend to many things and their focus is on the work and not always on returning tools.
- Tool tracking software is 100% accurate however, humans are not. In the heat of issuing and returning tools particularly at shift start and finish mistakes are easy to make.
- Some tools have been returned but not scanned in properly.
- Over reliance on technology results in less diligence.
- Everybody is off-site by the time the loss reports are issued after the stock take.
- It is easier to take the expedient path; demob from site and count the tools later.
The result of these realties and challenges is the overhaul contractor is sent a bill for the missing items.
This cost can reach 10% of the overall value of the tool manifest – a considerable cost to the overhaul contractor.
SOLUTION
Renteca enhances overhaul operations by supplying comprehensive power distribution, specialized equipment (notably advanced welding technologies), tooling, and consumables.
This ensures tradespeople and technicians are equipped with top-notch tools to foster both productivity and safety on-site.
We deployed our portable equipment store, a maintenance facility, and service kiosks, creating a central equipment hub flanked by satellite distribution points. The tool store’s infrastructure comprised 12 shipping containers, perimeter fencing, hardstands, and designated access points.
Our tooling management IT system is at the forefront of inventory control, offering state-of-the-art issuing, tracking, and reporting capabilities, all seamlessly integrated with scanning technology.
The Renteca Site Control® methodology successfully reduced losses, demonstrating the effectiveness of our processes and culture.
Our methodology draws upon extensive industry expertise and insights gained from years of overseeing shutdown projects that demand robust equipment supply and control systems.
Crucial to the management of tooling and equipment during shutdowns is the effective handling of the human factors.
A significant element of our human factor management involved a close partnership with UGL at the Eraring Site. Together, we implemented measures to oversee tool issuance and collaborated to recover tools scattered across the site before the demobilization phase. This entailed:
- Providing UGL with concrete evidence of our stringent tooling inventory management, documentation, and reporting practices.
- Generating precise, high-quality reports of missing tools at the conclusion of the project, while still present on-site.
- Coordinating with UGL’s site supervisors to conduct thorough site inspections to retrieve any unaccounted-for tools.
This proactive approach circumvented the all-too-common post-project scenario of receiving a belated list of missing items, which typically arrives too late for effective resolution.
The key to Site Control® is being able to maintain tool location integrity before, during, and after the overhaul event…
FRONT-END
Renteca implemented strong asset governance and workflows for receiving and issuing equipment on site. These processes included the consolidation of tools and materials from other suppliers, which were part of our Site Control® project scope.
EXECUTION
- Our tool store people received advanced training to improve effective issuing and returning of tools, improving accuracy.
- Attention to detail resulted in more accurate scans and control of issuing consumables and equipment to individuals.
- Setting maximum issue limits against high-loss assets for example battery packs, battery powered tooling, and inertia reels.
- Issuing weekly recalls to people who had accumulated tooling resulting in over allocation.
BACK-END
After the overhaul had been completed, and once all equipment and tooling had been returned, we issued a variance report while still on site. We collaborated with the overhaul contractor to investigate the variance and to locate and retrieve the lost tooling.
Immediate attention to variances helped distinguish between scanning error, a non-return, or a tool that was in the wrong location.
We worked in partnership with UGL to locate missing equipment. Before tooling was was demobilised from site, .retrieved equipment was scanned into store, and we reissued an updated and more accurate variance report.
After demobilisation from site, we re-scanned the entire inventory at the Renteca branch to verify that all equipment and tooling had been transported from site back to base.
Results
Renteca considerably reduced the tooling loss rate, a vast improvement on UGLs historical average.
ABOUT Site Control®
Large projects and shutdowns require multiple contractors bringing hundreds of pieces of equipment and tooling of various vintages, safety, and reliability.
At completion, you receive hundreds of invoices of varying detail and accuracy.
RENTECA Site Control® changes all that by providing a single source to supply and manage all equipment and tooling on site.
At the project start we mobilise all assets and issue them to contractors from our manned mobile equipment hubs. We track who is using what right down to the last spanner. We provide…
- Site power and reticulation via mobile power generation
- Best-in-class welding equipment
- Access equipment, tooling, and all other plant and equipment
- We can manage free-issue equipment and consumables
The project is equipped with high quality, well maintained, and well managed gear increasing productivity, safety, and controlling cost.
We provide you with total project control.
One supplier. One source of truth.
Every project is different, so every Site Control Solution is customised to your need and equipment manifest.
Our Site Control specialists work with you to design a solution that reduces cost through power optimisation, equipment mix (Diesel welders vs. Electric Welders for example) and many other cost-down methods.
