Peter Durrant

Peter Durrant

Adjunct Principal, Education & Change Management

Covaris

Summit Sessions

Attracting and Keeping People in Industrial WA

The next decade brings with it the greatest workforce challenge we’ve ever faced. Machines and automation are replacing human tasks. As we strategize for autonomous workers and the decarbonisation and electrification of everything, we need to think very carefully about how we build the foundation for this future workforce.

Many young engineers and trades who would usually enter the mining, energy or manufacturing sectors are being lured to other industries. There is also a massive shortage of highly skilled trades. Companies are having to make do with less capability. Gone are the days where up-and-coming trades spent 15 years learning from an experienced trade.

Join our panel for an interactive discussion about how companies are doing different and interesting things to both attract people; and also retain the necessary knowledge, skills and experience required for the Asset Management workforce of the future.

  • Development plans for current employees whose jobs and skillsets will need to change
  • Attracting people from outside of heavy industry
  • Working with Schools, Universities and Tafe to attract young people
  • How and why we need to employ neuro, gender, and class-diverse people
  • Task qualifying our workforce for not only the current needs, but continuous training for the constantly evolving needs of the business
  • Developing coaching and mentoring networks that go beyond your organisation
View Summit Speakers

Conference Sessions

WORKSHOP: Aligning Work Management, Equipment Reliability, and Investment Planning

Most of our businesses have either started, or are on the journey, to bring the work force forward with strategic improvement and digitisation – seeking to drive efficiencies by better use of data and streamlined workflows. However, three key challenges need to be addressed:

Data and master documentation are not yet fit for purpose – housekeeping must be sorted out so that continual improvement is in place before making the strategic jump with technology.

Experienced management are not fully cognisant of the challenges and constraints on the work force. Often, they’re not aware where the actual value is generated because the work force enables the assets which makes the money. The lens of experienced people (who are the very source of our forward thinking for improvement), can miss the significance of fundamental issues.

Stakeholders are not embraced in verticals from the shop floor to the board room and then in the layers across the various sites of the business in a common vision. This alignment must happen to drive consistency and alignment.

Join Asset Management thought leader and educator, Peter Durrant, for 90-minutes of facilitated discussion and debate. Peter has a broad, balanced view of the maintenance craft. He has significant experience in work management and the behavioural aspects of sustainable organisational change with operators and maintainers. From electrical fitter to technician, he worked his way up through the ranks in the Navy to hold senior engineering roles both at sea and ashore with the submarine arm. Peter then transitioned through facilities maintenance in the service sector to senior management and executive roles in the mining and resource sector. Peter is a master trainer and facilitator of the Asset Schools Maintenance & Reliability Training Courses.

View Conference Speakers

2-3 August 2023

Crown Promenade, Melbourne

See you there!