The current landscape demands that Maintenance and Reliability leaders possess a unique blend of technical, analytical, and interpersonal skills. This panel discussion will highlight the critical role of people and competencies in shaping effective M&R leadership. By focusing on the development and integration of these competencies, M&R leaders can drive operational excellence, enhance safety, and ensure sustainable practices within their organizations.

Operational Efficiency Through Competence - implementing effective maintenance strategies such as preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance. This session will explore how advanced technical skills and data-driven decision-making improve maintenance processes and operational efficiency.

Leadership and Team Development – our people are at the heart of maintenance and reliability success. How can excel in building and leading high-performing teams, build strong communication, conflict resolution, and mentoring skills. This session will delve into strategies for developing these crucial leadership skills. People and competencies are the cornerstone of effective Maintenance and Reliability leadership. By developing a comprehensive skill set and fostering a strong team culture, to significantly enhance operational efficiency, safety, and sustainability.

This panel will provide insights from industry experts on how to cultivate these competencies, offering practical advice and best practices for current and aspiring leaders. Join this discussion highlighting the critical importance of people and competencies in the maintenance and reliability field and learn how to lead your team to success in an ever-evolving industrial environment.

While capital assets are meticulously built and designed to return their value proposition, almost criminally, the same rigour is often neglected for our most vital asset: our people. Through engaging, real-life experiences and stories – including as a Gulf War Commander - John will highlight the need for intentional investment in Maintenance and Reliability people. This will set the stage for ongoing conversation, debate, and reflection at MAINSTREAM.

• Assets are built to do what we intend for them to do.
• People are to be trained at the highest level to perform at that level.
• We should have higher expectations of ourselves and others.

John is a best-selling author and the creator of the Certified Professional Reliability Engineer certification program. He has more than three decades of Maintenance and Reliability experience. He is a former Captain in the United States Air Force, a commander of the F-111F Field Training Detachment, and a Gulf War veteran. He is also a college professor at North Carolina State University’s Maintenance and Reliability Management (MRM).

At the heart of the Primary Crusher Maintenance Optimization project are the people who maintain our assets and their safety. What started as a maintenance frames project, naturally became a holistic approach to safe performance of crusher maintenance in shutdowns.  

Delivering a suite of maintenance aids, innovative solutions, and structured rebuild methodologies, this Asset Management Operational Readiness project at Rio Tinto’s Guidai-Darri Iron Ore Mine embodies Rio Tinto’s core values of Care, Courage, and Curiosity. Driving innovation and continuous improvement in frontline shutdown management resonates with our company's purpose: Finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs.

• Aids to reduce safety risks and improve work efficiency.
• Dedicated maintenance area and maintenance strategy using SPMT's to deliver ratable components.
• Detailed contingency plans that were utilized when the dedicated fixed tower crane failed.
• Involvement of frontline management of all work to enable continuity between engineering, operations, and maintenance teams.
• Replicating learnings from across industry during operational readiness is critical for setting teams up for success.
• Embracing asset ownership and assigning dedicated resources to critical shutdown tasks reduces overall asset risk and increases frontline safety.

Execution is where the rubber meets the road as we strive to improve the performance of our physical assets. The transition from reactive to proactive and precision maintenance is crucial for enhancing equipment reliability and performance.

This session explores Proactive and Precision Maintenance, emphasizing Fasteners, Lubrication, Alignment, and Balance (FLAB). By focusing on these key areas, you can reduce downtime, extend machinery life, ensure operational efficiency, and improve the safety and sustainability of physical assets.

• The Business Case for Proactive and Precision Maintenance
• Fasteners - proper techniques for threaded and welded fasteners, belt tensioning, and Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR).
• Lubrication - lubricant selection, application methods, and contamination and condition control.
• Alignment - mechanical alignment techniques and managing electrical power quality and harmonics.
• Balance - dynamic and static mechanical balancing of machinery and phase-to-phase electrical balance.
• Inspections and Condition Monitoring – the feedback loop to ensure that all FLAB management practices are under control and achieve set targets.
• Executing Proactive and Precision Maintenance

These are first principles for managing the reliability of physical assets. Failure to get these basics places all other investments to improve asset performance at risk.

Prioritising maintenance work is crucial in an environment where resources, time, and budget are limited. We must continuously adapt our approach to the ever-changing operational landscape to answer critical questions such as:

• Which assets are the most critical to our operations?
• Which lower-criticality equipment can have their maintenance deferred or moved to run-to-failure (RTF) strategies without increasing risk?
• How does the failure of a single piece of equipment impact the overall system?

At Woodside, the traditional A/B/C equipment classification system proved insufficient for managing the risk of failure across our global fleet of over half a million assets. This method lacked the precision to prioritize truly critical equipment and assess potential risks to both people and the plant.

The Solution:
I was part of a team that developed and implemented a dynamic, data-driven Equipment Criticality Analysis (ECA) program. This new approach evaluates equipment based on 14 key parameters, assigning a score out of 100 to quantify its criticality. What sets this ECA apart is its live, dynamic nature—integrating with real-time data sources to automatically adjust criticality scores as operational conditions change. For example, if a piece of redundant equipment fails, the criticality of its backup automatically increases.

Key Achievements:

• Successfully conducted ECA on over 200,000 pieces of equipment.
• Transitioned from static to dynamic ECA, ensuring criticality scores remain relevant in real-time.
• Leveraged ECA to reduce overall maintenance hours while maintaining operational safety.
• Currently exploring ways to further integrate ECA into maintenance planning to optimise resource allocation.

When I started as an apprentice I could not have imagined where my career path would take me. Progressing through the trade ranks I made the move into the world of Work Planning. What a different world that was starting as the sole Planner then building a team all against the backdrop of utilities privatisation. However during this time I branched out into work management systems implementations, contracting bids and developing maintenance plans and standards. These extracurricular activities created a natural progression for me into Asset Management. As for the future its looking bright on the road to renewable energy.

Armour Software has been at the core of Bureau Veritas’ asset integrity and reliability services for over 20 years.

Over this time industry standards and customer expectations have evolved. Bureau Veritas recognised this challenge and the need to evolve Armour to stay at the leading edge of the industry.

Some of the challenges faced:

• Improving inspection and reporting turn-around time.
• Ensuring consistent report quality and compliance with standards.
• Maximising productivity of technicians. More time spent in the field, less time on administration.
• Maintaining the integrity and traceability between field inspection data and reports.

Through a strategic partnership with OnPlan Software, BV developed Armour 2.0. OnPlan’s foundation, built on flexible data structures and multiple inspection techniques and methodologies allows Bureau Veritas to stay at the forefront of testing, inspection and certification services.

Chevron Australia identified gaps in their scheduling software as facilities entered operations, leading to workarounds that caused process divergence and inefficiencies. Due to these workarounds, our staff had to learn unique processes for each facility, a challenge shared across Chevron’s global operations. To address this, we are standardising asset management tools worldwide, with Prometheus Planning & Scheduling selected as the core maintenance scheduling solution. Here in the Australian Business Unit, along with our colleagues in the U.S. refineries, we are early adopters of Prometheus Web Scheduler, beginning our journey toward improved scheduling and global standardisation.

• Past – Software gaps and workarounds
• Present – The PG Journey. Setting the standards and improving our solutions
• Future – A global solution that utilizes leading edge advancements in technology (AI)

Each year we run our Aurizon People Insights Survey. Last year’s showed that our people were feeling less energised, lacked clarity as to how they linked to the business strategy, and that they felt they were not able to share opinions without fear of retaliation. As a leadership team, we created annual people plans to address the poor morale, low accountability, lack of clarity, and diminishing relationships.

Results are in for the initial stages. Last year we had 66% participation. This year was over 90%! This is already a great demonstration of improved psychological safety and people feeling their voice is valued and that it's safe to speak up.

It was also identified that our leaders needed support and development. Aurizon mandated 2-day workshops, followed by coaching pods over 8-12 weeks, for all frontline leaders. The workshops focus on building trust, enabling courageous conversations, adapting to different situations and personalities, and what not to say. The coaching pods require leaders to take those skills and apply them in real life environments. These have been pivotal in many of the challenging and uncomfortable conversations I have had during my time in leadership.

• Setting team rituals.
• 1:1 wellbeing framework to address team and personal growth.
• Reset BU expectations across teams to improve clarity and purpose.
• The importance of language.
• How to build healthy foundations in the team.
• Safe environments so that people can speak up, learn, and share.
• Framing conversations to enable curiosity, not finger pointing.
• Tools to identify how people are feeling.
• Collaborating with your team to address challenges and support them.
• How, why, and when to provide feedback.

By adhering to these principles and implementing the suggested practices, organisations can mitigate the effects of Parkinson's Law in shutdown management, resulting in safer, more efficient, and cost-effective shutdowns.

In this session we'll highlight best practices and learn how cultural shift towards disciplined shutdown management, prioritising proactive planning, realistic timeframes, and a collaborative, integrated approach to optimise shutdown operations.

• Parkinson's Law and Shutdowns
• Shutdown Management Best Practices
• Strategic Planning and Integration
• Realistic Deadlines and Scope Control
• Proactive Execution
• Continuous Improvement
• Benefits of Effective Shutdown Management

A quality maintenance budget solution will enable the asset intensive organisation to approach maintenance as a financial equation in both the tactical and strategic planning horizons. Implementing a solution for the whole business requires targeted thinking about how to approach change, including allowing the customer voice to form the basis of your design. This is the story of how BHP recently went live, globally, on a new approach to budgeting for maintenance.

Maintenance budgeting systems and processes in asset intensive organisations lack efficiency, are heavily driven by manual data collation and are inconsistent across the enterprise. This limits the organisation’s ability to provide visibility into expenditure, adequate cost variance reporting and ultimately, its compliance to strategic plans.

Delivering an enterprise grade maintenance budgeting solution is the path to address these issues. Success of such solution can be measured through high levels of user adoption and executive support. Both of which can only achieved through a successful organisational change management program that supports people, standardises processes and simplifies the technology stack.

• Executing an Organisational Change Management strategy
• Securing senior leadership support for an investment in a maintenance budgeting solution
• An unrelenting focus on customer voice
• Aligning the global process and approach for maintenance budgeting

Know who your key customer is. Then talk to them, bring them along the journey and always advocate to have their voices heard. This will allow you to focus on the fundamentals and simplify your scope and build a quality solution. If done well, then once the solution goes live, it can be a springboard to massive organisational value.

Newly ISO-certified Southern Ports is the first port authority in the country to apply a certified Asset Management System to an expansive and complex asset base of more than 8,700 owned and maintained assets, across 14 diverse asset classes, worth approximately $1.6 billion.

Hear from the WA port authority on how its leading the way in digital asset management, bringing along its entire organisation to deliver a digital window into its asset health with an integrated asset management system manual.

This presentation will cover the definition, design, development, and deployment of an online asset management system that is certified as an ISO 55001 AMS in asset intensive port environment.

Learn how they;
• Developed accredited AMS in a complex and asset intensive organisation
• Gained buy-in across the organisation at all levels and setting clear roles
• Implemented an AMS in an organisational-wide digital transformation
• Have already realised benefits from stakeholder satisfaction to data-driven investment decisions

Join us to hear about the real world experience of Sunwater in their journey so far to implement proof of concept for SAP’s Asset Performance Management (APM).

Operational excellence is the cornerstone of sustainable success in asset-intensive industries. The integration of SAP Asset Performance Management (APM) aims to leverage advanced data analytics, predictive maintenance, and machine learning, to support the achievement of operational excellence. Furthermore, SAP APM facilitates collaboration by providing a unified platform for asset management across an organisation.

The journey begins with the integration of SAP APM into existing enterprise systems, with the eventual goal being to enable real-time monitoring and analysis of asset health and performance.
This presentation explores the key components of SAP APM, and outlines the experience of Sunwater in implementing an SAP APM pilot. The journey to operational excellence through SAP APM is not just a technological shift but an organisational transformation.

• Context around Sunwater and business case for APM PoC
• Progress to date on the PoC
• Future steps and activities

The 4th industrial revolution is taking place today, without a doubt.

Digitalisation is the driver behind this, but one could say it’s not just a driver, it is a hype as well. What is the impact of this hype on Predictive Maintenance (PdM)? How do companies like BASF convert their strategy for PdM in a digital approach, with success? And why do they do it now?

• Understanding the impact of digitalization ‘hype’ on PdM
• Understanding why to invest in PdM now
• Overcoming resistance to digitalized Predictive Maintenance (PdM) strategies
• Key selection criteria for a successful implementation of digital PdM
• How do other end-users like BASF or Barry Callebaut implement this?

The UWA NLP-TLP group has had over $1.8M of funding since 2018 to develop tools and processes to “Transform Maintenance through Data Science”. By collaborating with over 20 national and international organisations we have developed and released 11 open-source language processing software and web tools and the largest maintenance dataset for fine-tuning AI models.

This talk describes these tools, what value they add for reliability engineers and planners, and how organisations are using them.

These tools establish a basis to enable processing and exchange of maintenance data within and between organisations. Continuing to process maintenance texts and procedures manually is no longer acceptable from productivity or quality control perspectives now we have viable and open AI-enabled alternatives.

This session is based on a real case study I completed 25 years ago. I was reminded of this as I attended Drew Troyers recent workshop in August, as his paper described the experience I had when I did the case study all those years ago. It reinforced for me that a back-to-basics approach is sometimes the best solution.

• Describing the process used to identify/develop areas for improvement. Failure data from previous four years was reviewed years with simple failure types created for failures.
• Why Pareto charts was developed identifying the failure types that provided the greatest opportunity for improvement.
• How failures were assessed against current Preventative Maintenance (PM) and Condition Monitoring (CM) tasks for effectiveness.
• Along with changes to PM/CM programmes a focus was placed on improving maintenance and repair quality focussing on precision or back to basics standards which included:
  • Precision alignment
  • Precision balance
  • Lubrication best practices
• The results were significant and demonstrated ongoing avoided costs due to a significant reduction in unplanned failures.

The brain works smarter when rested. It gives other brain regions the chance to connect for learning and memory. It is the most important (but the most neglected) organ. It controls and coordinates our actions and reactions. It allows us to think and get things done.

Yet, brain fog, cognitive overload and loss of energy is happening everywhere. Employees can't switch off and aren't coping with the constant onslaught of information. Mental health is impaired with fatigue, depression, stress and anxiety increasing; while memory decreases.

The good news: you can do something about it. Introducing a low-tech intervention called 'Brain Breaks'. Learn to create opportunities to unplug and pause; for better brain functioning, clarity and performance.

Key takeaways include;

• Preparing your brain for information overload and over-stimulation
• Ideas on implementing simple ‘Brain Breaks’ into work environments
• Powerful insights about remaining balanced (equanimous) amid life’s ups and downs
• Experiential learning (5mins) to train stability, focus & to relax + be alert at the same time

In November 2023, Pilbara Ports undertook an asset management maturity assessment that considered ISO55000 and ISO55001 - Asset Management – Management Systems – Requirements, in line with the Global Forum on Maintenance and Asset Management (GFMAM).

This resulted in 64 recommendations to improve Pilbara Ports’ asset management maturity. Pilbara Ports asset management maturity now consists of the review, development and alignment of its SAP - SAMP and AMF, aligned with the organisations goals whilst also considering the asset lifecycle from acquisition to disposal.

• The importance of asset management maturity assessments that consider ISO5500 and ISO55001 Asset Management – Management Systems – Requirements and the GFMAM
• Understanding assessment results and recommendations to improve asset management maturity
• Building the knowledge and skill set within your business and the people who live in it

BHP Iron Ore’s Infrastructure department manages a diverse, sprawling portfolio of non-production assets which are critical to sustain the ecosystem within which the Iron Ore business operates. A lack of a holistic approach to asset management has led to an aging portfolio, opaque condition understanding, reactive spend, and missed opportunities to effectively leverage functional groups within the organisation. To address these gaps, the Reliability team engaged Assetivity to perform an ISO 55001 gap assessment, and have subsequently being developing the strategic asset management framework to sustain a more efficient and cost-effective long-term operation.

• Problem statement overview and gap assessment findings
• Benefits to Reliability teams in taking charge of asset management
• Leveraging the BHP Operating System (BHP’s operational excellence framework)
• Operationalising asset management plans to realise value

The presentation explores the transformative impact of technology on maintenance while highlighting that the core principles of predictive maintenance and reliability-centered maintenance have been understood for decades. We delve into how cost-benefit decisions influence the data required for an effective predictive maintenance strategy and conclude by addressing the cultural challenges of its implementation.

• Four generations of maintenance
• How components fail & the data do we need for predictive maintenance
• Predictive maintenance in action
• Growing maintenance maturing

QAFCO has a clear and ambitious vision for the future—to be recognized as the world’s leading producer of ammonia and urea. But reaching this goal isn’t just about growth; it’s about a steadfast commitment to reliability, operational excellence, and continuous innovation.

• The ARMS evolution and transformation to meet the needs of QAFCO
• An insight into Cordant™ and its first implementation into the Middle East
• Explain the gold standard scope of work for reliability engineers
• Provide clear maintenance cost optimisation results

1. Effective integration of software, consulting & training programs
2. Diversity within strategy optimization
3. One framework for achieving reliability excellence

One of the most impacted industries during Covid, was the Airline industry.

Bringing multiple data sources into one single view and pane of glass to make informed and smarter decisions, was vital to change the maintenance program – and bring aircraft back online after long term groundings and storage. Airlines needed to look at over a year's worth of data to ensure that the aircraft were safe while minimising any potential surprises.

The was also a need to improve work scope to maximize capability, helping to cope with losing skills and an aging workforce, post-COVID, that is almost impossible to replace at the same rate.  New skillsets were created in the team to extract value from this data, combining data analytics and practical knowledge of the systems. Bringing this all together brought success to predictive maintenance and defect management teams.

Combining data sources of sensors, maintenance information data, in-flight alerting, spare parts type provisioning, and other general IP into an accumulated data centralised capability speeds up the research activity. This effectively aggregates the data, bringing it into a common format or common location.

Hear how these systems (often SAAS) result in much more varied data sources, reducing the specialist capabilities and coding capabilities required.  They also don’t need to be implemented across all the infrastructure across the business.

Benefits are being better at maintenance activity, continually improving our maintenance program to lower the cost of maintaining the asset, maximizing yield, improving safety and minimizing disruption.

• There is no perfect tool – just start the journey and your use of the tools will evolve.
• Extracting the data away from the original source allows great manipulation.
• Understand that technology is accelerating at a rate faster than most of our assets
• You have to develop the skills within your team to make smarter decisions.

Within Bentley, we have seen a significant 2.5 Billion Euro investment in future mobility and a Dream Factory to deliver it. However, within our current manufacturing vision remain a sizable number of 'Dumb' unconnected, primitive technologies and assets which will remain at the heart of our future product deliveries.

With our new, multimillion pound factory assets coming online, how we do ensure we are able to obtain the live data and status to enable us to manage the whole manufacturing process end to end?

Realistically, the only answer was either to replace a third of all our machinery and assets - or to develop, using Industry 4.0 sensor solutions, a cloud based and wireless I/O delivery. The system must allow us to self deploy using our in house skill set, in a cost effective manner and collect data points that can be directly inputted into our future factory MES and SCADA solutions. One the data is collected - it allows us to develop dashboards and create Condition Based Monitoring outputs and Live status feedback and to generate Predictability Algorithms with Cloud based providers, such as AWS and Snowflake.

The solution would be Quick to install, Adaptable and can be modified when needed and Cost effective.

For 19 years, I worked as a diesel mechanic but always felt stuck. Despite my leadership skills and ability to think outside the box, I kept getting overlooked. At 35, I was diagnosed with ADHD it explained so much. But medication wasn’t the magic fix I expected, I realized I had to work differently as a neurodivergent person.

A friend pushed me out of the workshop into asset health, which led to a game-changing secondment in risk and assurance. Suddenly, I was supported and trusted. Attending the Mainstream Conference confirmed it. I wanted to be a reliability engineer. Now, I’ve found my place and I love it!

Most want them, few have them, everyone needs them, yet only the motivated build them. What am I? ABs (Asset BoMs) of course!

It’s time to get serious! Having and using BoM’s in any business would make a significant impact on EAM business process AND by association the MRO Supply Chain. Is every business that lazy to build them? Are we blindly cataloguing and stocking because it makes us feel good? Is there zero accountability to all the cash tide up in the stock in the warehouse?

If these questions make you feel uncomfortable, they are meant to, so let’s TALK ABOUT IT! Every single spare part that gets catalogued (excluding consumables) should be, MUST be, added to a BoM! Period. This should be non-negotiable and is NOT a big ask. Compared to the info required to catalogue a material! It’s a single question. What piece of equipment does this material belong to? That’s it! In a production environment, materials BoMs are an absolute must so why do we accept so much less in the asset management world? Let’s build BoMs!!!

So, the next question/thought is WHO, HOW, and WHEN do we make this BoM building a simple and effective process. This session will talk about the need for and importance of building and maintaining a bill of materials (BoM) for at least your critical equipment. Every journey begins with the first step, so let’s get moving.

Takeaways:

• The WHY BoM’s are needed
• The WHEN BoM’s are needed
• The WHERE BoM’s are needed
• The HOW BoM’s are created

Fortescue’s role is to be a leader, innovator and first mover in the energy transition, by becoming the world’s leading green technology, energy and metals company. Achieving this goal means testing limits and living in the uncomfortable. Fortescue create and use cutting edge, innovative technologies to do things no one thought was possible.

Fortescue have been delivering a program of innovation to improve their capabilities in Asset Management. Join this session to hear directly from Jeff Albert, Asset Technology Lead at Fortescue about the approach they have taken, the success they have had, and the learnings they acquired along the way.

• Fortescue’s approach to managing technology and innovation to become one of the world’s lowest cost iron ore producers
• Review of the Asset Management programs that have successfully been delivered, including core system modernisation, and workforce mobilisation
• Learnings and insights to help others in their Asset Management journeys

Maintenance and reliability professionals are increasingly turning to data-driven approaches to enhance operational efficiency and asset longevity. This panel discussion delves into the two paramount challenges we're facing as we navigate the complexities of data utilization: data quality and integration, and the skill gap in data analytics.

Ensuring data quality and seamless integration still poses a significant hurdle. Maintenance and reliability operations generate vast amounts of data from diverse sources, including sensors, equipment logs, and maintenance records. However, inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and fragmentation in data can undermine decision-making processes. The panel will explore strategies for improving data quality, standardizing data formats, and integrating disparate data sources to create a cohesive and reliable data ecosystem.

The skills gap in data analytics also remains a critical issue. While advanced data analytics tools and techniques offer tremendous potential, the lack of personnel with the requisite expertise to leverage these tools effectively hinders progress. This discussion will address the need for upskilling existing staff, attracting new talent with data science proficiency, and fostering a culture of continuous learning within maintenance and reliability teams.

Join us as industry leaders share insights, experiences, and practical solutions to these pressing challenges, paving the way for a more data-savvy and resilient future in maintenance and reliability.

There is an acceptance that DEI is a crucial issue for the future success of their organisation. But many significant questions remain in how to practically make this a reality. How can we attract and retain a diverse workforce in maintenance and reliability? What role can maintenance and reliability teams play in promoting DEI throughout the organisation? How can we create a culture of inclusion where all employees feel valued and respected?

Let's face it - decarbonisation is shaking things up in Western Australia's industrial landscape. But guess what? It's not just about challenges - it's packed with opportunities for maintenance and reliability pros like us!

This panel will cut through the noise and get real about what this means for Maintenance and Reliability professionals. How are companies really adapting (some smoothly, others… not so much) and what it means for your day-to-day work and future career moves.

What's in it for you?

• Get the inside scoop on which skills will be hot property in the low-carbon economy
• Learn practical tips for adapting your maintenance strategies
• Find out how some companies are actually saving money while going green
• Network with others who are riding this decarbonisation wave
• The good, the bad, and the ugly of new technologies
• Career opportunities you might not have thought about
• How to get ahead of the curve and position yourself as a green maintenance leader

No lectures - just straight talk, real experiences, and actionable insights. Bring your questions, challenges, and an open mind.

This interactive panel discussion will explore the options, benefits and challenges of implementing APM in industries that place a high demand on their assets. With all industries facing rising operational costs, ongoing equipment downtime, and the need for greater sustainability, can APM offer the sort of transformative solutions through predictive maintenance, real-time monitoring, and data-driven decision-making that it promises?

This session will bring together broad industry expertise to discuss their experiences in implementing APM with a focus on improvements in measurable asset reliability, reduced unplanned downtime, and extended equipment life. The panel will also address the specific challenges of applying APM in harsh operating environments, integration with legacy systems, and the need for workforce training.

Through interactive dialogue and case studies, participants will gain practical insights into the effectiveness of APM, as well as how to leverage it for greater operational efficiency.

In this inspiring talk, Matt will share the story behind Spoke to a Bloke, a grassroots charity dedicated to tackling men’s mental health and reducing Australia’s devastating rates of male suicide. With 3 out of every 4 suicide deaths being men, change is urgently needed. You’ll hear about our initiatives to bring early intervention and meaningful support to men who are struggling, before it’s too late.

A key part of Walk for a Bloke 2025 is the Perth event, where participants will take on a 25km walk that is happening simultaneously across 19 locations in Australia, England, and Switzerland. The Perth walk is a fantastic opportunity to get moving, build Meaningful Mateships, and show up for mental health. Whether you're walking solo or with a team, your participation will help spread the message and create positive change.

Founded after the tragic loss of a mate to suicide, Spoke to a Bloke is a charity born from a group of men who knew they could do more. Join us for this session and discover how we're empowering men to open up, build meaningful connections, and reduce the stigma surrounding mental health.

In this inspirational keynote session, Dan Allen and Ed Ross, Co-founders of TradeMutt and TIACS, will tell their story on why they hung up the nail bag and went about shaking up the workwear industry.

You’ll hear how a very personal event inspired this duo to change the culture when it comes to the issue of mental health conversations within a community traditionally adverse to such discussions. Learn how Australia's biggest Social Impact workwear company has reframed the conversation around mental health to a more accessible, fun, and optimistic one.

You’ll hear about their amazing journey as they took necessary traditional safety garments and redesigned them to provoke discussions on mental health.

They’ll discuss how this formed the creation of a free and ongoing counselling service aimed at guiding those struggling with mental health via text and call. Their journey has enabled TIACS to successfully help thousands of tradies, truckies, rural and blue-collar workers.

Creating value in the mining industry comes down to three factors –market conditions, geological quality, and the performance of physical assets. As is the case with most commodities, management has little control over the market. We trust that the geology is good, otherwise, we wouldn’t be mining the area. The performance of the physical assets is the one dimension over which management wields a great deal of control.

Asset management is often viewed as synonymous with maintenance – generally considered a cost centre.

In this workshop, we intend to change your perspective. Managing the performance of the assets must be viewed through a different lens – as a value centre.

We begin with an overview of the four primary value and loss/risk drivers:

• How upper quartile asset management practices drive EBIT/EBITDA.
• The potentially disastrous effects of asset management gone awry.
• How asset management increases safety performance.
• Asset management and your energy and carbon footprint.

We’ll conduct an interactive workshop to address how asset management drives EBIT/EBITDA, a lean balance sheet, and ultimately, RONA/ROCE – the true value of a company. Then we’ll set our sights more strategically and discuss how asset management can differentiate you in the market and create a competitive advantage.

This six-hour dive into Asset Management, specifically the Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP) is designed to be a fun and informative look at what it takes to establish a successful and forward-thinking strategy towards all vital equipment and, as importantly, get the necessary and needed stakeholders to be fired up about it. With their newly found passion and energy, stakeholders are more likely to stay within the ‘lines’ of the plan, contribute to its execution, measure the effectiveness of the SAMP and suggest ideas to make improvements as time goes by. Generating ideas is seldom ever an organization’s problem. Consistently executing the plan, year in and year out, is another issue altogether.

Participants in this workshop will gain practical and ready-to-use knowledge through six specific learning objectives:

• Design, Build, and Install for the highest level of inherent reliability
• Translating organizational objectives into Strategic Asset Management Plans (also referred to as: Asset Reference Plan)
• The value of knowing an asset’s Life Cycle and Life Cycle Cost
• Establishing the necessary ‘control activities,’ or the stuff we actually do (Preventive, Predictive maintenance)
• Determining spare part requirements
• Auditing the SAMP
• Evaluating performance
• Continuous Improvement

ISO 55000 states that the SAMP ‘shall’ be in alignment with the organizational objectives. There isn’t a lot of wiggle room to get out from under a ‘shall’ directive. Unfortunately, high-level organizational objectives are often written in corporate ‘speak’ and are hard to translate into exact maintenance activities. This workshop offers a crash course in translating abilities.

An asset’s location on its Life Cycle helps to determine if the equipment has enough value left to be of value to the company. Clearly, some assets have left companies feeling ‘nickel and dimed to death.’ Attendees will understand how to estimate Life Cycle Cost and value. The control activities are the actual maintenance actions taken by all maintenance organizations. In the scheme of things, a maintenance department has a finite number of activity types to bring to bear. This workshop will discuss each of them.

The workshop will conclude with an engaging discussion on the general review and audit practices around measuring the application of the plan and the measurements of its intended effects. From those effects, an organization will take action to either leverage positive outcomes or compensate with improvement actions for negative results. This is continuous improvement.

This workshop encapsulates almost the entirety of Asset Management, choosing to focus on the line from organizational objectives to continuous improvement by focusing on the Strategic Asset Management Plan.

The MAINSTREAM 2025 research identifies a ‘Decreasing Quality and Integrity in Work Management Fundamentals” as one of the major obstacles to achieving Maintenance and Reliability Excellence.  A deterioration in the adherence to strong maintenance planning fundamentals is at the heart of this challenge.

Often overlooked, effective planning is a game-changer for organisations, optimising resource utilisation and enhancing team focus. This workshop is designed to link the vital role of maintenance planning to productivity increase.

Strong planning practices foster clarity, streamline task prioritisation, and improve risk management. You will discover a myriad of benefits in continuous improvement and effective communication as we highlight actionable steps to elevate maintenance planning. 

• Key benefits of planning, and how they supercharge operations

• Three essential stages of the planning process  

• Best practices for value assessment

• The consequences of poor planning on operations, emphasising the stakes involved

Peter commenced a dedicated maintenance career as an electrical fitter and technician. He worked his way up through the ranks in the Navy to hold senior engineering roles both at sea and then as GM of the Submarine Corporation. After the Navy, he transitioned to senior management roles in mining and resources. Peter has significant experience in work management and the behavioural aspects of sustainable organisational change with operators and maintainers.  He is passionate about unlocking productivity through strong maintenance planning.