Issue No. 7 | 29/09/2023Smithbridge Group CrewBulletin2023Sept26 SBG RMC yard at sunsetAlbert’s update Group Managing Director I again write to you from Guam, where Shayne and I have been for the past three weeks. I had to return here after a brief trip to Australia due to a few commitments up here throughout September. While I have decided to delay my application for USA citizenship, I still have several ongoing projects here that require my presence – more on that later. Leadership Forum LTR11200 UpdateThe Leadership Forum in August was a huge success. Organising such an event is a significant investment for our organisation, both in terms of time and resources. However I firmly believe bringing together our regional and international team members at our head oice in Brisbane it is an investment that pays dividends in the long run.Thank you to those who attended and spent your valuable Saturday with us. The formal segments of the weekend provided us with a valuable opportunity to update everyone on the latest activities and initiatives within the Group and developments taking place in various regions. But in my view the more informal aspects of the weekend were equally, if not more, valuable. Our Group has thrived over the years on the strong, long-term relationships we have cultivated. Spending time with each of you and your partners during these gatherings is a tradition for Shayne, myself, and our children. We have already made the decision to continue hosting this Leadership Forum every year, typically in the month of August, and most likely in Brisbane. We believe annual event helps foster collaboration and align our collective vision. As we move forward with planning for next year’s event, I encourage you to share your ideas and suggestions with Dashelle. Your input is invaluable in shaping the agenda and ensuring that the Leadership Forum remains a memorable and productive experience for all.Our Group has thrived over the years on the strong, long-term relationships we have cultivated. The LTR11200 was approved by the Advisory Board in July, marking a significant step for the Group into the 1200-tonne class. Currently, the LTR11200 is undergoing a major overhaul at the Liebherr factory in Germany. Unfortunately the overhaul works have experienced delays, with completion now expected in late February 2024. As a result, we anticipate receiving the LTR11200 in Australia around May/June 2024. Some team members will visit Germany over the coming months to monitor the overhaul progress.
Albert’s UpdateSCC Divestment & Harapaki GuamGeneral UpdateBeing such a diverse business there’s always a lot going on, and I enjoy the challenges in this. We have commenced work on our divestment of shares from Smith Cranes and Construction. Whenever I return to Australia I take a couple of trips to New Zealand to keep discussions moving with brother Tim. We remain committed to the March 2024 settlement date, and this move being in the best interests of the respective next generation of each business. We continue to work with Smith Cranes and Construction on the Harapaki Wind Farm project for Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. We recently finished the first wind tower. Components for 14 towers have been delivered and the base towers on five others have been set up and grouted. Smithbridge Guam is a very complex and challenging operating environment which is why I spend a significant portion of my time here. Will has his work cut out for him as General Manager overseeing our core operations. But there are several significant strategic issues that have required my attention such as securing a long term rock supply for our quarry, where we have only about 3 years of rock supply left. I have also been working on alternative cement supply options for us as are we experiencing some issues with our cement supply chain. Being such a diverse business there’s always a lot going on, and I enjoy the challenges in this. Congratulations to Gordon and the Mackay team on their completion of the new workshop facility. Significant eort has gone into the development of this workshop and I look forward to visiting for the oicial opening. I’ve also heard the Auckland Cranes team is making good headway on their rebranding to Universal Cranes. The recent purchase of two M12000s for Auckland Cranes is a good move for the team. Congratulations to Stevie at Waikato Cranes who has been recognised in this Bulletin for his initiative in introducing additional control measures around fire extinguishers. This is exactly the kind of commitment and attitude to go above and beyond we want to see in our safety culture. Having the nous to see a problem, come up with a solution and get it put in place is great to see. Nice job Stevie. As I always do a reminder that my door is always open – you can email me, call me, text me or contact me on Teams. M12000 Crawlers getting ready for NZ2023Sept Alupang Data Center aerial2023 P-312 & P-804 project update
Ollie’s update Chief Executive OicerFirstly, Happy Rugby World Cup everyone. Luckily, we are a multinational organisation and not solely dependent on the Wallabies for someone to cheer! And Go Lions and Broncos in their respective Grand Finals! And, didn’t the Matildas do Australia proud in the recent Women’s FIFA World Cup. Thank you for everyone’s eort in making it a successful year for the Group. The new financial year is well and truly underway now and there are lots of exciting activities happening across the Group which bodes well for a successful 2024 financial year too.We had our Leadership Forum in August and it was a thoroughly enjoyable and informative event. We continue to evaluate the benefit of such investments in our businesses and welcome any feedback to the structure and content.I was up in Guam a couple of weeks ago and the ability of the people and the environment to recover from Typhoon Mawar really struck me. The power of a positive “can do” attitude of the people and of mother nature’s ability to regrow was in huge evidence compared to the destruction I saw when I visited shortly after the event in early July. Again, thank you to all who went above and beyond to help their mate.On the business front, our 2023 results have now been finalised and all our businesses reported above budget performance. Thank you for everyone’s eort in making it a successful year for the Group. The new financial year is well and truly underway now and there are lots of exciting activities happening across the Group which bodes well for a successful 2024 financial year too.More important than our financial results are our safety culture and results. While we had marked improvements in some of our businesses, overall, our safety record has room for improvement, and I am working hard with my team to drive the right culture to ensure that we all go home safe each night. The development of our Life Saving Commitments is a key initiative in this space and I encourage everyone to embrace them when they are published.This time of year sees our annual performance reviews taking place in what is a very important process in our business and I encourage everyone to actively participate when invited. It’s a great opportunity for employee and supervisor to provide honest feedback to each other to ensure we are providing the best opportunities for the wonderful people that work in the team.Alongside performance reviews, we have two significant Enterprise Agreements occurring currently, one for our Central Queensland team who are represented by the AWU, and one for our national UCP team who are represented by the CFMEU. Having sat in on some of the negotiations with both unions, I have been very proud of how our managers and employee union delegates have engaged in the process. I have no doubt Universal Cranes are regarded and respected as genuine engagers in the IR process with both unions, something that is vital for our ongoing sustainability. I look forward to the successful conclusion of both EA processes over the next month or so.Finally, by the time the next bulletin is published, our Auckland Cranes team will be trading as Universal Cranes, in what will be the first permanent business presence outside of Australia for the Universal Cranes brand. We look forward to working with Shane Fraser, Auckland Cranes General Manager on this rebrand and oering a gold class standard of service to our existing New Zealand clients and the new ones this rebrand will bring us in contact with.
Will’s update General ManagerSmithbridge Guam welcomes Manuel DROUIN, a safety professional from France, who has a Master’s Degree in SHEQ. He joins the team as the SHEQ Manager. SBG is actively advancing its eorts to enhance safety performance through various initiatives. These include increasing the participation of field sta in team site inspections, where each division will contribute one team member. Additionally, we are introducing monthly safety meetings with Division Managers, starting this month. We are also exploring the possibility of establishing a safety team led by field force members. We anticipate that these programs will boost employee engagement in safety processes, making safety reviews more prominent both internally and externally at all our work sites.SAFETYSBG is actively advancing its eorts to enhance safety performance through various initiatives.PRECASTRMCThe precast yard management has recently transitioned from Max WARD to Harald FESTIJO. Primary project focus of the precast yard remains the P-312 & P-804 project. Up until last month, the precast yard had been well ahead of the work in the field while production continued. The team made a strong push in the field and now the pressure is on the production of precast and the transportation to site to keep our field personnel fully productive.New Work: We now have contracts in hand for the Hawaii Teleport Project which include piles, and precast panels. Several bids have been submitted for DT’s and precast piles on commercial and government projects.2023 Precast yard team hard at work2023Aug GCA Memebership directory front page2023Sept26 RMC yard at sunsetOur ready mix concrete business continued to suer from a lack of available quarry materials following Typhoon MAWAR. This lack of material, primary 3/8” rocks caused many orders to go unfilled. This challenge has been resolved over the last few weeks as the quarry finished commissioning the new production tower enabling the production of 3/8 aggregate. Albert Smith is assisting Smithbridge Guam to investigate cost eective cement that can be sourced o island and shipped to Guam to use.Harmon Plant is running well with very few issues after improving our preventative maintenance schedule and housekeeping. We have improved our aggregate storage by building 3 storage bins out of the concrete retaining wall blocks we make from returned concrete. We have changed all our outside water sources from city water to reclaimed water from our settling tanks. We are also planning on using a small percent of reclaimed water in our concrete mixes as soon as the system is set-up. We finally have both cement silos cleaned and ready to refill at the Yigo Plant. We had the crane division bring over a 100 ton to lift out the storage guppy, it took 3 attempts but it’s finally out. The plant should be ready to operate in one week.
Will’s updateThe Hire Division was quite busy with the FEMA contractor support after the Typhoon. Fleet rentals have been strong both internally and externally. Internal projects of note with crane support include the Alupang Data Center (one Crawler) and the P-312 & P-804 project (two crawlers) and the 5 BEQ Project, (one Crawler, one Rough Terrain). The Hire Division has a strong backlog of future crane work to be able to work towards our revenue budget goals.The Contracting Division finished the fiscal year strong financially, and with a solid backlog of continuing project work. Our three largest projects at this time are the Alupang Data Center project, the P-312 & P-804 precast erection project, and the 5 BEQ structural steel truss project. There is a very high probability that Smithbridge will be awarded the Design/Build project in the next month for the Pacific Unlimited Cold Storage project. CRANE HIRECONTRACT DIVISION 2023 Alupang Data Center team working hard in the crane cab2023 AP-804 project2023 The team at Fushun Data CentreThe completion of the tower construction and commissioning were delayed by several weeks by the Typhoon. That caused inventory to drop to record low levels. We are now happy to report that the tower construction is complete and in full operation.We are working now to ensure that our product quality is meeting required specification for each product. Our inventory has been increasing daily, as well our sales. QUARRY2023Sept20 Yigo plant photo2023Sept15 GCA Golf tournament Will Best w Ranona playing w Hensel Phelps2023 Alupang Data Center general update photos
Kevin’s Update Group Management TeamYou will by now have seen the draft version of the life Saving Commitments (LSC for short) in the weekly SHEQ Presentation - it looks like the one on the right. To ensure we are all on the same page with what the LSC mean, I thought it best to clarify what we mean by Life Saving Commitments first.The 10 LSC on the right are risks or hazards that we have identifed from over 10 years of data from the group that, if not controlled, can cause serious harm or, in other words, can be fatal.So if you ask ‘why aren’t things like manual handling, trip, slips and falls not on the list?’ It’s pretty straight forward, as these generally will not cause a fatality – hence why we call them the top 10 Life Saving Commitments.The next aspect we need to discuss is, what is the best slogan that captures the above, simply, really well and in terms we can all understand.To answer this, we are about to run a competition to get your feedback on what this should look like. To get everyone thinking the example below is provided to help get your creative minds goingJust a quick shout out to one of our champions in Auckland Cranes, Stephen Goodwin, who most in the know, just call him young Stevie.During an independent Branch Inspection of the AWC Hamilton branch, it was noticed that a lot of the fire extinguishers were being blocked from easy access and a pit had an exposed opening that caused a trip hazard. Stevie took it upon himself to come up with solutions and on his own volition and put in place the controls you can see to the right.Its initiatives like this that not only keep our people safe, it also warms the heart to see people taking the time and care to do what is need – thanks Stevie and hope you enjoy your crane as a small token of our gratitude to you for caring to make the workplace safer.LSC are “what we need to believe in and do every day to keep us safe, failure to do so can cause serious harm”So now that we have provided some context, the next piece is up to you. We are looking for a slogan that really hits home on why we have LSC and what they mean. Please submit your best slogan for what the Life Saving Commitments mean using the QR code on the poster on the right.Safety ChampionGrid mesh cover fabricated, and line marking used to highlight changes in ground levels, with great help from Kerry Neill, Ben Erceg and Johnathan Jeffery.Red squares painted on the ground at the foot of re extinguishers, used as an exclusion zone
Universal Cranes North QLD updateMackay updateWe have just completed six weeks of outage work at Hay Point, and I want to commend the team for their successful and safe eorts. We will also have an additional 3-4 weeks of outage work scheduled for October.Our 220t has been actively involved in the McConnell Dowel Hay Point Project for approximately two months now, mainly focusing on remedial work.We provided assistance to Rex Andrews Transport at the Clarke Creek wind farm by helping disassemble their beam set trailer following the transportation of a 240t transformer to the site. This collaborative eort involved both UCQ’s 130t Grove, as well as our 120t Liebherr working together to get the job done.Mackay workshop – we are continuing to work on finishing the transition into the new workshop facility. We are eager to ensure continuity in our services during this process.Townsville UpdateWe recently secured a two-year contract with MMG Dugald River Mine, and currently have two cranes on dry hire at the site. In the first week of November, we have a planned outage that will require approximately 16 sta members.We’ve also been collaborating with New Century Resources, which is situated near Lawn Hill in northwest Queensland. We’ve completed a month’s worth of work on the mine, including outage work, utilising our 25t crane.During the months of July and August, we provided support work during the ADF’s Operation Talisman Sabre, which spanned across the Army, Navy, and RAAF branches. Our contributions also extended to providing support at the Townsville port, particularly in assisting with navy boats.We successfully wrapped up a three-week project in Tully, North Queensland, where we provided support for the construction of a new substation transformer.We are actively researching the market in Mt Isa and Cloncurry for potential satellite depots in 2024. This expansion is in response to the growing renewable energy sector and increased mining activities in the region, encompassing copper, gold, lead, and zinc operations.In October, we anticipate the arrival of a new LTM1090-4.2 crane which the team is excited about!Our Townsville workshop has been bustling with activity, and we have recently welcomed two new team members: Dean Hawker, a skilled painter, and Jethro Blackman, a capable mechanic. They will contribute to our eorts in carrying out remedial repairs and providing ongoing maintenance services.General UpdateWe hosted Mel Kavanagh, the Smithbridge Group Manager for People & Culture, who visited Townsville and Mackay, where she provided an overview of the company’s People and Culture values and encouraged team members to share their insights. “It was great meeting the UNQ teams and understanding from the ground up what is important to our people and what they believe is the DNA of our business”. “It was great meeting the UNQ teams and understanding from the ground up what is important to our people and what they believe is the DNA of our business”.In addition to Mel’s visit, Belle Thelander, the Smithbridge Group Marketing Specialist, made her way to the Mackay depot on Thursday, September 14th, to celebrate R U Ok day. Together with Mel, Belle, and Gordon, they conducted a site visit to the Dalrymple Coal Terminal, distributing R U Ok merchandise in support of the important cause and aligning with our commitment to providing our people a psychologically safe workplace.It’s truly gratifying to be part of the Smithbridge Group and to contribute to the development of the 2023-2025 Group Strategy.
Work AnniversariesYears of continuous service from August - SeptemberFOLLOW USUNIVERSAL CRANES AUCKLAND CRANES SMITHBRIDGE GUAMAuckland Cranes Greig Kent-Ford 24/08/2020Jack Reynolds 11/08/2020Andrew Lucas 3/08/2020Erica Du Plessis 10/08/2020Universal Cranes Central QLDUniversal Cranes BallinaUniversal Cranes North QLDSmithbridge GuamDavid David 30/09/2020Benedicto C. Dominguez 30/09/2020Benjamin A. Musngi 30/09/2020Junnel S. Figura 29/09/2020David Mccallum 28/09/2020Rogelio A. Santos 21/09/2020Redentor A. Musngi 24/08/2020Juanito M. Pangilinan 24/08/2020Mario P. Velasco 18/08/2020Welianter Usiel 17/08/2020Edwin L. Dela Cruz 4/08/2020Jesse J. Oronigo 4/08/2020Estilito J. Tolentino 3/08/2020Auckland Cranes Martin Beitzen 20/08/2018Shane Fraser 2/08/2018Universal Cranes Central QLDSmithbridge GuamUniversal Cranes John Pelobello 12/09/2018Harry P. Egtapen 5/09/2018Ben P. Santos Jr. 4/09/2018Jeremy Muna 20/08/2018John I Pangelinan 9/08/2018Brett Gant 24/09/2018Zane Raymond 24/09/2018Dylan Smith 17/09/2018Byron Tipene 14/08/2018Auckland CranesLeonardus Lemmen 2/09/2013James Sanson 19/08/2013Smithbridge GuamUniversal Cranes Scott Reed 2/09/2013Jamie Dunning 8/09/2013Simon Puglisi 15/07/2008Universal Cranes Ballina