ASC’s submarine Transformation Program wins prestigious South Australian engineering award
The Collins Class Submarines – Maximising Efficiency in Sustainment project, a submission by ASC Pty Ltd, took out two major awards at Thursday night’s Australian Engineering Excellence Awards (AEEA) South Australia 2016.
Winning the AEEA South Australia Award for Project Management and the prestigious Malcolm Kinnaird Engineering Excellence Award, the project shone on the night.
The project – which involved ASC devising and executing a transformation program to improve the approach used to conduct deep level maintenance at its submarine construction and maintenance facility in Osborne, South Australia – impressed South Australia Chief Judge, Michelle Kennedy FIEAust CPEng EngExec NER APEC Engineer.
“ASC set themselves a colossal challenge to complete a 36-month Full Cycle Docking (FCD) within 24 months, for 30% less cost whilst maintaining or improving quality, safety and customer satisfaction.”
“A project of this magnitude required ASC to make a step change in culture, planning, material supply, an accurate and reduced work scope, facility upgrades, pressure hull cuts and major improvements in productivity. It was recommended that the changes be made over three successive FCDs but, in an ambitious response, ASC chose to embark on a Transformation Program that would achieve international best practice within a single FCD cycle, commencing in May 2014 on HMAS Farncomb,” added Ms Kennedy.
Engineers Australia is the peak body for the engineering profession, representing more than 100,000 members from all disciplines of engineering, and maintains representation in every state and territory.
“The judges were impressed by ASC’s ability to complete the FCD significantly ahead of schedule and below cost, whilst meeting or exceeding safety, quality and customer requirements. The achievement of this large and complex defence project in this manner represents a benchmark of Australian engineering. However, the transformation of the FCD within just 14 months by reducing the cost by over 300,000 hours and the duration by over a year to meet the international benchmark of submarine maintenance makes this project stand out and demonstrates true engineering excellence,” Ms Kennedy went on to say.
Recipients of the AEEA South Australia Awards 2016 are now eligible to nominate for the national Australian Engineering Excellence Awards which will be staged in Brisbane during the Australian Engineering Conference, November 23-25.
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