Tiwai Pointer

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was welcomed to the official ceremony at NZAS with a traditional Māori welcome and a rousing haka performed by children from Bluff School.  The Prime Minister was very touched by the welcome and so was Rio Tinto Aluminium chief operating officer Pacific Operations Kellie Parker and Chairperson of the NZAS Board, who said, “I was glad I didn’t have a seat facing the crowd because the kids’ welcome was so moving I had tears in my eyes.”

Kellie went on to say, “We are proud the Prime Minister has joined us to mark this important milestone for the team at Tiwai Point and the country’s manufacturing sector.

“Expanding the production capacity at NZAS will allow us to meet the demand from customers for the value added products made here.

“Restarting this potline will increase the smelter’s production capacity by around 10 per cent and, with increased orders for other products, has created 45 jobs.”

The Prime Minister acknowledged the importance of NZAS to the local Southland economy and to New Zealand’s international trading profile, saying, “Aluminium is a key commodity export for us and our export receipts are crucial to growing New Zealand’s economy, and the aluminium produced here is exported to some of our key trading partners ... and earns nearly $1.3 billion in export dollars.”

NZAS GM Stew Hamilton also announced that NZAS will in 2019 be seeking accreditation for its metal from the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative or ASI.

“I am proud to announce that NZAS will soon undergo the rigorous Aluminium Stewardship Initiative certification process.  

This will extend our leadership on responsible production by providing

independent verification that our metal meets the highest environmental, social and governance standards.

“Rio Tinto is the first in the industry to be able to produce ASI Certified Aluminium through its smelters in Canada, and once NZAS is also certified, this ground-breaking product will be available to customers in all markets.”

Earlier Stew and Kellie took the Prime Minister and the Minister of Energy, Dr Megan Woods, for a tour of NZAS introducing them to members of the team along the way. 

The ceremony was concluded with a casting of two aluminium kiwis, one to stay at NZAS and one to be held at the Prime Minister's office. 

However what really scored a hit with both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Energy were the personalised hard hats we told them they could take home as well as one for the Prime Minister’s baby girl Neve to encourage her to consider a career in engineering later in life! 

A special ceremonial casting was carried out at the Line 4 reopening event, viewed by the Prime Minister, Minister of Energy and other invited guests.

Congratulations to Andrew Beck and Kevin Lang (Carbon Maintenance) on their supreme efforts to

make the ceremonial casting a reality.  A casting may sound simple, but it is anything but - Andrew built a fit for purpose furnace to remelt the aluminium for the casting, as well as a casting table, tools and of course the sand mould.  He spent two months (one month full time) working on the project, with Kevin helping for the final three weeks prior to the event.

One of the biggest issues that needed to be addressed was the impact the Line 4 magnetic field could have on the furnace solenoids.  Both Andrew and Kevin spent a lot of time identifying potential issues and establishing fixes to make sure the casting went smoothly on the day, including having around ten successful practice runs.  But as Murphy’s Law would have it, it didn’t quite to go plan on the day.  The magnetic field affected the furnace meaning it wouldn’t work, but some quick thinking on the morning of the event ensured the casting could still go ahead with metal being taken directly from a crucible. 

Special thanks to Line 4’s Brendan Brownlie (Crew Leader) who organised the crucible and to Jared Gorrie (Assets Superintendent Line 4) who stepped in to remove the hot metal from the cruc.  In typical Tiwai style, when things don’t quite go to plan, people work on a solution together to ensure success. 

The decision to build a furnace was made to enable the foundry aluminium to be heated in a very controlled way which would mean the best cast possible.  The good news was that the Line 4 metal was of high enough purity in its raw state to cast.

Andrew was delighted to meet the Prime Minister, “It was a bit special,” he said.  “To know that the kiwi my father created has ended up on the PM’s desk is pretty awesome, and it definitely fits our company motto of Pure Kiwi Mettle”.

We would also like to acknowledge the support of the Carbon Maintenance teams particularly Eugene Venter and Brett Waters, for allowing Andrew and Kevin to be released to work on this very special project. 

NZAS announced the winners of its final round of Innovation Awards in November with many of the initiatives entered also being picked up by other sites. 

Congratulations to the following winners:

Living the Values - Andrew Braven (Training & Development), Gareth Wishart (Business Improvement), Dave Rodgers (Production Systems), Keith Heathcote (Technical Development) – Dropped tapping metal recovery

Andrew’s innovation was to reduce the amount of metal tapped from each cell by 450 kg during periods where the Casthouse had reduced capacity.  This lesser amount meant that more cells could be tapped into each crucible, clearing the area where metal was dropped more quickly.  This has resulted in Reduction operations staying within the normal day/night cycle.  The cells are also more stable as the new process prevents instances of cells being tapped and then anodes set within a short time period.

Previously, if there were issues in the Casthouse that prevented the tapping of all metal on the shift, the metal left behind needed to be tapped before the next shift’s work could start.  This created delays as operators would need to wait before commencing their work.

Cost - Graeme Affleck (Reduction Maintenance), Kerry Hapuku (Molten Metal Maintenance) - Challenging the cost of compressor spares

When Graeme was quoted a delivery cost of $9,000 for the shipment of parts costing $500 he knew there had to be a more cost effective way to access the kit.  So he set about researching how to source the parts locally arranging for them be made in Invercargill at a cost of $572, a saving of almost $8,500. 

In other examples of acting like the NZAS money they spent came out of their own pockets, the Maintenance team and Kerry saved $25,000 on drier rotors and a reduction of $15,000 in compressor service costs. 

Health & Safety (joint winners):

Simon Pollard, Simon Baker & Kiel Te Raki (TAB) and Grant Shirley (Sheet Metalcraft) - Bake out burner trolleys for furnaces in Casthouse

This team designed an adjustable height trolley to hold the burners and enable them to be wheeled into position, thereby eliminating all of the manual labour previously required.  There is no contact with the hot burners and once removed from the furnace they can be wheeled into a safe position to cool down. 

Previously the TAB contractors spent time setting up the burners by using retainer wire to the furnace to balance the burner in the door access way.  This required manual labour to support the burner which had the potential to cause back strains.  When removing the burner after the bake-out, people would also be exposed to extreme heat (700^oC), and dragging the burner out of the way also created a hazard.

Kevin Lang & Andrew Beck (Carbon Maintenance) - Paste mixer remote drive

Kevin and Andrew developed a light-weight, detachable electric drive unit, which can be easily interchangeable between all eight mixers.  The unit incorporates a remote control that can be used at the point of work, allowing direct control of paddle position with very little physical effort.

Historically the mixer was rotated by hand using a handle requiring approximately 20 kg of force, was located at shoulder height and required 200 pulls to rotate the paddle one rotation.  This meant there was a significant level of physical exertion with high potential for hand injuries as the handle was in close proximity to protruding bolts.  There was also a history of shoulder discomfort after performing this task.  

The 12^th Australasian Aluminium Smelting Technology Conference was held in Queenstown from 2-7 December.  There were over 125 attendees, with representatives from smelters in Argentina, Canada, China, Europe and the Middle East, as well as all Australian smelters and NZAS.

NZAS made a major contribution with an opening address from Stew Hamilton and presentations from Terry Reeves and Meaghan Noonan (NZAS baking furnace rebuilds – 20 years of multi-sectional rebuild methodology); Darren Campbell (challenges of restarting a long time idle potline); Keith Heathcote and Evan Andrews (NZAS step change power efficiency improvement).  Gareth

Wishart, Shane Tinnock, Kurtis Longman, Paul Cavanagh and Matt Burke were also co-authors of papers presented by the Pacific Operations Smelter Support Team, and John Stephens was a session chair.  Alan Tomsett, Technical Director of RTA’s Pacific Technology Centre and member of the organising committee, said the presentations were well received and generated robust discussion.

The Bell Bay NG Baking Furnace Team won the best paper award with Keith Heathcote and Evan Andrews (BSL) receiving an honourable mention for their paper on power efficiency improvement.  

The delegates also visited NZAS where they made many positive comments about the operation.

“Thank you to the Tiwai team including Stew Hamilton, Andrea Carson and the tour guides for organising the tour in a very busy week,” said Alan. 

Following on from his visit to Brisbane, Rio Tinto Aluminium Chief Executive Alf Barrios and Vice President Corporate Relations – Canada & Americas Todd Malan touched down at NZAS to tour the site and witness some of the great work being carried out.

Unfortunately due to flight cancellations in New Zealand, Alf was unable to travel to Bell Bay for the second part of his smelting tour, and instead enjoyed an extended stay at Tiwai.
 

Alf sat in on daily site meetings, hosted a Town Hall, visited the Casthouse, witnessed anode casting automation in action in Carbon Rodding, and attended the NZAS Innovation winners’ lunch.  He was also able to visit Line 4 and get a feel from the project team of the scale of the project, as well as the significant achievement to finish without injury.

With Alf on site, it was also a good opportunity for him to meet with the management team to discuss safety and business performance, including how NZAS can position itself for success, both now and for a long-term future.  To cap off the trip, he finished up with a visit to the virtual reality (VR) lab, seeing first-hand how VR is changing the future at NZAS.

GM Stew Hamilton said Alf’s visit was a great opportunity to showcase progress since his last visit in May 2017.  “It was a pleasure to host Alf, and the team really enjoyed the opportunity to show how we are contributing to innovations across the wider business,” Stew said.

“With the reopening of Line 4, our work in the VR space and our success in keeping up with business-as-usual activities during a challenging period, it was a timely visit to share our achievements—particularly our resilience and determination to keep performing safely.”

In October NZAS hosted David Prentice, Interim Climate Change Committee (ICCC) Chair, and other ICCC members, at site and later in the evening at the 2018 Southland Community Environment Awards.

This was an important visit because the New Zealand Government has made a commitment to tackling climate change in a meaningful way and introduced the Zero Carbon Bill to parliament.  This Bill aims to see a net carbon neutral NZ by 2050 via the setting of carbon budgets.  The Bill will also establish a Climate Change Commission to give evidence-based advice to the Government on what policies would best achieve a reduction in emissions.

In the meantime, the Government has established the Interim Climate Change Committee to begin thinking about how to bring agriculture into the Emissions Trading Scheme and how best to increase the percentage of renewable electricity in the grid—even though New Zealand now regularly generates more than 85 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources.

For NZAS, it is very important the Government understands the smelter can’t face a price on carbon that its international competitors don’t have to face, and this message was well-received by the Chair and his team members.

Several former GM’s of NZAS were invited to join us as part of the celebrations to mark the reopening of Line 4 and our current GM Stewart Hamilton (number 16) was delighted to host those who could make it; Brian Midgley (GM number seven), Ian Jacobson (GM number ten) and Gretta Stephens (GM number 15).

“As part of the celebrations for reopening Line 4, it was great to reconnect with former Tiwai GMs. 

Brian and Ian have had a significant impact on my career, starting when I was a graduate at NZAS.  They were at the helm during significant periods of change (Ian from 1997 to 2000 and Brian from 1983 to 1987) and were both excited to see the progress that NZAS has and is making.  Brian, Ian and Gretta are well respected on site and still very much feel a part of the team,” said Stew.    

Gretta was very happy to be back at NZAS following her departure earlier this year, “We knew when we kicked the project off that starting a potline after this many years out of service hadn’t been done before, it was a risk, but I thought that if anyone could do it, it was the team at NZAS.  I couldn’t be prouder of the result they have achieved.”

Ian was accompanied by his wife Robyn, “We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Southland, where we always enjoy personal warmth.  It was fantastic to see many old friends on the day, to enjoy the celebrations for the safe restart of Potline 4, and to

witness the value Tiwai holds for all of New Zealand, expressed through the words of Prime Minister Ardern.  Our best wishes for the future to Stew and the NZAS team - it looks certain that Tiwai is in very good hands.”

Brian has maintained a close association with NZAS over the years through helping to run team leader and team membership courses.  His wife Voreen also attended the Line 4 celebration.  “Most organisations can raise capital, purchase technology, plant and equipment to run their businesses.  However the competitive edge comes from having capable, well trained and dedicated people focussed on continuously striving to do better.  I see NZAS as being an outstanding and admired example of maximising the ‘people’ component of doing business,” said Brian.

Thank you to Gretta, Ian and Brian for coming back to Tiwai to share our special day.

Welcome to the 39 university students who commenced their summer vacation employment at NZAS at the beginning of December.  The majority will be on site until the end of January to provide cover for employees while they take a well-earned break over the summer holiday period.

This group of young people are studying towards becoming future engineers, doctors, teachers, industrial designers, pharmacists, lawyers, physiotherapists, geologists, neuro-psychologists, microbiologists, marketing professionals and economists.

Working at Tiwai is a great opportunity for them to earn money towards their study, and also to gain valuable work experience.

Please keep a close eye on all of our students to make sure they stay safe.  Many of them have not worked on an industrial site before and it is our responsibility to look after them.

An afternoon tea to celebrate the selection of this year’s NZAS community scholarship students was held in Invercargill.

Congratulations to the following recipients, who will all be studying engineering at Canterbury University in 2019:

• Imogen Wyatt (Southland Girls’ High School)
• Hannah Chatfield (Southland Girls’ High School)
• Ed Langlands (Southland Boys’ High School)
• Xavier Meurier (Southland Boys’ High School)
• Timothy Steel (Southland Boys’ High School)
• Jack Steel (James Hargest College)

They will each receive $2,000 when they start university and will be offered summer vacation work at NZAS (if available) for the next three years.

Imogen Wyatt and Hannah Chatfield participated in this year’s NZAS/SGHS education partnership and spent a week on site carrying out engineering projects.  It is exciting to see their time at NZAS helped to confirm their career aspirations.

The lead-up to Christmas is usually a busy and fun time, but it is easy to forget that the festive season is not always happy for everyone.

For the third year in a row, the Lab team and friends from around site have once again done their best to spread some Christmas cheer to the families who will be staying at the Ronald McDonald Family Room at Southland Hospital, by donating a whopping $560 worth of items in a Christmas hamper.

The volunteer ‘angels’ at the house will make up goody baskets for each of the families who will be staying in the house over Christmas, with the rest to be shared around the Children’s Ward on Christmas Day.  Well done team!

The Ronald McDonald House Charities support families when their child is in a New Zealand hospital away from home.  Each year they help around 3,700 Kiwi families by providing accommodation and support free of charge. 

Did you know that New Zealand and Australia have the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, with skin cancer being the most common cancer in NZ?  More than 80,000 New Zealanders are treated for skin cancer each year.  What’s more, non-melanoma skin cancer is more common in men, with almost double the incidences compared to women. 

A simple check could save your life.  About half of all skin cancers are first found by the person themselves and early identification can lead to more effective treatment.  Get to know your skin and take immediate action if you notice any changes, such as:

• Changes in colour, size, or shape of spots

• Itchy or bleeding spots
• Unusual spots that look different from others
• A spot that’s become raised and looks shiny
• A new spot that’s suddenly appeared

Remember, skin cancers can be in places you can’t see, so you may need to ask someone to help you check.  If you do notice something that’s worrying you, make an appointment to see your doctor.

Over 90% of all skin cancer cases are attributed to excess sun exposure.  With summer now here it is important to be sun smart.  If you are spending time outdoors please make sure you

use sunscreen - always use a broad-spectrum, water resistant, sunscreen of at least SPF30.  Apply your sunscreen 20 minutes before going outside and again when you’ve been outside for 10 to 20 minutes.

Welcome to our new starters:

• Kaleb Fisher – Operator, Shipping Services C2
• Tom Guy – Specialist Business Improvement, Business Improvement
• James Widdowson – Operator, Operations C4
• Frikkie Du Plessis – Mechanical Tradesperson, Breakdown Response C3&4
• Kylie Troon – Operator (Hub), Operations
• Julia Van Eeden – Process Control Engineer Torbed & Bath Plant, Shipping & Logistics
• Andrew Nind – Mechanical Tradesperson, Carbon Maintenance
• Jessica Buchanan – Operator (Hub), Line 2
• Shannon Taylor – Operator, Green & Bake

Name:     Roger Hackett

Position: Superintendent Asset Optimisation

How long have you worked at NZAS?

Twenty-five years for me this year.  I started on 8 February 1993 as a Mechanical Draughting Apprentice and toured the fast-paced draughting offices around site for the first three years.  I spent the last year of my apprenticeship ‘studying’ in Dunedin which felt like a year-long celebration of apprenticeship completion.  Luckily for me, I then moved into maintenance where there were a lot of vacant trade roles after the voluntary redundancy floodgates were opened too far and I convinced the hiring Superintendent that my computer-based draughting skills were totally applicable to heavy field maintenance.  After eight years, it was onto an Equipment Reliability role and then onto a couple of Maintenance Crew Leader roles.  In 2012, I returned to the rave mecca and my former stomping ground in the OS building as the Maintenance Systems Specialist.  Over the last six years my title has changed three times as the role has evolved and I currently reside as the Superintendent of Asset Optimisation.

What would you do if you won Lotto?

A bit of a cliché answer, but I’d like to think I’d pay off friends and family’s debts, become a Central Otago property mogul, set-up some bank accounts and property for my kids, and donate to the many worthy causes.  In reality, however, I imagine I’d probably waste some of it ‘investing’ in cars and motorbikes and following a season of Moto GP travelling the world living a playboy lifestyle.  In terms of continuing working – I’d have to return for at least one day to fulfil a naked Assets corridor run commitment.

What’s the most outstanding memory of your school days?

It was in 1992 and the last day at Cargill High School for the year.  Following the standard water gun and water balloon fight, some extremists started lobbing eggs around.  One of the bigger goons followed me around for a bit to ensure his egg would inflict maximum humiliation and his opportunity came as I was signing the year books for all the popular girls that were surrounding me.  With a Valerie Adams-type hurl he propelled the egg my way, but fortunately its force was softened by the

folds of my school jersey and it landed safely on the ground beside me.  With my female entourage anxiously looking on, I picked up the egg and immediately sent it back.  Amazingly, it hit him directly in the forehead and instantly wrapped his face and head in egg juice.

Who would you like to be stranded on a desert island with and why?

Bear Grylls for his obvious survival skills and his uncanny ability to make moreish afternoon cocktails from urine and scorpion guts.  Jessica Alba (reference to the movie ‘Into the Blue’) for her relaxed nature around sun, sand and the ocean and for her amazing … free diving skills.  And Charlize Theron - I’m sure we’d have lots in common and she’s close to my age so together we could bring some maturity and life skills to the group.

What would be the most memorable news bulletin you have seen/read?

It would have to be watching the events of the 9/11 Twin Tower attacks unfolding on TV.  I was on afternoon shift and spent most of the day glued to the footage.  When we started work at 4 o’clock, the pre-start meeting was consumed with the team’s recounts of what they’d seen, disbelief and theories.  Afterwards, the mood was fairly sombre with a lot of silent stares around the room.

What’s your favourite saying/proverb or mantra?

‘Don’t do today what you can get away with doing tomorrow’ - I’m a specialist in procrastination, but I’m sure I do my best work at the last minute.

What were your career aspirations when you were a child?

For some bizarre reason I researched the study path required to become a Podiatrist.  I’m not sure why and I don’t think it was from an underlying foot fetish.  No disrespect to all the great foot doctors out there, but the impending embarrassment of disclosing this potential career to my friends at the time helped steer a new direction.

What was your first job?

When I was about 13 I got a weekend job going door-to-door selling packets of lollies.  There were about ten of us and we’d be dropped off in different streets with a full tub each.  The failing in the business model, however, was the number of packets we started with was recorded, but as the day went on our employer would drive around collecting our earnings and restocking our tubs without recording the restock amounts.  We were paid for the day too, not by lolly sales.  A few of us picked up on this and used it as an opportunity to keep our energy levels up during the day and also aggressively push sales by offering two for one deals or selling entire tubs at wholesale prices.  One day, I caught up with a fellow salesman when we were forced to take shelter under some trees during a rainstorm.  Midway through attacking a packet of cough lollies, we were shocked to see the van pull up to collect us.  With the smell of aniseed quickly filling the van and our mouths stained purple, there was no argument in accepting our final pay cheques!

Who is the New Zealander you most admire and why?

John Britten was a great New Zealander who displayed unrelenting energy and passion in everything he did.  He was tenacious, imaginative, revolutionary, a great family man and a proud ‘tall poppy’ who took on the world. And, he used Tiwai aluminium in his race bikes.

What is your favourite song?

‘Just Breathe’ by Pearl Jam.  It’s an amazing acoustic where Eddie Vedder describes how you should never take your loved ones for granted and make a point of telling them you love them whenever you can.  You shouldn’t sweat the small stuff and try to always remember who’s really important in your life.

What made you laugh the hardest in your entire life?

Not necessarily me doing the laughing but I was the ‘butt’ of an embarrassing moment once.  We were driving up to Kinloch for a weekend and stopped in Queenstown for what turned out to be a dodgy kebab.  An hour later we were back in the car when some tummy rumbles gave cue that with a little extra effort and some purchase on the steering wheel, I could really impress my mates.  Unfortunately the result left the integrity of the car’s cloth seats in serious question and I had to immediately pull over for some ‘running’ repairs.  Needless to say, my mates were falling out of the car with laughter!

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?

I ate a caterpillar once … my wife and I were at an end-of-year meal with her school teacher colleagues.  She was only in her first year with the school so we were trying to leave a good impression.  Near the end of my meal I noticed a green caterpillar scooting along a ridgeline in my salad.  Not wanting to draw attention and cause any embarrassment, I quickly scanned the table to see if anyone else had noticed the green looper, then quickly folded it into a red chard leaf, ate it and got back to listening intently to the debate on decile system fairness.

If you had to be trapped in a TV show for a month, which would you choose and why?

‘The Walking Dead‘ - for the minority that haven’t followed this over the last eight years, it portrays life in the years that follow a zombie apocalypse.  Contending with never ending hoards of zombies and enduring the lows in humanity from competing surviving groups as society descends further into darkness doesn’t sound overly positive, but I’m sure it would be a non-stop adrenalin rush for a week.

If you could witness any event in the past, present or future, what would it be?

To go back to around 2640BC to witness the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza would be an experience.  The Nile Delta and Cairo would have been absolutely peaking with traders, construction and society revelling on the water fronts. To appreciate how 2.3 million stone blocks weighing between 2 and 15 tonnes each were individually placed with such accuracy and precision would have been great too.

Sadly the SPCA is inundated with unwanted animals this time of year.  But the good news is that you can do something to help as our annual NZAS SPCA Christmas Appeal is underway.

If you would like to donate any food, toys, old blankets or towels, your donation would be gratefully appreciated.  The appeal runs until Sunday 6 January, with boxes located in the Ops Building and Security foyers.  Remember that if you have any tinned items, please leave them at Security.

SPCA centres around New Zealand helped more than 45,000 animals last year – animals that were sick, injured, abused or simply abandoned.

Please remember that everyone deserves a little love this Christmas holiday period, including our four-legged friends.  Speaking of love, check out the NZAS pets who are well and truly getting into the spirit of Christmas.  Indie the Border Collie belongs to Kim Watters from the Lab, while Maine Coons Charlie and Archie are the proud owners of Alan Sadlier from the Electrical & Instrument Workshops (remember cats don’t have owners, they have people!).  And last but certainly not least Jen Nolan from External Relations has a new addition to the family, a gorgeous Labradoodle puppy called Bear.