Coates supports UGL in building one of Australia’s largest FRP cooling towers

Discover how the Industrial Solutions team is optimising a year-long construction project at Callide C Power Station

The project

Engineering specialist UGL was appointed as the major subcontractor to IWC to reconstruct two cooling towers at the Callide C Power Station in central Queensland. CS Energy, through its subsidiary Callide Energy Pty Ltd, owns Callide C in a joint venture (JV) with IG Power (Callide) Ltd.

Given the project’s scale, duration and complexity, UGL required a well-established and experienced industrial solutions provider.

Coates was chosen to manage UGL’s tooling, equipment and consumables, establishing an on-site tool store in September 2023. So far, more than 17,000 hours have been worked and 330,000 transactions have been completed.

Coates was chosen to manage UGL's tooling, equipment and consumables during the year-long project

The challenge

Meeting the equipment requirement

Asset owners and major contractors like UGL are accustomed to planning, scoping and delivering complex industrial events such as shutdowns and outages, over a short period of time. But the unique design of Callide C’s new cooling towers created a significant engineering, manufacturing and construction challenge, making it difficult to anticipate the equipment requirement across the 12-month schedule.

“As this is one of the largest fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) cooling towers constructed in Australia, there were a lot of variables that we could not plan for,” says Adam Oetting, Procurement Officer at UGL. “Despite the changing requirements and regional location, we were able to rely on Coates to adapt and to consistently and quickly deliver on what was needed.”

Supporting a large temporary workforce

With an additional 250 to 300 contractors on site each day, there was significant demand for tooling, consumables and equipment. “During the peak construction phase, Coates’ tool store managed an average of 1,000-1,200 transactions per day – double that of a typical shutdown,” says Andrew Fisher, Shutdown Manager at Coates. “Without access to technologies like SiteIQ and the support of an experienced team, this volume of transactions would not have been possible.”

Supply chain constraints

Supply chain issues continue to put strain on major events worldwide, but because of the huge cost associated with downtime, running out of gear was not an option for UGL. To maximise cost efficiency, it was also important not to order more than what was needed. “UGL saw value in having a provider with the experience to manage consumables conservatively, while ensuring they had what they needed to start work each day,” says Andrew.

The solution

Coates’ end-to-end tool store solution encompassed more than 7,000 different items, including:

• 900+ Coates and customer-owned tooling variants

• 800+ different consumable types

• 130 customer-owned and hired mobile plant, ranging from booms and scissor lifts, to lighting towers

• A custom-designed warehousing solution on site

All assets were managed 24/7 using SiteIQ, supported by an experienced team of Coates personnel which included 2 x tool store controllers; a consumables co-ordinator; a full-time mechanic; and Andrew as project lead.

“Trust, integrity, flexibility and the capacity to deliver were important factors in choosing an equipment provider for this project,” says Adam. “Having worked together previously, we had experienced Coates’ fleet, regional footprint and ability to hit the ground running, and Coates has again proven to be a great fit for UGL.”

Coates' end-to-end tool store solution encompassed more than 7,000 different items, including tools, equipment and consumables

The impact

Finding efficiencies

Coates’ tool stores do much more than track and allocate equipment. “One of the most important parts of our job is helping customers to use their assets in the most efficient and cost-effective way,” says Andrew. “Given the significant equipment and labour cost for this project, Coates’ ability to interpret a huge amount of data to help find these efficiencies was essential.”

As part of a continual focus on improvement, Coates created customised daily reports to optimise UGL’s safety, tool time efficiency and use of consumables. “I can be quite particular about what we need from our reports, but Coates listened, took on feedback, and returned the data and insights that we needed,” says Adam. “This allowed me to step back from micromanaging this part of the project and gave me one less thing to think about.”

The right people and expertise

Much success comes from having the right people on site, because a business is only as good as those that represent it. “UGL needed an equipment provider with the experience to pivot and deliver on ever-changing requirements, but that only comes with experience,” says Andrew. “It was also important for Coates to bring a team to site that could create positive experiences for each tool store engagement with contractors.”

Coates' managed tool stores come with an experienced team to helping you to track, manage and optimise your assets

Flexible and responsive support

To reduce downtime, Coates had to adopt different ways of managing the return and re-allocation of tools. “Due to the high volume of transactions, returning every asset between use would’ve cost us two hours each day at a significant cost to the project. Instead, we designed lock-box systems for certain gear to be allocated to groups for the day, allowing them to work more efficiently,” says Adam. “Coates was happy to make these changes and to accommodate the way that we needed to work. We’ve also experienced Coates’ ability to think outside of the box and to turn pretty quickly – which you wouldn’t expect from a business of this size.”

Find out how Coates can enhance the delivery of your next major industrial event.