Here, Gas Today discusses Zinfra Group’s journey thus far with new Managing Director Tony Beach.
Mr Beach has extensive experience in the asset and operations management of electricity, gas, water, rail and port businesses. He has worked for various companies overseeing infrastructure management, feasibility projects, bid development, construction and contract management.
Mr Beach’s previous roles include Executive General Manager Operations Services at Asciano, and General Manager at AGL, Agility, Powercor, SMEC and the Hydro Electric Commission, Tasmania. Mr Beach also has experience as Managing Principal for a consulting business, and has provided consultancy to the World Bank for the review of the power sector in Nepal.
“I graduated as a civil engineer in Tasmania in the mid-1970s and have enjoyed a diverse career in the energy, ports, rail and water sectors. I really enjoy the client relationship opportunities, working with a team to develop a business and engaging with our workforce. We are a people business and that can be both really challenging but also very satisfying.”?
Zinfra Group was established from the separation of Australian energy infrastructure company Jemena, into a separate assets business and services business. The services business began trading as Zinfra Group on 1 April 2012, and was launched at the FutureGAS Conference and Exhibition where the company was an industry award sponsor. Both Jemena and Zinfra Group are wholly owned by Singapore Power.
Mr Beach describes the capabilities of the newly established services business saying, “We provide engineering, construction and maintenance services to the utility infrastructure sectors across Australia. Zinfra Group will progressively operate three brands according to the markets in which they operate.
“Zinfra will deliver services in the general contracting market, ZNX in the integrated network services market and the well-respected CLM brand will be retained in our NSW and Victorian water and civil markets.”?
Zinfra Group has a number of key points of difference that set the company apart from its competitors.
According to Mr Beach, Zinfra Group has an intimate understanding of the gas, electricity and water industry, strong engineering and project management capabilities, and a productive workforce that sets the company apart from other service providers.
“Our utility heritage, couple with our competitive business approach, allows us to better understand and respond to our clients’ needs – it’s a genuine point of difference”? says Mr Beach.
Zinfra Group also has a wealth of engineering expertise and experience that underpins the extended and specialised service offering.
“This unique capability is deployed through a combination of skilled engineering personnel embedded within our maintenance and construction delivery teams, through to the professional engineering and design services provided by our business-wide Major Projects and Engineering Solutions Group.
“This in-house engineering capability assists us to drive comprehensive maintenance and capital works programs and drive innovation and service delivery optimisation to lower cost and add value for our clients,”? says Mr Beach.
Despite the obvious advantages of separating the Jemena business into a separate assets and services business, creating a whole new brand for any organisation is a bold and challenging business venture.
“Establishing Zinfra Group as a stand-alone business that is competitive and client focused requires significant changes in policies, systems, processes, business capabilities and our overall mindset to be reflective of a competitive services business
“Employee engagement in establishing the separate business remains important to its success and to date we have had great feedback on our new brand and vision.”?
To meet the challenges ahead Mr Beach has surrounded himself with a strong and passionate leadership team with a wide range of skills in asset, operations and infrastructure development and management including maintenance, design and engineering, construction and commercial and business leadership.
“Our leadership team has a shared belief in a set of values and principles that govern the way we do business and we work together as a team, trusting and supporting each other with a combined focus on success,”? says Mr Beach.
Zinfra Group has set challenging but achievable goals for the first year of their operations.
“We believe there are significant opportunities for our offering in the market place arising from existing electricity, gas and water asset owners. Equally there are also new opportunities in adjacent markets such as mining, rail, telecommunications and renewable energy projects. We are
well placed to capitalise on these opportunities in both the traditional and the emerging markets.
“I believe one of the significant challenges the utility services industry faces in the near future is a shortage of skilled labour”?, says Mr Beach.
A key initiative of the Zinfra Group is to achieve accreditation as a Registered Training Organisation creating less reliance on external training providers who are struggling to meet industry needs.
“This initiative will provide an effective training governance framework and assist to build a development and continuous improvement culture within the company.”?
“It’s a great time to work in this industry and a significant opportunity to develop a truly challenging and rewarding career in the utility and infrastructure industries exists. Critical infrastructure continues to be a high priority for governments and private sector asset owners.
“Ageing assets and asset expansion is driving high volume capital works programs and we are competing directly with the booming resources sector for key talent. Our breadth of operations across Australia coupled with our depth of capability provides tremendous career development opportunities.”?