...until you have thought of every possible option, tried them...asked others for ideas and tried them again....there is always a solution. Always be open minded to new ideas and take on board everyone’s opinion, no matter how bizarre it may seem.

The end of my fourth week has arrived here in Houston and above is the key thing that I have learned over the past couple weeks. I have always been taught to listen to everyone’s ideas when it comes to solving a problem, but being taught and doing are two very different things.

Over last week and a half myself and another engineering intern have been reverse engineering consumables for one of the companies under the WGGTS (Wood Group Gas Turbine Services) umbrella. By implementing the procedure that has been created at Wood Group for reverse engineering a product, we have been able to create a few examples of how beneficial it is. If the same process was applied to all the consumables used by this company the cost savings could be as high as $4million. Considering the cost of consumables is roughly $6million at present...that is a 66% cost reduction. Now consider that GTS has 17 companies under its umbrella...the cost savings are incredible! So why has this not been implemented throughout all of GTS? Well, why change something that is already working fine? That is one of the questions that I have been hearing…

Yesterday I attended another “Lunch and Learn”. It was taken by Heidi from WGTCS (Wood Group Turbine Control Services). The discussion yesterday involved a problem that TCS was having with fuel system change overs (how to switch between liquid fuel and gas fuel whilst keeping the engine running smoothly). The result of which was TCS leaving us with a whole load of new ideas which they hadn’t considered before that meeting. How did this happen? Because they were not afraid to ask questions and listen to other ideas!

No matter what position one is in a company, the ability to listen…and learn…from other people is essential. Things may be working fine in the company but in this current economic climate does it not make sense to make the company as cost effective as possible? Why run a company fine when one can run it exceptionally? The vision that we have is to create a solo reverse engineering office for Wood Group where the unity of all companies and cost savings can be maximised…the key to this vision…communication and idea sharing.