case studyWater

Aroona AllianceThe ‘Good to Great’ journey through engaging partnerships

Wastewater Recycling Plants

Groundwater Treatment Plants

Wastewater Treatment Plants

treatment plants (726MLD)

treatment plants (430MLD)

recycling plants

PERTH

MANDURAH

the Good to Great journey through engaging partnerships

As the principal supplier of water and wastewater services to hundreds of thousands of homes, businesses and farms in Western Australia, the Water Corporation continually develops and implements innovative ways to deliver services to its customers.

Through various research, the Water Corporation found that an integrated delivery model engaging partnerships proved to be the most suitable method with the current economic climate.

In July 2012, Aroona Alliance consisting of a partnership between Water Corporation, SUEZ and Broadspectrum was selected to deliver water and wastewater services in the Perth and Mandurah area.

SUEZ and Broadspectrum brought to the Alliance their unique global expertise and local experience to drive operational efficiencies and deliver cost savings to the Water Corporation.

WATER6GROUNDWATER

treatment plants

13 SURfAcE WATER

treatment plants

WASTE WATER

ADVANcED WASTE WATER

Gwelup WTP

Neerabup WTP

Beenyup AWRP

Two Rocks WWTP

Alkimos WWTP

Subiaco WWTP

Woodman Point WWTP

Kwinana WRP

Mundaring WWTP

Kwinana WWTP

Pinjarra WWTP

Gordon Road WWTP

Halls Head WWTP

Caddadup WWTP

East Rockingham WWTP

Point Peron WWTP

Bullsbrook WWTP

Beenyup WWTP

Mirrabooka WTP

Jandakot WTP

Wanneroo WTP

Lexia WTP

implementing the Good to Great strategy After the first year of operation, in early 2014, Aroona launched the five-year Good to Great strategy. The strategy outlines goals including stretch goals to challenge Aroona’s management and team members to deliver beyond the contractual requirements. To provide a measurable KPI, a five-year sustainable savings of AUD 25M was also committed within the strategy.

The strategy encourages ideas and innovations across the team at all levels and from different areas to drive improvements.

Specific approaches by area and action plans have been developed and implemented to achieve these goals. They are reviewed on a regular basic to proactively respond to the evolving economic climate.

As part of the Good to Great strategy, Business Improvements are initiatives intended to improve the Alliance’s performance and efficiency. These includes various projects structured into different areas including:

• Building an integrated O&M model

• Automation and control

• Optimised maintenance program

• Process optimisation

• Energy savings and recovery

• Procurement

• Better Ways

• Head office functions review

• Delivering additional services

• External business improvements

Most importantly, the strategy is communicated throughout the business to ensure every team member talks about it and plays a role in the successful delivery of this strategy.

Zero harmImproving safety performance

Water and wastewater services and complianceDelivering quality service and meeting compliance targets

Asset managementImproving maintenance planning, asset assessment, capability planning and asset acquisition

People capabilityDeveloping employees’ skills, know-how and engagement, succession planning, knowledge transfer and knowledge retention

Value for money and efficiencyAchieving capital and operational expenditure targets in a sustainable manner

Information managementProviding accurate and reliable data promptly

outlined within the contract are aroona’s backbone in everyday operation

Mundaring WWTP

a commercial framework embracing a one-team cultureSue Murphy, CEO of the Water Corporation said in Aroona’s 2014/2015 Value for Money report “The success of any alliances can only come about when all parties share common goals and values.”

To effectively deliver the service, Aroona embraces a ‘One-team’ Culture through a ‘Performance based Agreement’. It defines a set of criteria and measurable KPIs across operational and financial performance. Aroona’s annual budget is always reviewed for every Financial Year to ensure a minimum of 2% efficiency. This Agreement allows SUEZ, Water Corporation and Broadspectrum to work collaboratively to achieve the Service Objectives.

In addition to this Agreement, Aroona operates based on a Risk/Reward mechanism. This enables the partners to share common benefits as well as risks of the Alliance’s performance.

This collaborative framework engages cohesive team work by setting common goals, responsibilities and budgets to deliver successful outcomes.

Building an integrated O&M model

Automation and control

Optimised maintenance program

Process optimisation

Energy savings and recovery

Procurement

Better Ways

Head office functions review

Delivering additional services

External business improvements

business improvementsAroona’s five-year sustainable savings objective

sustainable savings

$25M

30.00

25.00

20.00

15.00

10.00

5.00

0.00

FY 13/14 FY 14/15 FY 15/16 FY 16/17 FY 17/18

Sust

aina

ble

savi

ngs

(one

yea

r val

ue in

M$)

Good to Great Good to Great (cumulative) Contractual requirement Contractual requirement (cumulative)

aUD $16M of cumulative sustainable savings was achieved at the end of the financial year 2014/15.

meeting Water corporation’s expectations and delivering value for moneyAroona delivers high quality water and wastewater services to residents of the Perth and Mandurah area. In 2015, Aroona achieved 100% compliance of the drinking water quality index, beyond a target of 91%. Across the wastewater service, in that year, the Alliance reached a target of 100% compliance of wastewater quality index. Aroona has been successfully fulfilling the Department of Environment Regulation’s requirements at its wastewater treatment plants.

Through the Good to Great strategy, Aroona continues to present sustainable savings. After two years, great results have been achieved across all areas. Significantly, at the end of the 2014/15, almost 5% of cost savings was obtained. This represents approximately AUD 16M of cumulative sustainable savings since the commencement of the Alliance.

Working safely and keeping everyone safe are always at Aroona’s heart. Until June 2015, Aroona has considerably improved the safety results. In particular, the Significant Injuries Frequency reached 0 in September and October 2015.

Water sampling

type of contract

Operation, Maintenance and Asset Management

contract DUratIon

2012 - 2022

eStIMateD popUlatIon ServeD

1.9M

Western Australia

Aroona Alliance

Water corporatIon - teStIMonIal“As the Corporation’s Representative for this Alliance, I am delighted to see the continued progress being made in so many areas. OSH performance is very good and achieving all the key performance indicators, and this is in good part due to the work done to develop the safety culture in the Alliance.

Our most fundamental position in business should be to ensure our people, contractors and others around our work areas can undertake their activities and not be harmed. I congratulate the Alliance on its good work to date and encourage a strong continued focus in this area.

The Aroona Alliance has continued to identify and implement many business improvement initiatives as a result of which significant savings have been achieved.

While I recognise that a lot of this has come from staff I can’t help but think and recognise the contribution of our Alliance partners and the learnings they have been prepared to share.

I am delighted that we are continuing to identify opportunities for efficiencies where we already thought we were fairly efficient. This clearly shows the value the Corporation was hoping to achieve in establishing the Alliance.

Congratulations on another very good year – the bar is set high. May you continue to reach it.”

Peter Moore General Manager Operations Water Corporation

Beenyup Wastewater Treatment Plant

IMA

G02

121

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