FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

May 24, 2016
Workplace Alliance is a diversified and talented Facilities Management provider involved with numerous industries across a number of applications.
Workplace Alliance provide a complete service to the domestic market particularly in relation to the housing, rental property and factory markets.
This is achieved by our team of suitably trained and qualified technicians and trades people that cover Greater Melbourne and Geelong areas through to the Surf Coast and Bellarine Peninsula.
Workplace Alliance offer a comprehensive package of services tailored to your needs, they may include:
Regulatory testing of gas appliances for carbon monoxide and smoke detector battery replacement.
Testing and tagging of semi permanent electrical plugin devices such as dishwashers and heating appliances.
This provides value add to our clients by building in a regular Maintenance and Safety regime allowing for an overall cost saving and piece of mind.
Facilities Management is the cornerstone to ensuring the value, reliability and safety of all rental properties.
Some services we can offer for example but not limited to::

  • Plumbing
  • Painting
  • Concreting
  • Electrical works
  • High pressure washing and graffiti removal
  • Electrical testing and tagging
  • Carbon monoxide testing for gas appliances
  • Smoke detector battery replacement
  • General handyman tasks

Workplace Alliance works with both Real Estate companies, Body Corporate’s and individuals to achieve a reliable, quality outcome on all components covered under our Facilities Management Guarantee.

INDUSTRIAL PUMP SOLUTIONS

May 24, 2016

Workplace Alliance specialises in working with its clients in the problems that our clients encounter in the workplace:

  • Locating
  • Identifying
  • Isolating
  • Removing
  • Engineering out

​The following is a report sent to one of our long standing, valued clients following the investigation and subsequent repairs carried out by Work Place Alliance on an industrial pump in situation at our clients plant.

Workplace Alliance was delighted to send out two of our industrial pump specialists, Shannon King and Peter Barclay, to investigate the issues of your industrial pump.

Our initial thoughts were there could have been foreign materials enter the system causing damage.

Extreme care was taken during the pump strip down, no evidence of contaminants or abrasives in the system were found, the pump impeller and housing still maintains its manufacturers surface finish, with the exception of a few rust spots.

It was clear the pump had minimal usage, there were however irregular wear marks on the seal which required further investigation.

The shaft was checked with a dial indicator and was well within manufacturers specifications as was the seal compression ring setting.

The seal was replaced, rust spots cleaned away and the pump reassembled. The pump immediately proceeded to leak again.

The pump was again stripped back down and the same irregular wear marks as on the original seal were noted on the new seal. Further inspection revealed the backing plate for the pump had been over tensioned during manufacture distorting it.

The pump was reassembled and the backing plate bolts tensioned appropriately. The pump was tested and no leaks were found.

It was clear the root cause of the original fault was the assembly during manufacture and the over tensioning of the backing plate bolts.

Effectively two changes were required to solve the problem, a new seal and modification of the torque settings during re assembly of the pump.

The only other issue was the minor “rust pitting” which was polished out during the inspection and sanitized before reassembly. The most likely cause of the “rust pitting” was contamination with mild steel during the finishing stage of manufacturing.

Workplace Alliance will communicate with the manufacturer with regard to our findings re the distortion of the backing plate due to over tension and the “rust pitting” issue.

Workplace Alliance work with our clients and suppliers to achieve safe, sustainable solutions.

D4 PRESS RELOCATION

September 5, 2016

Workplace Alliance was engaged by both Defence Materials Technology Centre (James Sandlin) and Deakin University (Steve Atkinson) to lead the D4 Press relocation, installation and upgrade.

The scope of works was to relocate from Port Melbourne, transport to Geelong, reinstall and upgrade the D4 Press to achieve an agreed level of performance.

The relocation was conducted by Workplace Alliance staff, the project lead was Wayne Allan of Workplace Alliance. The transportation and relocation were planned, discussed and agreed upon prior to the writing of any SWMS or other supporting data.

Once agreement was achieved WPA removed and transported the D4 Press from Port Melbourne to Deakin Campus at Waurn Ponds.

Arriving at Geelong the D4 Press was unloaded and skated into the agreed position, where subsequent upgrades were undertaken.

Workplace Alliance conducted and coordinated all upgrades from mechanical, hydraulic, electrical (LGE) and all guarding modifications. The guarding is state of the art delivering level 4 Safety whilst ensuring the security of the machine is not compromised.

This was achieved by designing, fabricating and installing opaque, secure fencing encapsulating the entire press now located at Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Geelong.

The D4 Press upgrades were largely collaborative involving James Sandlin DMTC , Steve Atkinson, John Owens and John Vella of Deakin University along with technicians at Workplace Alliance, Phil Bissett and Peter Barclay.

As project lead, Wayne Allan (WPA) needed to coordinate various teams to achieve an ON BUDGET, ON TIME and SAFE outcome, this was entirely achieved.

James Sandlin and his team are working on breaking new frontiers with the D4 trials.

FACTORY RELOCATION

October 25, 2016

The month of October saw a number of highlights for the factory relocation team at Workplace Alliance.Our largest job for the period was the relocation of an entire recycling plant from its old site to a new existing home.

The team of seven tradesmen worked together to formulate an agreed action plan, SWMS and a workable time line complimenting the scope of works.

Heavy machinery, including multiple cranes, trucks and semi trailers along with knuckle booms all worked in symmetry to achieve our goal.

Workplace Alliance worked closely with our client and the teamwork between Workplace Alliance and client (particularly the Maintenance Manager) was excellent.

All safety goals were achieved.

All client goals and time lines were achieved.

The plant, including all engineered modifications was up and running 24 hours ahead of schedule.
This was achieved through teamwork, planning, a robust scope of works and a great team of trades people.

Additional thanks to Quinlan Cranes and Major Haulage Transport.
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Well done to all our employees at Workplace Alliance for a seamless plant relocation.

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HIGH SECURITY BALLISTIC PRESS

January 5, 2017

Recently, the Workplace Alliance team were contacted to relocate a High Security Ballistic Press from one location to another.

The client insisted a number of requirements be met by our company

  1. Strict confidentiality
  2. Short lead time demanded the move occur on a specific date
  3. The press must be moved intact, relocated and operational on the same day.
  4. Safety was not to be compromised

The team met and discussed the client’s requirements and decided all of the non-negotiable requirements mentioned above were all achievable.

At Workplace Alliance safety is never compromised so during the discussion process we agreed to send part (A) of the team to view the job in situ and meet again to discuss a methodology to achieve the required outcome for our client.

The rest of our team (B) worked on addressing options at the installation point that would allow for a non crane based move. This was imperative as there was insufficient room at the relocation point to use conventional methods.

Team (A) and (B) then came together and formulated a Safe Work Method Statement to achieve all four goals.

Confidentiality was met with all Workplace Alliance staff signing Non-Disclosure Agreements.

Short lead time was achieved by allocating specific resources to meet the time constraints.

Workplace Alliance reverse engineered the press into modular components allowing for secure moving with minimal disconnection.

Due to insufficient room at the relocation point to use a crane the team devised a simple, safe, innovative and robust method of lifting, lowering, skating and relocating the press into position.

The project was successfully conducted with all Workplace Alliance team members having input to achieve the specific requirements of the client.

The press was operational 6 hours after initial disconnection.

The client was extremely impressed with the outcome.
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Workplace Alliance team members are to be congratulated on achieving a safe and successful relocation of this High Security Ballistic Press.

WORKPLACE ALLIANCE MILESTONES

March 14, 2017

Workplace Alliance is proud to announce two significant milestones within our company.

The first of which is the Interstate appointment of one of key people to the position of Maintenance Manager for an International food processing company located in Bathurst NSW.
This temporary appointment, until the position has been filled permanently, has seen Peter deliver on a number of important projects during his first three months in the position.

This has been achieved in collaboration with his colleagues utilizing existing resources within the company.

Peter will continue in this role for several weeks until the client appoints a permanent Manager.

The second milestone within Workplace Alliance is for us to acknowledge one of our final year apprentices who has been nominated for a significant achievement award.

Jerome has excelled in his field whilst undertaking his apprenticeship studies.

Workplace Alliance is extremely proud of the fact that Jerome has achieved this high standard as a mature age apprentice with a young family and extra hours of work. His commitment to his study whilst managing work and the other components of his life has been outstanding.

Workplace Alliance is proud of the Indigenous ties our company has and the training and development of all our people.

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PLANT RELOCATION – ON SITE

May 16, 2017

The team at Workplace Alliance have a division that specialise in plant relocations.

During a recent Plant Relocation in Melbourne’s Western Suburbs the client requested the relocation of 2 over size tanks, this required specialised methodology as the tanks were particularly large – 9 metres high x 5.4 metres in diameter.

Workplace Alliance worked with our preferred cranage supplier, Western Cranes, to develop a process that met all Safety Regulation and delivered the result our client required.

The teamwork and process driven approach by both Western Cranes and Workplace Alliance delivered the relocation of the tanks.

This result was extremely pleasing to the client and very satisfying to the Plant Relocation Division of Workplace Alliance

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INDUSTRIAL MACHINE RELOCATION – GEELONG TO SPAIN

May 31, 2017

Recently the team at Workplace Alliance were asked to relocate a large spinning machine from Waurn Ponds, Victoria, Australia to Spain.

The brief:
Disconnect, secure and where possible keep the machine intact for shipment overseas.
This posed significant issues as the spinning machine is 11.2 metres in length.

Together the technicians formulated a plan of building a cradle under the machines sub frame. This allowed us to support the entire length

without having to dismantle the machine into sections (as per conventional method) this also allowed us to meet the specific brief of our client.

This innovative approach made it possible to exceed the customers brief and also maintained machine integrity.

All works were completed ahead of time, under budget, with nil safety issues.
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Our clients in Spain were delighted with the result and reported a successful reconnection at their plant.

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MACHINERY PLANT RELOCATION – MELBOURNE TO GEELONG

June 17, 2017

The team at Workplace Alliance last week relocated an E Cap Machine from Monash University, Spring Vale to Deakin University, Waurn Ponds.

The team, led by Peter Barclay, conducted the SWMS, Lift Study, Transport Route and Hydraulic disconnection from the previous location at Monash.

Workplace Alliance organised the crane truck and transported and successfully relocated the E Cap Machine to Deakin University.

The project was safely achieved on time and on budget.

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HOPPER MODIFICATIONS

July 9, 2017

The Team at Workplace Alliance recently undertook a major modification project on behalf of one of our valued clients.

The project with production as we are linked to being ancillary to production was to renew the existing hoppers, extend the working range thus increasing capacity.

As you can see in the attached photograph the hoppers are large:
33 metres high x 6 metres wide x 10 metres across

These works were completed on the clients site, on time, on budget with zero safety issues.

This allowed our client to resume production within the planned time frame.