WET News

8 WET NEWS DECEMBER 2014 "If we can be engineers that really look at information, embrace social media and behavioural solutions it's just a far more interesting environment to work in than bog- standard engineering" CV 1999 Joining MWH in 1999, having held key civil engineering roles with Mott MacDonald, Taylor Woodrow and Allot & Lomax Consulting Engineers. 2008 Became director for the North-west region and was responsible for negotiating the AMP5 contract with United Utilities 2010 Appointed director of design for Europe-Africa. 2014 Appointed managing director for the MWH in the UK " I don't think I've been so excited about the beginning of an AMP. I de nitely haven't," says Cath Schefer, managing director of MWH in the UK. "It's so very di- erent," she says. "If you are going to achieve a 20-30% saving, and that's what most of the companies are looking for, you do need a di- erent way of thinking. You do need some real talent to achieve that. You're not going to achieve that just by carrying on as normal." As a result a step-change is needed, she says, as the drive towards meeting customer promises, regulatory changes, a- ordability and service performance issues and, of course, the totex approach gathers momentum. Schefer says these "key dynamics" are making the whole industry think about how to achieve this step-change. AMP6 is already proving a success for MWH having already picked up notable contracts with a number of water companies – such as Thames, Southern, Anglian and Severn Trent. Schefer puts this success down to "an awful lot of e- ort and we've now got to deliver it". To help achieve this and to meet the challenges of AMP6 as well as future AMP cycles, MWH has established a solutions hierarchy covering elimination, collaboration, operation, innovation and fabrication. Challenge And key to the success of this solutions hierarchy will be changing the way engineers think. Schefer explains: "The type of sta- that you needed ten years ago are very di- erent to the type of sta- you need now. But you don't change the sta- , you change the way they think." Engineers want to build things but they are going to have to think in a di- erent way, says Schefer. The challenge will be can they not build something, can they eliminate it? "If you can, and you can collaborate or innovate instead you're going to get a much better solution for the customer. "It's all about companies like us reinventing and thinking ahead. Just because there's more of a desire to do more o- site fabrication and bring engineering up front, why does that mean that there won't be anything to do at the back, when there are so many challenges yet to crack? If we can be engineers that really look at information, embrace social media and behavioural solutions it's just a far more interesting environment to work in than bog-standard engineering." O- site fabrication will be a major contributor to cost and e– ciency savings in the industry, and Schefer is enthusiastic about the process: "You're in a lovely environment, it's warm, it's clean. It just makes sense to build it here and then take it to site rather than build it onsite. I need to get as many of my sta- out to those fabrication yards as quickly as we can so they can see it, so they can understand the vision." But Schefer says if the industry is to achieve savings, then collaboration is what is needed. To help facilitate this within MWH, Schefer is considering rationalising the company's 13 UK o– ces and creating a few key hubs that will be centres of expertise. 'Umbilical cord' "What clients now want more o™ en than not is a co-located approach. That's really di– cult for us because it means we have to much more clever about how we keep hold of those sta- in terms of... I don't mean 'hold of them' in working for MWH but an umbili- cal cord so you can channel good ideas down into that organisation. It's much easier if they're sat in your o– ce. "Having said that, if they're sat in the client's o– ce you get much closer to what a client wants so the co-located approach is absolutely right and it's the way to go. "You'll only be innovative if you start talking to each other, really collaborating. So I think the idea of co-location plus an expertise hub is absolutely the way to go." Behavioural solutions is something else yet to be embraced in the industry and Schefer feels it may be AMP7, AMP8 before it really does come into play. "If we could get to a point where we don't do anything and we achieve e– ciencies by changing behaviours, that's a di- erent way of thinking. I think the industry will go there. It will have to because in this AMP they'll want 20-30% and they'll continue to want more. Customers will continue to demand price reductions." Schefer says that currently all the buzzwords are about fabrication, o- site manufacture but behavioural change will become really key. "It's about changing the behaviours of the operators and changing the behaviours of the customers so that they appreciate the assets and they appreciate what the cost is of maintenance and repair." ■ Cath Schefer Managing director, MWH UK WHAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW! It's not good for my image but I like... Staying in on a Saturday night, sitting on the sofa eating crisps with my kids I drive... A Hyundai Santa Fe – it has the biggest boot you can possibly — nd I'm currently reading... The history of Madeira. I'm going on holiday there My greatest weakness is... Chocolate-covered brazil nuts My favourite TV programme is... Strictly Come Dancing. I'd love to be on Strictly! INTERVIEW

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