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UTILITY WEEK | 1ST - 7TH MAY 2015 | 23 Operations & Assets Ardley gained local fame when dinosaur footprints were discovered at the site. Casts were taken, and are on display at the Oxfordshire County Museum in Woodstock, before the tracks were covered to preserve them . If you have an asset or project you would like to see featured in this slot, please send your pictures and details of the project to: paul.newton@fav-house.com or call 01342 332085 Pipe up Keith Hayward F or better or for worse, boom and bust has become an accepted fact of life in the water industry. Prom- ises of a smoother ride for the supply chain in the regulatory five-year asset management periods (AMPs) are, so far, little more than wishful thinking. As we enter AMP6, Hydro is determined to introduce innovative technologies for water companies while also entering other sectors to reduce the cyclical business impact of the AMP cycle. The same cannot be said for many other small and medium-sized suppliers in the UK water industry. The slowdown of business at the beginning and end of each AMP puts some suppliers at risk of their very survival. It's now widely accepted that the investment peaks and troughs of the five-year AMP cycle have cost up to 40,000 jobs, seen skills lost to the industry and stifled innovation. The supply chain has lobbied hard for change and an estimated £440,000 was moved forward into AMP5 from AMP6, with the aim of smooth- ing the transition. However in the context of a typical £40 billion-plus spend per AMP, this is small change. Equipment suppliers I meet are saying that, if work is being brought forward, it is not trickling down to them, and the reality is many projects are pushed back rather than pulled forward. The advent of innovative joint alliances between water companies and tier one sup- pliers is a huge step in the right direction and must be encouraged. However, the same open-minded approach has yet to be applied to the remainder of the supply chain, and in particular to procurement and contractual structures embedded in working practices. Ofwat has identified investment decisions based on total expenditure as the key broker in inviting innova- tion and change. But it could take a couple more AMP cycles for most water companies to complete the cultural shi to a totex approach and for the benefits of outcome delivery incentives to fully filter through the industry. It hardly needs stating that the most progressive and efficient water companies in AMP6 and AMP7 will be those that reap the best – and most innova- tive – equipment and service solutions from the supply chain. To achieve this they need to engage early not only with their tier 1 contractors, but also with their equip- ment suppliers. Keith Hayward, UK sales and marketing manager, Hydro International Wastewater Division "The investment peaks and troughs of the five-year AMP cycle have cost up to 40,000 jobs and seen skills lost." "The advent of innovative joint alliances between water companies and tier one suppliers is a huge step in the right direction"