WET News

all UK water and wastewater service European and International water industry figures directory of water industry suppliers Listings grouped by category 2015 WHO'S WHO IN THE WATER INDUSTRY 2015 WW15 ofc-spine.indd 2 05/01/2015 10:34 Who's who in the water industry 2016 Pre-publication discount Order before 1st January and pay Only £62 water professionals to government licence Faversham House Ltd whoswho@fav-house.com Wood Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 1UZ without delay includes 16/09/2015 18:08 THE SPEAKERS • Andy Clarke, head of procurement & contract management, Yorkshire Water Services • Paul Horton, chief executive officer, Future Water Association • Jeremy Mitchinson, UK business director for water, MWH Global • Keith Hayward, European wastewater sales & marketing manager, Hydro International • Steve Crake, head of procurement, Northumbrian Water • Ian Pemberton, principal, analytics, Ofwat • Paul Mullord, UK director, British Water • Neil Wilson, head of risk & investment, Wessex Water • Phil Tomlinson, sales & marketing director, Metasphere NEED TO KNOW 1 Outcome delivery incentives will vary between water companies, meaning subtle differences in emphasis for procurement 2 The industry risks losing its brightest young people to other sectors if it cannot smooth out the peaks and troughs of the AMP cycle 3 There will be different levels of service in terms of resilience, flood risk that will have a customer bias 4 It is possible to be managing and optimising an asset to a standard that exists today and which is sadly out of date with what could be achieved 5 A risk solution offers a partnership opportunity between the client and supply chain THE VERDICT A more collaborative approach is needed and that proactive engagement needs to take place throughout the supply chain. An important area for attention was ensuring that industry design standards keep pace with opportunities for innovation you have got us, the clients, who have a natural focus on aggregating and therefore slimming down the supplier base. It is how we get better engagement with Tier 1s and Tier 2s to allow them to successfully invest in the resources and innovation and all those great ideas." Phil Tomlinson, sales & marketing director at telemetry supplier Metasphere, said wide and engaging conversations are needed at the start to ensure longer-term savings can be achieved. "That's the starting point in the process. The difficulty on our side as a Tier 2 is that those type of conversations seem to exist between Tier 1s and the customers; sometimes the Tier 1s engage and sometimes they don't." In summary, participants were in agreement that a more collaborative approach is needed and that proactive engagement needs to take place throughout the supply chain. An important area for attention was ensuring that industry design standards keep pace with opportunities for innovation, so that instead of becoming a limitation and something to conform to, they can push the best whole-life solutions forward. Delegates agreed proactive engagement needs to take place throughout the supply chain "As we go forward we'll get more data and, therefore, will get more granularity. We'll be able to make better decisions" Neil Wilson, head of risk & investment, Wessex Water "A big change and challenge in AMP6 and beyond is to not just capture data but to understand that data. On the process side we're awash with data but we're not using it to its potential" Ian Pemberton, principal, analytics, Ofwat "The best whole-life cost is not necessarily the affordable solution in the period, so when you make it a constrained whole-life cost, that gives a different outcome" Andy Clark, head of procurement & contract management, Yorkshire Water Services "We've begun to challenge the culture within the business – customer service and reducing customer bills – and most of us have entered into incentivised relationships with our Tier 1s; there is absolutely a challenge in how we engage Tier 2s within those relationships" Steve Crake, head of procurement, Northumbrian Water "We're seeing much more engagement in looking for solutions away from the water company asset, dealing with the problem at source." Jeremy Mitchinson, UK business director for water, MWH Global "As a supplier, we can have an excellent solution, but within the model of the water company it has to pay back within the cycle. So where the 20-year or 25-year model looks good, the two and a half-year model doesn't look quite so hot, so therefore it doesn't fly. We are trying to move to a whole life cost model but it still feels very constrained within a tight funding period" Keith Hayward, European wastewater sales & marketing manager, Hydro International JULY 2016 WET NEWS 13

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