African Fusion March-April 2025

Welding and cutting

LTA Autecon celebrates World Quality Week Late last year, teams across LTA Autecon’s Oil & Gas coastal region celebrated World Quality Week with the theme ‘Quality: From Compliance to Performance’. This theme emphasises the shift from merely meeting compliance standards, to driving performance through a strong and entrenched culture of quality.

A ssistant Site Manager Fadiel Meyer, who participated along with many of his colleagues, supports World Quality Week as it helps to embed a mindset of in novation, collaboration and improvement. This echoes and reinforces the company’s own operational ethos and motto ‘Home without harm, everyone everyday’. “It is vital to ensure that our teams are constantly sensitised to the need for qual ity in all that they do. It is also important to utilise these initiatives to celebrate the work our teams do, and to show them our appreciation. Our people take these initia tives to heart!” he enthuses. At LTA Autecon, the practice of celebrat ing World Quality Week began in 2020. In 2024, it became a uniquely coastal initiative at four of the LTA Oil and Gas sites, in which teams were encouraged to proactively contribute ideas, take ownership and drive quality performance across all projects. The initiative was driven by two of the company’s Quality Co-ordinators: Dean Pierce in KwaZulu-Natal and Randal Jacks in Cape Town. During weekly alignment sessions leading up to World Quality Week, teams were asked to recommend quality-related initiatives. Management and staff buy-in ultimately resulted in many exceptional projects. Standout examples included: • A collaborative pledge noticeboard, where both employees and manage ment made personal commitments to quality improvements. This helped to reinforce a shared dedication to main taining the highest standards across all

operations. • Custom hard hat stickers designed by the Island View site team to commemo rate World Quality month. These were a fun and impactful way to show the team’s commitment to quality on-site. • Digital awareness displays were rolled out digital across various workstations to serve as constant reminders of goals and achievements. • A real-time digital tool was created for team members to share complex quality issues and collaborate on solutions. This tool allows teams to address concerns quickly and efficiently on a shared platform, connecting employees across various locations. • Individuals who went above and beyond in maintaining high-quality standards were recognised and celebrated with special awards. These awards high lighted their exceptional contributions to quality and their impact on project successes. LTA Autecon’s safety slogan, ‘Home without harm, everyone everyday’ featured promi nently during the company’s World Quality Week celebrations. Meyer explains: “A qual ity project has a core safety aspect to it, and a safe project is always of high quality. After all, we never forget that in the oil and gas sector, we work in a volatile environment, with little room for error,” he points out. Meyer says that ensuring the safety of clients and their staff is closely aligned with ensuring the safety, longevity and sustainability of oil and gas production plants: “This is the foundation of everything we do on a daily basis – and have done as

Siya Dlamini, Senior Planner and Abraham Jina, Site Manager at LTA Autecon Cape Town branch, participated along with their LTA Autecon coastal region colleagues in World Quality Week celebrations. LTA Autecon for more than 40 years. Our clients know that we do not compromise on safety.” To make the World Quality Week initia tive even more impactful, key stakeholders from client partners were invited to join the celebrations. Their presence underscored the importance of collaboration and shared responsibility in achieving quality excel lence: “Our clients set the benchmarks and targets, and we work with their guidance. When we invite them, we are celebrating achieving or exceeding their targets. During times like this, we discover commonalities with clients and can align our goals: not only when it comes to day-to-day produc tion, but for the long term.” An example of how LTA Autecon Oil & Gas coastal region has met clients’ operational targets is its impressive welding rejection rate. which is maintained well below inter nal and client key performance indicators (KPIs) across the country. “Celebrating Quality Week remains a pri ority for us, demonstrating that LTA Autecon is constantly evolving to meet the needs of a changing environment,” he concludes. https://1taautecon.co.za

LTA Autecon Durban branch, Island View site team.

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March-April 2025

AFRICAN FUSION