Stuart Laird

Experience

• 

  BlueScope

  Jan 1997 - Sept 2015

  - Manage the Hot Roll Manufacturing Grade Specifications systems. Create and/or update grade specifications for the manufacture of cast slab, hot rolled strip and plate grades based on relevant standards, customer specifications, and technical knowledge.- Monitor changes to Australian and International standards. Determine impact of any changes to existing grade specifications. Update grades as appropriate.- Review technical details of orders created for hot rolled coil and plate product and approve or reject orders as appropriate.- Coordinate product assessment projects through the steelworks and customer plants, ensuring quality production and testing.- Provide technical metallurgical guidance and support for Hot Mills and Technical Innovation roles. Show less - Provide expert technical advice to customers, Marketing, and Operations Departments on various aspects of the quality and performance of plate and strip steel products.- Provide chronic product quality problem solving support services to BlueScope Steel as required to improve products or processes. Such projects by their nature are complex and involve a multi-disciplinary approach.- Provide a value adding service with attention to product design and specification improvement opportunities.- Provide stewardship of the Company's strip and plate products with respect to compliance with statutory requirements, national standards, company standards and fitness for purpose.- Work with Operating Departments to ensure equipment and processing practices have a high capability and are not creating product design issues. Assist the Operating Departments in developing strategies for improving product quality and equipment upgrades.- Conduct improvement projects. Act as team leader when assigned.- Prepare technical reports on projects.- Prepare technical response to customer enquiries.- Approve technical replies to Sales, Marketing and customer enquiries prepared by colleagues within the section.- Prepare responses to sales enquiries for ERW Linepipe steels and develop a strong working relationship with customers OneSteel and Orrcon.- Develop a strong liaison with the Hot Strip Mill and Plate Mill.- Utilise project management techniques to conduct projects in an efficient and timely manner. - Monitor performance against plan and act to achieve a timely outcome.- As project leader or project consultant, monitor the performance of the project team against plan. Ensure that the project team adheres to correct process and assist in achieving a timely outcome.- Foster a strong team atmosphere within the group and actively share technical knowledge - particularly within the area of ERW Linepipe to enhance the team's technical capability. Show less - Actively champion customer quality issues and support operations.- Challenge processes and behaviours that place product quality at risk, identifying high business impact risks.- Challenge business behaviour inconsistent with a quality focus.- Understand the key quality requirements of Strip & Plate customers. Provide support for the Technical Product Managers to ensure that strip and plate products supplied meet customer and end use requirements.- Carry out a review of the testing of all strip and plate products to eliminate unnecessary testing. Show less - Provide expert technical advice to customers, Marketing, and Operations Departments on various aspects of the quality and performance of plate and strip steel products.- Provide chronic product quality problem solving support services to BlueScope Steel as required. Such projects by their nature are complex and involve a multi-disciplinary approach.- Provide a value adding service with attention to product design and specification improvement opportunities.- Provide stewardship of the Company's strip and plate products with respect to compliance with statutory requirements, national standards, company standards and fitness for purpose.- Work with Operating Departments to ensure equipment and processing practices have a high capability and are not creating product design issues. Assist the Operating Departments in developing strategies for improving product quality and equipment upgrades.- Conduct improvement projects.- Prepare technical reports on projects for approval by the Product Design Manager.- Prepare response to customer enquiries for approval by senior colleagues or section manager.- Prepare responses to sales enquiries for ERW Linepipe steels and develop a strong working relationship with OneSteel and Orrcon.- Act as team leader for projects as assigned by Product Design Manager.- Develop a strong liaison with the Hot Strip Mill and Plate Mill.- Utilise project management techniques to conduct projects in an efficient and timely manner. - Monitor performance against plan and act to achieve a timely outcome.- As project leader or project consultant, monitor the performance of the project team against plan. Ensure that the project team adheres to correct process and assist in achieving a timely outcome. Show less - Provide expert technical advice to customers, Marketing, and Operations Departments on various aspects of the quality and performance of plate and strip steel products.- Provide chronic product quality problem solving support services to BlueScope Steel as required. Such projects by their nature are complex and involve a multi-disciplinary approach.- Provide a value adding service with attention to product design and specification improvement opportunities.- Provide stewardship of the Company's strip and plate products with respect to compliance with statutory requirements, national standards, company standards and fitness for purpose.- Work with Operating Departments to ensure equipment and processing practices have a high capability and are not creating product design issues. Assist the Operating Departments in developing strategies for improving product quality and equipment upgrades.- Conduct improvement projects in accordance with the Metallurgical Technology project management system.- Prepare technical reports on projects for approval by the Product Design Manager.- Prepare response to customer enquiries for approval by senior colleagues or section manager.- Prepare responses to sales enquiries for ERW Linepipe steels and develop a strong working relationship with OneSteel and Orrcon.- Act as team leader for projects as assigned by Product Design Manager.- Develop a strong liaison with the Hot Strip Mill and Plate Mill.- Utilise project management techniques to conduct projects in an efficient and timely manner. Monitor performance against plan and act to achieve a timely outcome.- As project leader or project consultant, monitor the performance of the project team against plan. Ensure that the project team adheres to correct process and assist in achieving a timely outcome. Show less - To learn all aspects of optical microscopy, including sample preparation, hot and cold mounting, polishing, etching, microscopic examination, taking of photomicrographs, conducting microindentation hardness testing, and preparing technical reports.- To conduct optical metallographic investigations as directed by the Metallographic Investigations Manager, on samples submitted by Sales & Marketing, Steelmaking, Hot Strip Mill, Plate Mill, Tin Mill, Coated Mills, or Material Investigation Departments. Show less

  • Senior Technical Metallurgist

    Aug 2014 - Sept 2015

  • Innovation Support Metallurgist

    May 2014 - Aug 2014

  • Projects Officer

    Nov 2011 - Apr 2014

  • Senior Product Development Metallurgist

    Mar 2007 - Oct 2011

  • Quality Engineer

    Feb 2006 - Feb 2007

  • Product Development Metallurgist

    Feb 1999 - Jan 2006

  • Graduate - Product Development

    Jan 1997 - Jan 1999

  • Metallographic Investigations Officer (secondment)

    Jan 1997 - Jun 1997
• 

  Cactus Communications

  Jan 2016 - Aug 2016

  Freelance Editor

  Editing manuscripts, specialising in materials science, such that the final text is in standard scientific English and is free of unclear and unidiomatic sentences. Adhere to job-specific instructions and format manuscripts according to the target journal when required, and ensuring that all subject-specific conventions are followed. Particularly focused on assisting clients who have English as a second language.

• 

  Australian Bureau of Statistics

  Apr 2016 - Oct 2016

  Census of Population and Housing Area Supervisor

  • Undertake recruitment of Field Officers, Special Field Officers, Persons-in-Charge and Special Field Officers - Other.• Book training venue for Field Officers training.• Monitor online training and conduct Field Officer face-to-face training for Visit phase.• Conduct engagement at private dwelling establishments and secure apartment buildings to arrange access.• Conduct engagement at non-private dwellings.• Receive and sort materials.• Monitor work performance and address under performance.• Approve Record of Hours Worked forms for Field Officers and Special Field Officers.• Recommend workloads in drop off areas for Approach phase.• Maintain regular contact with field staff to monitor progress, resolve problems and provide support and supervision.• Review Field Officer Workloads online, make recommendations and advise your District Manager of the action taken.• Follow-up census refusals. Show less

• 

  RDA Illawarra

  Mar 2017 - Dec 2017

  Project Manager

  • Managed the Aged Care, Disability, and Community Services (ACDC) Workforce Development Project. Quantified workforce shortages within the Illawarra, Shoalhaven, & Wingecarribee via research and employer surveys, implemented activities to address specific role shortages.• Coordinated the Leadership Illawarra Program, a two-year experiential learning program for the region’s emerging leaders.

• 

  Hays

  Mar 2018 - Oct 2018

  Contract Metallurgist

  Contracted by Hays on an ongoing basis to provide metallurgical services to client BlueScope Steel Ltd. Duties include assessing quality of hot rolled product, inspecting suspect material and providing direction for diverted product at the Strip & Plate Quality Department.

• 

  BlueScope

  Oct 2018 - now

  Providing support for the Australian Future Submarine Program. My contributions include: • Gained a working understanding of the final customer product specification to then define the product processing and testing requirements.• Assist in managing the scheduling, rolling, processing and quality inspections of project plates. Worked closely with BlueScope operational departments and customer Bisalloy to co-ordinate product movements and processing and quality inspections in a safe and timely manner.• Worked closely with our customer Bisalloy in consultation with BlueScope’s Mechanical Test Laboratory to develop a 130-page document of plate test piece cutting diagrams that satisfied the sampling and testing requirements of final customers Naval Group and Commonwealth of Australia (CoA), whilst ensuring that the resulting test coupons were of a practical size and weight that could be handled safely and cut efficiently.• Physically marked up samples for machining of test pieces, loaded testing details into test system, and organised testing.• Communicating with final customer (CoA) to prioritise order of testing. Show less

  • Technical Sales Metallurgist

    Sept 2019 - now

  • Hot Mills Project Officer

    Oct 2018 - Sept 2019