'Huge challenges ahead'

The new boss at the New Zealand Aluminium Smelter at Tiwai Point did not need directions to the office on his first day. Ryan Cavanagh could have been forgiven for a feeling of deja vu as he headed down Tiwai straight. The Englishman is a familiar and popular face on the site, having spent almost six years from 2001 in several management roles. While his most recent role had him back in the United Kingdom, it took little persuading for him to uproot and bring the family back to Invercargill. "It's a great role to be offered – I've come back to a fantastic site with great people. Invercargill is a great place to bring up kids and we enjoyed living here so much." He and his wife obtained citizenship during their first stint, their eldest daughter was born here and they called their England-born daughter Tui to ensure she had a Kiwi connection. Mr Cavanagh's 12-year career with mining giant Rio Tinto has taken him from Bristol in England to Zimbabwe as well as Invercargill, and London. Originally from Cornwall, he obtained a bachelor of engineering in chemical engineering at the University of Birmingham. He swapped a planned year backpacking around Australia to embark on a PhD at a small aluminium smelter, before joining Rio Tinto's graduate programme. Chemical engineers tended to gravitate into either technical work or leadership roles, he said. "I've always had more of an interest in working with people than the technical side of things. I understand the technical side but I'm more motivated to working with people and getting the best out of them. But things come up and you grab the opportunity and it seems to work." The smelter faced significant challenges, including an ongoing need to reduce costs while still producing high-quality and high-purity aluminium. The smelter remained a "high-cost site" by world standards and there was always pressure to reduce costs through innovation, he said. The Emissions Trading Scheme also brought challenges, with NZAS likely to be the first smelter in the world to have to deal with carbon emission costs, he said. "We accept that and will work with the Government to get the best result." NZAS appeared to have weathered the economic storm of the past 15 months and he was optimistic about 2010. Unlike other smelters, there had been no need for forced redundancies, and it had been able to manage staff costs through various alternatives such as leave without pay, long-term absences and early retirements. The smelter was working smarter with fewer people, which helped "keep us at the top of our game", he said. The high New Zealand dollar continued to have a serious affect on export returns, but that was something out of the company's control so the long-term challenge was to continue to produce the right amount of high-purity aluminium for the market, at the right price. "We need to look inside [the site] and see what we can control, how we can do things differently and to try to get a better outcome." A damaged transformer affected production last year, taking a potline out for about eight months. It was gradually being returned to action and was at the planned production level. More sections would be brought online as the demand for aluminium increased, he said. CURRICULUM VITAE 1991-1994: Bachelor of Engineering (Hons), University of Birmingham. 1994-1997: PhD in Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham. 1997: Joined the Rio Tinto graduate programme, Bristol. 1999: Rio Tinto's Empress Nickel Refinery, Zimbabwe. 2001: Process control engineer, NZAS. 2002: Promoted to Green Carbon superintendent, NZAS. 2003: Transferred to Carbon Bake superintendent, NZAS. 2004: Promoted to Carbon manager, NZAS. January 2007: Mining executive, Rio Tinto Diamonds, London. July 2007: Business resources executive, Rio Tinto, London. January 2009: Chief adviser, Organisational Effectiveness, London. November 2009: General manager, NZAS.