We decided to catch up with Milton, our experienced Estimating Manager who has a crucial role to play at Brisbane Tank Manufacturing.
We wanted you to get to know him a little bit better and find out what his favourite project has been so far, what his role involves and also a few of his favourite activities outside of work.
Name:
Milton Varghese
Role:
Estimating Manager
Milton’s job is to:
My role is to price each individual job from start to finish. Every project is different so when it comes to pricing and scoping out the job, you need experience and project management know-how around what needs to be achieved from cost down to deadlines.
We get enquiries about all sizes and variations of storage tanks, mixing tanks, installation jobs and more and it’s my job to price it all up and follow up so we’re hitting those vital schedules.
From manufacturing to installations we have a process that needs to be followed and I’m the primary contact in our organisation.
As you can imagine, in the current Covid 19 climate that we’re currently operating in, there is an ongoing global price fluctuation of raw material costs which is challenging but something we are familiar with now.
What we can say is; we give the customer a fixed price and try to avoid any additional variation costs due to increase in price of material.
Due to the above current situations our preferred quote lead time at the moment is 7 days from creation of estimate to sign off but we understand the customer has to have time to review the quotes so we do have to have some flexibility around that.
We work hard with our suppliers too to manage all these anomalies and current challenges that come into play so we have a sound process in place that works.
Favourite project and why?
Great question and it’s one we’ve just finished for Bayer AG.
This was a real “all hands on deck” type of project and it was incredibly challenging but hugely rewarding too.
We did everything on this project; we built the tanks, modified platforms, relocated existing equipment, we provided the installation of tanks and pipe works and we provided very cleverly thought out solutions that had to fit into a very tight schedule because it was a shutdown job with a 3 week turnaround time we had to hit.
The mixing tanks had to be installed and they had to be installed as cost effectively as possible and whilst another solutions provider had said that the roof would have to come off the building to get the tanks in; our solution was to modify the platforms, bring the tank through the top so we could swing the tanks in and install them that way.
As you can imagine everyone is on hand everyday to make sure things are going accordingly and we’re incredibly proud to say it went brilliantly.
The project finished within the deadline, within costs and to cap things off the customer is more than happy with the results.
Favourite piece of kit/tool/machine and why?
Has to be my excel spreadsheets! They are my tools of the trade.
Outside of work my favourite thing to do is?
Has to be time with the family, catching up with good friends every few weeks, cricket and watching great movies.
Fact Finder
Client:
Bayer AG is a huge German multinational pharmaceutical and life sciences company and is in fact one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. One of the more popular products Bayer is known for is aspirin.
Project details:
Fabrication of 2 Off Mixing Tanks to AS1210 Standards
Relocation of Existing Equipment
Modification of Existing Mezzanine Structure
Installation of New tanks
Install, Modify, Dismantle Piping & Auxiliaries
Brisbane Tank Manufacturing was involved in fabrication of two mixing tanks designed to AS1210 pressure vessel standards.
The mixing tanks had a working volume capacity of 10,000L and designed to withstand pressure from 3 Bar / -1 Bar (vacuum).
The tanks had dished ends while one of the tanks had a dimple jacket on side walls, water jacket on the bottom, insulated with 50mm Rockwool and cladded in SS304 on sides and bottom.
