Focus

Gary says he can contribute by looking at how Caltex structures, aligns, manages and motivates the people who work in the business

1

QA with Gary Smith new GM Refining

QA with Gary Smith new GM Refining

Gary Smith, General Manager Refining, says strong leadership provides an example.

"Opportunities are all around us"

New General Manager Refining, Gary Smith, brings substantial oil industry experience plus a reputation for creative thinking to his job.

It’s a potent combination for Caltex at a time when the company sets its direction to become stronger by aligning operational efficiency, growth and culture. Talking to The Star, Gary discusses his career, his initial impressions of Caltex’s refining business and where he can see room for improvement.

The Star: What’s your industry background and what brought you to Caltex?

GS: Coming here is coming home. I grew up, went to university and started my working life in Sydney. I worked for ICI for nine years and Shell for nineteen years, including a period as the manager of Clyde refinery then moved to London to work in Shell’s shipping group. For the three years prior to joining Caltex I was employed as Chief Executive Officer for Golar LNG – a major global owner and operator of LNG carriers.

When I was offered the position at Caltex the timing was perfect. From a personal perspective my daughter was approaching secondary school age and it was a watershed moment as to whether the family stayed on in the UK or returned home. From a professional perspective I was again looking to further my manufacturing career after spending the past seven years in the shipping industry.

The Star: You’ve been away from the refining side of the oil business for seven years. What stands out as different now to when you last worked in a refining?

GS: It’s become a far more complicated business. There are stricter controls around fuel quality due to clean fuel requirements and societal demands and expectations about how we operate in the communities where we’re located have increased markedly. Things are a lot more prescriptive – it used to be a “tell me” world but is now more a “show me” world, with a greater emphasis on legislation to ensure compliance.

The Star: What are your impressions of Caltex’s refining business and where do you see room for improvement?

GS: Caltex is doing all the right things but in refining it is a never-ending story of doing them better and more efficiently. Our major capital investment program in producing clean fuels is drawing to a close now that we have concluded the start-up of the DHTU2 unit at Lytton. This investment has provided a strong base on which to build for the future; now we have to be smart in the way we allocate future capital.

In refining there’s always lots of scope for creative thinking but this needs to be done carefully.  As I’ve looked around the business in these very early days, as you would expect, I’ve seen that there’s lots of scope to continue to improve –not surprisingly, we’re still short of perfection. But there are also good concrete examples of good planning, commitment and performance. The recent T&I (turnaround and inspection) at Lytton is an example of good planning, performance and commitment. Opportunities to do things well, such as that, are all around us.

My role is to encourage creative thinking and then to ensure the good ideas translate into improved business performance.

The Star: What are your thoughts on safety performance at the refineries?

GS: We should never be complacent about safety. We must always focus on safety and continue to explore for new ways to improve. Our performance is ok but it’s not as good as it could be, or should be. There’s no silver bullet in this area - it’s about doing all the little things in the proper way every time, every day. What I can do is provide strong leadership, accountability, a genuine interest and proactively engage in discussion at every opportunity.

We have good processes and good procedures in place and I see the difference between where we are now and where we need to be is around alignment and genuine commitment to improve from everyone.

The Star: Some employees believe there are strong cultural differences between Lytton and Kurnell refineries. Do you share this view?

GS: Perhaps they're simply reflecting the traditional differences between Sydney and Brisbane.

I have a mixed view, - I see that each refinery has its own distinctive culture and in many ways that’s a good thing. We don’t want, or need, clones but where we can leverage off each other – where by doing things together we can do them smarter - we should.

The Star: Is there a particular aspect of refinery culture or practice that you will focus on?

GS: It’s early days yet for me to have an answer to that, but one area where I want to contribute to is how we structure, align, manage and motivate the people who work in the business.

I’ve have been making time to regularly sit down and have lunch with refinery staff at both Lytton and Kurnell. It’s been a way of initiating a dialogue and the challenge for me will be to keep this up. Getting people engaged and focused is a way to help create a real edge for the business.