Tiwai Pt Aluminium Smelter workers set new productivity record

Tiwai Pt aluminium smelter workers have broken records for production per person at the plant.

New Zealand Aluminium Smelters acting general manager Stewart Hamilton said the January to March quarter productivity reached 416 tonnes per person - the equivalent of 25 million aluminium cans.

He said the figure included fulltime and contract workers.

It was the first time the workers at the 42-year-old smelter had achieved more than 400 tonnes per person, which was double the productivity in 1995, he said.

The old record was set in a three-month period in 2007, when workers achieved 390 tonnes per person. Total output in the 2007 quarter was 352,000 tonnes by 900 workers, including contractors.

Total production in January to March this year was 322,000 tonnes produced by 800 workers, including contractors.

"Times are tough here, and workers can do nothing about outside circumstances such as power prices, aluminium prices and the exchange rate but they can control productivity and that is something they are doing well," Mr Hamilton said.

Even though the plant was 15 per cent down in production, workers were still producing the purest aluminium in the world at the highest tonnage per person.

Workers were not doing more work, they were just more efficient, he said. A lot of effort had gone into improving the efficiency of the smelting process and fixing inefficiency in other areas.

The figures were part of a smelter performance presentation, which he recently gave to smelter owners Pacific Aluminium.

The figures also showed carbon burning at the plant had reduced.

The amount of capital spent since 1990 had gone up significantly in the past few years, with more than $100 million spent on machinery such as a new ship unloader and transformers .

"A lot of people say we are hasbeens at 40 years old and our time is done. These figures show we have had our midlife refurbishment and we can continue for many more years," Mr Hamilton said.