Key People

Bob has over 40 years’ experience in maintenance and asset management across utilities, mining, manufacturing, facilities, Defence and other sectors. His work has led to improved deployment of asset management systems, advanced reliability assessments of facilities throughout the world and mentoring of private and public organisations in all aspects of their asset management requirements.

Bob commenced his career in the NSW power stations where he earned a PhD in the fluid dynamics and aspects of life assessment of coal fired boilers. He then joined the Faculty of the University of NSW, lecturing in mechanical design, maintenance and reliability, and undertaking asset management research throughout industry. In 2000 he formed Covaris, an integrated services and technology company, to progress practical techniques in the asset management transformation of businesses. 

Recent work has focused on the implementation of ISO 55001 asset management, asset portfolio planning and effective analytics to drive continuous improvement in both costs and asset capability.

Safi is a Principal of Covaris with responsibility for all services associated with asset life cycle processes including asset management plans, maintenance, projects, materials support and reliability. He has delivered maintenance systems to a wide range of organisations covering facilities, manufacturing and utilities as well conducted bespoke projects tailored for the customer’s requirements.

In current work, he is the principal technical expert in the NSW Government’s $500M refurbishment program of the infrastructure in NSW hospitals as well as the technical adviser for the renewal of the preventive maintenance systems across these same facilities.

Safi manages Covaris’ engineering delivery, reviewing and mentoring most of the projects associated with field delivery of asset management improvement across multiple organisations and projects. He leads the development of Covaris’ technical systems and coordinates technology support for the refinement of systems utilised by Covaris engineers in the field.

Chris Cunningham is a leading asset management specialist with a focus on personnel and change management covering process, systems and organisational responsibilities. With a strong background in manufacturing management and leadership, Chris combines advanced technical skills with leadership and organisational development.

Chris has led several key projects for Covaris involving the rationalisation of large enterprise maintenance systems and work management to free up resources and drive cost improvements in the enterprise. Recent work has focused on developing microlearning strategies to assist organisations with upskilling their workforce through transformational asset management improvement programs.

Other aspects of his work lead to improved regulatory compliance and risk management appropriate for the operations of a facility.

Petar has been working with Covaris since 2006 in asset management and project services delivery assignments, covering implementation of information systems, managing data for Facilities Management services, shutdown optimisation and project management. Petar has led technology development teams, leading to implementation of advanced data management solutions.

Petar is consistently deployed by Covaris in field work on master data collection and consolidation. In this work, he employs advanced VBA, .NET and SQL programming and reporting skills to engage with the customer for data validation. Frequent work in the Facilities Management space has also meant that Petar has a thorough working knowledge of relevant ISO and AS/NZS standards, Federal and State(s) legislation and regulation, and codes of practice for facilities equipment (e.g. fire, lighting, HVAC etc.).

Petar is also the Covaris lead for advanced project management solutions. He was the lead shutdown scheduler at several large facility shutdowns (e.g. nickel refineries, major mine sites, power stations), and is the lead assessor of both large projects and major facility shutdowns.

Twenty-two years served in the Royal Australian Navy developing from an Electrical Fitter through to the rank of Lieutenant Commander assigned as a Weapons Electrical Engineer on Submarines.  Nine years operational seagoing experience, appointments in the United Kingdom, leading submarine technical training, technical regulatory engineering support staff in Canberra and a myriad of operational support roles throughout Australia. 

Engineering, management and administrative qualifications and experience gained while serving in the Navy supported a successful transition to Project Manager with Australian Defence Industries (1992) and a subsequent promotion to Operations Manager in a $45M project in North West WA. 

Completion of an MBA together with prerequisite, Asset Management and Commercial experience provided the basis for employment with WMC Resources Limited within the Nickel Industry (1996) underground and surface mining.  Promoted to Business Systems Manager at the mine overseeing the integration of site Environment, Health and Safety within the Australian Quality Council’s Australian Business Excellence Framework.

General Manager – WA for ASC Pty Ltd (2002). Providing sophisticated asset lifecycle support for the Collins Class Submarine. Essentially managing the $35M West Australian operation of a $150M business balancing blue-sky opportunity, potential future growth against current core business activities.

Now Principal Education & Change Management of Covaris Pty Ltd (2003), an Asset Management Research Company, with extensive experience in Strategic Asset Management, Commerce, Maintenance Engineering, Project Management, Contracting, and Integrated Logistic Engineering.  Currently engaged in contract and consulting work over a range of different industries, and advising on the use of enterprise systems, asset management plans and work management processes for organisational effectiveness.

Michael is an engineer with over 15 years’ experience in asset management and reliability engineering with projects across facilities management, power and water utilities, and manufacturing. He has specialised in research and assessment of statutory maintenance requirements across Australia, and is well versed in Australian Standards and Codes of Practice required to comply with the statutory maintenance requirements of plant and equipment.

Michael has been deployed on many projects implementing preventive maintenance. From the development of asset registers and hierarchies, through writing preventive maintenance procedures which cover all statutory maintenance requirements, the performance of asset criticality assessments, and the development of maintenance schedules he has experience across the whole process of developing or reviewing preventive maintenance.

Tim is an engineer with over 7 years of experience in asset management and reliability engineering with focus on large facilities management and heavy industry utilities. He has specialised in the implementation of Computerised Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) across a variety of industries. He is well versed in Australian and international technical standards and the requirements to meet statutory obligations in the delivery of maintenance.

Tim has experience in leading teams in advanced asset data manipulation and reporting tasks that require advanced software skills. He combines these technical skills with his maintenance management knowledge to gain valuable insights from maintenance transactional data. He is proficient in mentoring various work management functions such as planning and scheduling in industrial settings to extract the most value from these functions regardless of the specific system utilised.

Nicholas is an experienced engineer with extensive skills in asset management and reliability engineering. He has played a key role in the implementation and mass data upload into Computerised Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) across a variety of systems including SAP, Maximo and Mainpac. He has also been involved in the documentation of statutory maintenance and development of compliant procedures for a variety of industries.