People and projects from around the PETROFAC world

PEOPLE

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TAREK EL-HAYEK, SENIOR EXPEDITING ENGINEER

If I was explaining what I do to a 10-year-old… as the Project Engineering Manager would put it to her daughter, I’d say that I make sure all the bits and pieces for a Lego set are available in the box before the 10-year-old opens it. I would also say that in the Marvel world, my job requires me to be as fast as Flash in delivering materials, as smart as Iron Man to come up with strategies that will make sure delivery happens, and as strong as Hulk, who in the adult world needs to be strong enough to handle all the travel, workload and any challenging situations.


I was involved in the pre-awards stage on this project… to provide feedback on potential bidders, their ability to deliver, and what would be a feasible schedule. I then moved forward with the core part of my role – executing the contract between Petrofac and our suppliers from order placement to the arrival of the materials onsite, with the support of the field expediting team based across Europe.


We kept the project going through an IT outage… I remember joining a meeting led by the Project Manager and the minute it was over, the Quality Manager and I got ourselves new laptops and set up remotely so that we could still visit suppliers and deliver materials on time, in spite of the outage. The field expediting team learned a lot from this experience and is now capable of performing similar jobs if we ever face a similar situation.


I was given the opportunity to prove my leadership skills… being placed on a larger scope than in any of my previous projects, in terms of Scope Of Work (SOW), complexity and value. The Project Manager gave me full trust and responsibility, which in a scenario like that forces you to step up to meet the project’s expectations. As I say, “If you can take it, you can make it.”


I’ve spent nine years working in supply chain… in procurement, delivery and logistics management, whether it was in the office or out in the field. The relationships I’ve built with my peers and expeditors is more than just work, especially on this project where we managed to complete the SOW as a team – it was a ‘dream team’, I might add. Looking forward, I envision taking on a more managerial role, handling more complex assignments, with greater overall responsibility.







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“We transformed our hotel rooms into offices for a period of two weeks, visiting suppliers on an ad-hoc basis and delivering materials on time, in spite of the outage.”

WORDS CHRISTINA McPHERSON

IMAGES CHRISTOPHE VISEUX

PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 2020

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