The plant was also humbled to be one of two businesses to receive a Business Innovation award, which is testament to the hard work of BSL’s 1,000-strong team for their efforts in finding savings and better ways of working.

Since BSL introduced its site vision – ‘Proudly Australian, Operating Beyond 2030’ – the focus of the past five years has been on fundamentally changing how the site operates to achieve the vision, with the direction guided by the core principles of zero harm, improving every shift and operating like we own it.

As part of this journey, BSL introduced the ‘$10k banked’ initiative, where team members were each challenged to find opportunities to reduce waste and create more efficient ways of working. In five years of this, the BSL team have delivered over $30 million.

Acting General Manager Kerry Moran said the Innovation Award was recognition for the work the BSL team has been completing to achieve its vision.

“General Manager Joe Rea and I are extremely proud to accept these awards on behalf of the BSL team,” he said.

“The way our people have embraced the $10k banked initiative has demonstrated their sheer tenacity and Australian pride in working towards BSL’s vision. After five years you could think the improvement ideas have dried up, yet that is not the case. We are continually finding new ways to work smarter, safer and more efficiently.”

“While we face the constant cost pressures of the external aluminium market and rising power prices, the change in mindset has resulted in us making more metal than ever before, at better purity and at unprecedented efficiency, all while achieving some of the best safety results we have ever achieved.”

Nominations for the Best in Business Awards were sought from the Gladstone public and more than 300 businesses were nominated in this year’s event. The four businesses with the highest number of nominations in each category became finalists for an interview with a judging panel, where a final winner was determined and announced at the awards evening.



Photo credit:  Mike Richards / Gladstone Observer