Mazhar Hussein

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Mazhar Hussein, Crane Foreman at Drydocks World

Mazhar Hussein is a crane foreman at Drydocks World – our offshore and marine service specialists in Dubai, UAE. He shares how he improved crane control operations at the Drydocks World base, helping his colleagues work smarter – not harder:

 

“I am the Crane Foreman in the Drydocks World yard, where I oversee crane and transport operations. I've been working here for the past 25 years.  

"To ensure our operations run smoothly, we now rely on a crane control tower, which resembles an aeroplane control room. Here, we can coordinate where our cranes are needed and move them safely and efficiently.  

Taking A Bird’s Eye View

"However, when I first started as the crane foreman, we didn't have a tower at all and had to rely on a member of staff called a crane controller instead. This was a problem because when our clients requested cranes, I had to notify this controller to make sure the request was carried out safely. However, they could not see all our cranes because they were on the ground, so it took them too long to approve my requests. This impacted our productivity levels.   

"So, to resolve this, I suggested that we install the tower we have now. By building a dedicated control tower, our crane controllers would be able to see all our cranes from our floating dock all the way to our 10th berth. As a result, they could make faster, safer decisions based on the cranes' positions, allowing the rest of us to work more effectively.   

Recycled Materials   

"To bring this idea to life, I sought the help of our fabrication team and the Heating, Ventilation, and Air Condition department. They would provide the building expertise, while I was tasked with providing drawings, material arrangements, and all other required resources. I also worked closely with our Infrastructure Maintenance Department Manager, who assisted us in constructing the base of the crane tower.   

"It took us a total of three and a half months to manufacture our control tower in-house, using old yard supplies and scrap material already at our disposal. After some challenges such as balancing the weight of the tower’s control cabin and finding the best location, we finally completed it. I’m pleased to say that within weeks of it being built, our new control tower reduced idle hours for all our cranes and improved productivity as well as the satisfaction levels of our customers.   

"I am so grateful for the opportunity to contribute to our operations at Drydocks World. The core of this idea was to work smarter rather than harder – in other words, to make people's lives easier and reduce work-related stress so we can all contribute with greater efficiency and enthusiasm.”   

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