Last month, CADwalk proudly hosted the ACRNA for their inaugural Western Australia launch event. The ACRNA and many of its members and events have been predominantly based on East Coast- until now.
This exclusive Perth one-day conference was crafted to bring together control room teams from across Western Australia, fostering connections with their peers nationwide. With close to 100 attendees, we were thrilled to also welcome guests from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and New Zealand, providing them with valuable insights into WA’s vibrant and evolving industry landscape.
The incredible line up of speaker presentations provided valuable insight into the industry across many different topics, including the development of off-site operations and remote monitoring centres, the importance of human factors in control rooms and the capabilities of using VR technology to design and create with minimal risk.
“It was a fantastic opportunity to grow the ACRNA to genuinely become Australian”, says Russell Gordon, Manager Network Operations Standards and Engineering at Energy QLD and ACRNA Corporate Member.
Speaker Presentations:
Michael Stockbridge | Chief Operating Officer at CADwalk
Michael showed attendees just how important the lead-up in design is to build a user-focused control room and finding value in design process. As a technology led company, CADwalk have created their LifeSize technology as a way for companies to enable decision makers in building an ergonomic and fit-for-purpose control room in reduced time.
Daniel Habib | Remote Operations Delivery Manager at Woodside Energy
Remote operations of offshore assets isn’t new to Woodside, but remotely operating their LNG plant is. Daniel took the conference attendees on a multi-year journey, which began in 2020, that showed how they edged towards their goal of remotely operating the entire Scarborough Energy project from Perth through their new control room in the CBD.
Adam Hetherington | Superintendent Operations Port Control at Rio Tinto
As an Operations Superintendent in Port Control, Adam plays a critical role in overseeing large-scale operations, ensuring efficiency, safety, and continuous improvement. His presentation covered Rio Tinto’s Remote Operations Centre journey and included valuable lessons they learned along the way in building their control rooms efficiently.
Joao Galego | Operations Manager at Hitachi
In 2024, Hitachi started a full-scale operation of a remote monitoring support system operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year called the “Technological Centre of Excellence (TCoE).” Joao took event attendees behind the scenes of Hitachi’s dump truck Autonomous Haulage System (“AHS”) used at mines from their state-of-the-art control room in Brisbane.
As a leading specialist in Human Factors consultancy in WA, Andrew provided attendees with practical human factors advice for use in control rooms that may otherwise not be considered in these potentially harsh work environments. Due to long hours and intense focus on screens, there is an incredible importance in optimising employee focus and retention in their role, both mentally and physically.
Site Tours
Following the lunchtime break and networking time, attendees organised into groups to attend designated site tours at control rooms local to the event. A big thank you to the organisations who hosted site tours: ARC Infrastructure, Perth Airport, Roy Hill, Western Power and Chevron. Feedback following the event was that the site tours were very insightful.
Upon returning from the site tours, attendees were able to experience CADwalk Lifesize and VR demonstrations back at the conference location which was enjoyed by all. The day concluded with networking between attendees and a relaxed beverage and pizza to close off the event.
With great reviews being received by attendees following the event, the ACRNA event in Perth is sure to feature in the ACRNA calendar for 2026. Stay connected on the ACRNA website for future event announcements.