Smooth operations

Hotelier Middle East meets members of the engineering department to discover the nuts and bolts of the role, including advances in technology and a push to develop green operations.

How long have you been in your current job?

Paul Aychouh: I've been working in the field for the past eight years and I joined Al Bustan Rotana Hotel Dubai in October 2004.

Mohammod Masud Ul Haque: I have been in the role for 11 months.

Om Prakash Chaurasia: I joined Sheraton Bahrain Hotel in March 2006. However earlier I worked onboard ships for 10 years and in the shipyard for three years.

Arthur Rodrigues: I have been a chief engineer for more than 20 years now, having worked in Bahrain and Muscat and with this property in Dubai since September 2002.

Why did you choose engineering as a career path?

Aychouh: I chose it because it required a broad-based knowledge, which suited my natural inclination towards science, technology and mathematics. There were also a lot of excellent opportunities in engineering careers, so it was the logical decision.

Ul Haque: Ever since childhood I dreamed of becoming an engineer. I was amazed by how railway trains move and how vehicles run.

Engineering jobs are very challenging; you need to solve problems using the facts, analysis, observation, experiment as well as manpower and machines.

Chaurasia: One good reason is that engineers make the world. What is not made by nature is made by an engineer! At school I was very good at science - physics, chemistry and maths - hence engineering was the best choice.

Rodrigues: My father was an electrical engineer by profession so from a young age I was very much interested in this field. Even during my secondary schooling days I used to accompany my father to help him in his work. The word engineer those days carried lot of weight and that's how come I went ahead with engineering.

What daily tasks does your role entail at the hotel?

Aychouh: Around 60% of my working day is spent on administrative tasks such as following up on preventive maintenance, contracts, suppliers and daily routine tasks. I spend 40% of my time developing the Al Bustan Rotana engineering team by scheduling activities such as on-job training, cross training and multi-tasking succession planning for example.

Ul Haque: I meet the engineering supervisors early in the morning to discuss with them the issues that happened during the previous night and what work is scheduled for the day ahead. I need to check the technician logbooks and checklists and the comparison of the daily energy consumption to the budget and previous year. I also check plant operation equipment and log the swimming pool log report.

I also attend executive meetings if there are any issues or any instruction from the GM or any other colleagues regarding engineering related jobs to be done - I need to plan and give these tasks to the engineering supervisor for execution. I also check and approve online purchasing requests.

Chaurasia: In the hospitality industry we serve 24/7. A normal day would begin with briefing fellow associates, distribution of daily tasks and obtaining feedback from the previous day. Other tasks include randomly checking the quality of workmanship; progress of Plant Preventive Maintenance (PPM); overseeing various repairs being carried out in the property; a ‘walk around' of the entire property to assess safe and efficient maintenance/operation of machines and equipment - including the electrical and physical structure of the hotel. In addition, monitoring work progress and maintaining records would all be a part of a regular day.

Rodrigues: As a hotel engineer there are various multi-functional tasks that I perform.

The day starts with a morning heads of department operations meeting where any issues or opportunities are discussed.

I also hold department internal meeting with my assistant and other supervisors to discuss daily operational issues.

I also do a house tour of the plant room and machine rooms for first-hand information along with attending to internal and external official correspondence; preparing daily task for operational requirements and checking purchase requests for approval.

What are the strangest things you have had to tend to in your job?

Aychouh: Sometimes we face unusual issues that we have to deal with very carefully such as dealing with natural disasters. For example, dealing with heavy rain floods - especially during night time when you have to rectify the damages without affecting operations.

Chaurasia: Being in the hospitality industry I have realised that everybody's needs and wants are very subjective. An example of this would be in a restaurant where many people dine together. For the same maintained temperature someone may feel warm, another would be cold whereas a few others are comfortable. Being an engineer as I am responsible for the air conditioning needs of the hotel, such situations seem a bit strange to me.

Rodrigues: On two occasions, the room guest has made use of the sprinkler head to hang his laundry and in the bargain broke the sprinkler and eventually triggered the water flow.

However, our emergency team swung into action and limited the water damage pretty quickly and efficiently, which was good.

What are the challenges you face?

Aychouh: The main challenges we face in hotel engineering are reducing and controlling expense costs while maintaining the company's standards and ensuring that the operational works are effective through the supervision of the team.

Handling multiple projects, which involves dealing with multiple contractors and suppliers is where your management skills are put to the test .

Chaurasia: In a multi-cultural team it is pertinent to stay together as one team in spite of everyone's diverse culture, religion, race and skills. To understand each team member's motivating factors then motivate them to build a great cooperative team as well as ensuring guest and associate satisfaction consistently is a challenge.

Rodrigues: In a service industry there are a number of challenges every day related to services, equipment and the building - this property was the first five-star hotel in the UAE, which is 34 years old.

At times there are tough challenges we face and we need to solve and in spite of its age the property has been well maintained.

Some of the installations and equipments that were there from the inception are still working, but at the same time it is very difficult to get spare parts. Because the wheels of the industry have to turn day-in and day-out, so also we have to turn out parts or find substitute in the market.

Just last year one of the cooling tower fans - spanning 2.4m with individual blades of 1.2m - had four blades break into pieces due to misalignment - and that was also in mid-summer. Getting the blades imported from the USA would have taken approximately four weeks and this was my biggest challenge because it had a direct impact on the air-conditioning. We somehow got somebody to cast these fan blades in Sharjah and in one week's time working round the clock we put the cooling tower back into operation. This is one incident I will never forget because of the sleepless nights I was faced with.

Another challenge is satisfying demanding guests who take no excuses. My job is like a policeman who has to be on call any part of the day or night.

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