FEATURE
The future- CF Fertilisers’ instrument technicians Spencer English and Sophie Dunn.
Reliability and resilience
Building a future‐ready maintenance function
PICTURES: CHRIS BOOTH
As one of Teesside’ s longest‐standing industrial employers, and the UK’ s leading fertiliser manufacturer, CF Fertilisers UK continues to evolve its operations to meet the demands of a modern, technology‐driven manufacturing environment.
Led by Manuel Marques, maintenance manager, the maintenance function plays a central role in this transformation, supporting both the reliability of today’ s assets and the resilience of tomorrow’ s business. Here Manuel explains how they’ re going about this:
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Investing in modern capability Maintenance at CF is about more than preserving plant integrity; it’ s about enabling efficiency, safety and long-term competitiveness. We’ re strengthening our capability through targeted investment in areas including: > Advanced instrument and electrical skills As plant systems become increasingly digital, our teams are developing deeper expertise in modern instrumentation, automation and electrical technologies.
> Data-driven and predictive approaches The adoption of digital tools and AIsupported diagnostics is enabling faster decision-making and more proactive maintenance planning.
> Enhanced standards and work practices Continuous improvement of our processes and routines ensures consistent, high‐quality maintenance across the site. Across our plants in Billingham, maintenance teams are helping to build a future-ready operation by embracing new technologies and strategies, systems and processes, techniques and governance.
This shift – both in mindset and execution – allows us to move beyond reactive interventions towards smarter, more proactive approaches that improve reliability while reducing risk and cost.
Eyes down- CF Fertilisers’ electrical apprentice Lewis Cook and Instrument technician apprentice Luke Harkin with instrument technician Peter Bartle.
A collaborative, global mindset While Teesside remains our UK manufacturing heartland, our maintenance teams increasingly contribute to CF’ s broader global network.
Expertise developed here in the region is regularly deployed to support major turnarounds, where plants are taken offline for major maintenance, bringing UK technical knowledge to CF locations across the US and Canada.
This is something that’ s highly valued by all stakeholders. Cross‐site collaboration firstly strengthens operational resilience across the business.
But it also provides our teams with exposure to diverse challenges,