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UTILITY WEEK | 18TH - 24TH DECEMBER 2015 | 17 Operations & Assets Market view H ave you driven past roadworks and thought: "Why are half the guys not working?" I have – and I'm sure I am not alone. Having worked with roadwork maintenance crews before I also know these are the types that much prefer to work and are probably more frustrated than we are by "not having anything to do". This seems to happen in many field operations and maintenance teams for util- ity businesses up and down the country. But why? Many utilities have deployed expen- sive technology and soware solutions, from ruggedised handsets for real-time data cap- ture and job management to GPS tracking. They have reorganised and, in some cases, rationalised depots and regional structures. They have rolled out the latest continuous improvement training, new incentives and measures along with enhanced reporting but do these really have the desired impact on front line productivity and service that is expected and captured in the business plan? The stakes couldn't be higher for water companies with the new AMP6 determina- tion settlement. Across the board, companies have accepted tough efficiency targets along with stretching and visible "outcome deliv- ery performance commitments". The same is true for the gas and electricity network companies. All are being asked to deliver better customer service at lower cost. But how is this possible when costs have been falling for some years now and every improvement in customer service is negated by even more demanding customers? A solution exists and it lies in the produc- tivity of the field labour force. It is the one area where a step change – a transforma- tional change – is actually possible. The solution does not lie in trying to make the teams work harder but to help them work slicker and smarter by cutting out all unnec- essary activities and wasted time. Typically when we start our work with a client we measure the actual productive utilisation of the front-line teams at between 20 and 30 per cent – this is the time spent doing productive and value-adding work. So what is the cause of the unproductive time? Lets' go back to our observation that we oen see teams working on roadworks who are standing around, seemingly doing noth- ing. It is unlikely the teams are choosing to stand idle. It is more likely they are being prevented from completing their work. Typi- cally when we investigate these issues with clients we discover teams are unproductive for a number of reasons such as: preparatory work is incomplete, materials aren't availa- ble, permits or licences haven't been provided or other preventable dependencies. We gen- erally group the solutions to poor productiv- ity into three categories: improved planning, optimised travel and enhanced co-ordination. We find improved planning is the most significant opportunity because of the num- ber of variables that have to be considered. Some of these are controllable, such as scheme design and job complexity, capa- bility and readiness of the teams, material availability, permission to work and cus- tomer prioritisations. All too oen we see work that cannot be completed or that plans should have been made for more work. But this should not be an excuse for the 10-30 per cent of unplanned time we typically see. By analysing average job durations and mini- mising the variable factors, work schedules can be planned much more effectively. Combining this with scheduling subcon- tractor staff to meet peaks in demand, New- ton have shown this lost time can be cut in half. For example, in a large electricity pylon maintenance scheme resulting in a produc- tivity improvement of 160 per cent during a nine-month improvement programme. The other factor that disrupts the plan and is perhaps the easiest to address is what we call late starts. This can be caused by the teams themselves – through poor labour control, discipline and performance management – or by things such as layout of the depots and morning processes such as work allocation. Better job planning through, for exam- ple, "ready to go" boards, can ensure the right tools and information are accessible and on the van to complete the day's work and avoid the usual scrum in the depot as teams search out the relevant tools for the day ahead. And how about all that time travelling between jobs? This can be mitigated by sequencing jobs in the right order to opti- mise travel time, and increasing regional job density by integrating better with plan- ning. This sounds straightforward but needs a highly analytical and rigorous approach to implement sustainably. The last area of opportunity – enhanced co-ordination – is probably the most com- plex, but also the most rewarding. This is the type of loss we see when driving past road- works: the field staff delayed by or waiting for "something else" – whether it be plant and machinery, instructions, traffic manage- ment, previous jobs in the sequence or just other staff. Good co-ordination is crucial here: giving staff accurate tools and materials lists, clear instructions and visibility of jobs that are "ready to go", and proper performance man- agement to incentivise the right behaviour. Getting this right means the initial planning will be much more accurate and will result in an increase in productive hours in the day – by up to 300 per cent, as shown in a pro- ject Newton has undertaken with a national printing services provider. We routinely find that by combining the three areas of opportunity a step change in performance can be achieved and without the need for further and expensive invest- ments in technology. Simon Harvey, energy and utilities leader, Newton Europe Work smarter, not harder Technology alone is not the key to more efficient field operations. Simon Harvey considers the options for utilities that want to get more from their field force workers. Key points Front-line teams spend between 20 and 30 per cent of their time doing productive and value-adding work. 10-30 per cent of on-site time is unplanned. Planning and co-ordination can increase productive hours by up to 300 per cent.