"Turner & Townsend have built strong engagement with frontline maintenance teams to help them identify and tackle opportunities to improve cost and performance. We have seen good adoption of Lean principles and methodologies on the ground.”
Andrew Morsley, Head of Maintenance Modernisation Programme
Delivering Savings through Lean Coaching of front-line Maintenance teams
Client’s requirements
The Maintenance Modernisation (MM) Programme is modernising the Asset Operations (AO) directorate, which performs most of London Underground’s maintenance.
Turner & Townsend Suiko were engaged as the Lean Delivery Partner to help transform front-line Fleet and Track maintenance by removing inefficiencies in resources and time. The focus was on sustainable cost reductions (whilst maintaining safety and quality KPIs).
Objectives
There were 5 elements to our approach:
- Visible leadership and direction (targets) from Heads of Assets and managers – focussed on results (£) and practices (processes and behaviours)
- Front-line teams applying Visualisation and the right Lean steps in the right order
- Project teams moving swiftly to solving problems and action – using Practical Problem Solving (PPS) aligned to Six Sigma ‘Define-Measure-Analyse-Improve-Control’ (DMAIC) without the complex statistics
- Programme team managing change and communications
- Lean roll-out reinforced throughout – adapting to local challenges, celebrating successes and continuously improving through lessons learned.
After a successful roll-out in Fleet and Track, our work was extended to provide Lean Coaching support for Workshops and Stations Maintenance and also to create a Lean Leadership Academy.
Our contribution
In this unionised environment, we brought Lean thinking principles and their practical application to life for front-line teams by:
- engaging effectively at all levels
- providing hands-on support
- pinpointing tangible opportunities
- balancing the right mix of tools and behaviours
- keeping a relentless focus on benefits.
Objectives:
- Provide Lean Coaching to:
- Head of Assets
- Managers and front-line teams
- Business Improvement (BI) team
- Other stakeholders
- Support front-line teams to deliver a 5:1 ROI on annual savings (up to 5% of addressable budget) across the two Asset areas
- Address people, process and capability
- Implement Fleet and Track Lean operating systems and visualisation
- Ensure Lean’s sustainability and cost-effectiveness by teaching (‘learning by doing’) the BI team in Lean mind-sets, tools, and management.
Making the difference
Lean Coaches helping front-line teams by:
- Driving Efficiency – Using Lean methodologies and 5-step problem-solving to identify opportunities which exceed the savings target;
- Upskilling Leaders – Through Lean Leadership training for 40+ managers and running several lessons learned workshops;
- Ensuring Sustainability – Through embedding the right mind-sets, capability and operating systems;
- Developing Lean Maturity – Reaching ‘Suiko Levels 1-3’ (Foundation, Control, Improve), with capability to move beyond.
©Turner & Townsend Suiko Limited. This content is for general information purposes only and does not purport to constitute professional advice. We do not make any representation or give any warranty, express or implied, and shall not be liable for any losses or damages whatsoever, arising from reliance on information contained in this document.
It must not be made available or copied or otherwise quoted or referred to in whole or in part in any way, including orally, to any other party without our express written permission and we accept no liability of whatsoever nature for any use by any other party.
