Sector: Telecom
A leading Belgian player in the telecom sector wanted to satisfy the increasing data requirements of individuals, companies and the public sector. However, the launch of an ambitious multi-annual network improvement programme did not run smoothly. The project was delayed and customers became dissatisfied. Moore Business Consulting was brought in to get everything operationally back on track.
What were the challenges associated with this project?
It was clear from the start that this was a complex project, partly due to its size, but also because of the multitude of processes and stakeholders, technical complexity and logistical challenges involved.
This was a major project that required a carefully considered approach. After all, a well-functioning network is crucial for the end customer. Tinkering with it requires caution and a successful balance between all the teams involved. Moore Business Consulting left no stone unturned to tackle this challenging project.
Sticking points carefully mapped out
In order to quickly understand and outline the essence of the problem, Moore Business Consulting used its operational improvement approach. Four main issues were identified.
- Major differences between the technical designs and the actual situation in the field, which necessitated unplanned rework;
- Unexpected network behaviour, which resulted in increased diagnostic and adjustment workloads for a number of key technicians and longer waiting times for others;
- Wide variety of logistics components and inappropriate stock availability;
- Incorrect costing model assumptions that strained partnerships with subcontractors.
Detailed operational improvement plan tackles problems
The starting point for the improvement plan was a root cause analysis of all sources of waste, variability and inflexibility.
Any problems were then quantified and, using improvement levers, identified and prioritized on the basis of their impact on lead time and cost.
Together with all stakeholders, a detailed operational improvement plan was then developed with a focus on:
- Coordination between and monitoring of subcontractors;
- An improved framework for subcontractors;
- Optimized logistics information flows;
- Improved as-is designs to minimize variability between designs and the actual situation in the field;
- Greatly reduced waiting times for installation teams.
Close monitoring of implementation ensures success
Moore Business Consulting provided any necessary support throughout the implementation. Thanks to a brief and in-depth follow-up of all defined improvement actions and a strong focus on milestones and stakeholder accountability, further project delays were minimized.This targeted approach resulted in the implementation of almost 80% of all improvement actions in just two months, very much to the customer’s satisfaction.
“Our approach enabled us to boost credibility and commitment”
“We were able to implement the three main cornerstones of our approach with this project, i.e. to scrutinise potential problems on the shop floor, focus on quantifying any problems and introduce change management from day one, and this approach has definitely paid off. We gained credibility and generated real commitment to the improvement actions needed to help the customer move forward,” Joris VandenBerghe, Managing Partner at Moore Business Consulting, commented.