Background
Our client is an airport operating in South America, serving 32 million passengers annually. Since the inauguration of a new terminal in 2016, the airport’s handling capacity is expected to rise to 43 million by 2045.
The airport has had historically high levels of service, but the client felt that such high standards could still be achieved at a lower cost. In order to understand the current levels of operational performance (own employees and contractors) and its impact on cost and performance, we were brought in to analyse the airport’s maintenance processes and management control systems (MCS).
After a two-week evaluation, we identified opportunities relating to:
- Labour productivity
- Existence and adherence to management procedures
- Optimising current processes to increase efficiency, including those relating to management of contractors
- Organisational structure
Our analysis also compared maintenance performance to world-class standards, which identified those processes and tools that needed to be improved. The client accepted our approach to integrate the efforts of both the Maintenance and Operations departments in order to develop solutions that can address the performance improvement concerns.
Project Approach
The main objectives of this transformation project were to redesign the maintenance and MCSs such that managers had the necessary tools to provide performance information in a timely manner for effective decision-making. The scope covered maintenance processes (such as planning, scheduling, backlog management, performance reporting, etc.) as well as organisational structure associated with the function.
In the first phase of the project, we implemented a workload and master scheduling method to identify the opportunities relating to a new organisational structure. We created two Management Action Teams (MATs) relating to Management Control Systems and Contractor Management, each of which met on a weekly basis to assess progress and ensure the plan was being achieved.
In addition to the MATs, the steering committee met every two weeks where to identify new opportunities, look at feedback given by the steering committee members, and request additional support if required.
Project Implementation
Over 20 weeks, we developed the methodology for reviewing business processes. The MCS MAT focused on structuring processes, systems, and behaviours, defining new rules and new ways of working. The Contractors Management MAT optimised each of the biggest contracts to gain productivity and define a model that can applied across all the department in the airport. The project’s key initiatives were qualified and quantified in terms of measurable improvement.
All management tools and workflows were reviewed by the area managers. Tactically, we were able to lay the foundation for sustainability, as those involved in the critiques promoted their own improvement ideas and were then held responsible for their implementation.
Some 200 maintenance plans were reviewed and improved, and an additional 54 maintenance plans were created to in order to address gaps. Some 13 service level agreements (SLAs) were also generated to ensure there was clarity in what was expected from the maintenance teams; improvements in structure and redefinition of roles and responsibilities provided additional clarification.
Once they were agreed, changes to processes and MCSs were implemented by the team. In order to increase the confidence of staff, we undertook several training sessions and acted jointly in executing the changed processes to ensure adherence to them. The training courses themselves achieved a satisfaction index of 96%, as indicated by the attendees.
“The work done with Renoir’s support brought great results. At the end of this process, we were at a new management level, with greater team productivity, better performance levels and indicators, and – above all – the guarantee of the availability of the airport’s assets.”
Maintenance Manager
Key Results
3.2:1
return on investment
17%
reduction in own labour costs
21%
reduction in contractor labour costs
48%
Improvement in utilisation
58%
reduction in backlog days
The project’s key initiatives were qualified and quantified in collaboration with the defined MATs. This ensured that the project’s key objectives were clearly understood, enabling a sense of ownership within the project team.
Additionally, we delivered a methodology to review maintenance plans and improve their effectiveness, a master scheduling methodology, and tools to allow efficient allocation of resources, tools and methods to analyse the productivity of own and outsourced labour. This ensured that all improvement actions are followed up and completed in a timely manner.
In summary, not only were the improvement targets met, but we also helped the client develop and implement a methodology that emphasised a culture of continuous improvement.
