It is common for Engineering teams to find themselves always chasing overdues, some companies have never, or at least cannot remember a time where they didn’t have overdues. Like all things, if left unchallenged or unaddressed they can almost become the norm, however the issues consistent overdues cause never truly go away.
Mike Kiernan, founder and owner of Panel Built was astutely aware of these issues; observing the morale, high staff turnover and build-up of other issues around his Engineering team he knew something had to change.
Upon receiving an email from Dr Will Beer at Tunley Engineering that introduced our services, Mr. Kiernan decided to book time out for an introductory call. Never really considering an outside source of help before, Mike wanted to see if Tunley Engineering were equipped to undertake the task. After the call, Will emailed a quote and proposal the next day. This early example of customer centricity was a contributing factor to Panel Built’s decision to proceed forward with an Engineering Assessment.
An Engineering Assessment is always bespoke to each customer, each one includes a thorough investigation into the customers’ Engineering team and it’s processes. These Assessments typically map the NPI and bespoke engineering activities and perform a value stream analysis.
In this case, the fully remote investigation into the Engineering department took only 5 days and culminated in a formal presentation delivered to Mike first then the wider Engineering team.
An Assessment’s findings always begins with a list of High Level Recommendations that are then explained in greater detail throughout the document/presentation. This report exists to give Engineering Teams all they need to address their issues, not just listing them.
Not only did the report detail how to go about addressing these issues but it also recommended software, that other customers or ourselves use every day.
The next step, is always at the discretion of the customer, they can choose to take the findings of the report and begin to action them themselves, or seek further help.
Most customers believe an external ‘agent of change’ demonstrates the businesses desire to change and provides focus and additional expertise. The whole Panel Built team engaged with the assessment and were motivated to deliver the recommendations documented in the report
·Implement a Part Data Management system to manage Engineering documentation.
·Use the PDM system to phase out the need for separate workload management systems within the Engineering Departments
·Implement / run a recovery on late orders / overdues within the pre-assembly section of Engineering.
·Implement Standard Operating Procedures within Engineering (what does a drawing look like, how do we build it etc)
·Make training a core component of the Department, it needs to be reviewed monthly (easy to incorporate in Team briefs)
·Measure, measure, and measure. Key Performance Indicators need to be established, implemented, analysed, and put to work. KPIs need to provide weekly summaries as a minimum and cover Delivery, Quality, and Improvement
·Develop a New Starter Induction program.
So why did they opt into engaging with an Engineering Recovery?
Every company has its own reasons but, in this case, an outside eye and support from Will Beer was particularly beneficial. The two Engineering Managers, despite been highly qualified and motivated engineers had not had the support they needed in the transition to their managerial roles.
That coupled with knowledge that a Recovery can move the issues raised on the Assessment from ‘to-do’ to ‘done’ quicker. Will, Mike and the 2 Engineering Managers began to move forward with addressing the company’s overdues.
Even in these early days, the team at Panel Built have shown an increasing capability to take more and more control. Through their ongoing work with Tunley Engineering, taking advantage of our leadership and mentorship the goal is to continue to prepare and upskill these Managers for the challenges they face. This body of work has served as testament to the fact that gains in Engineering Departments are most often made when Processes and Process Management are improved.
With an outside perspective, illusive problems can be uncovered and a far more direct approach to issues can be taken. By setting up a daily meeting with the team Will could ensure everyone has been held account and the correct, most time effective and customer centric actions were taken daily, allowing the companies owner to take a step back, knowing progress was been made without needing to be directly involved.
At the start of the project Panel Built had 113 orders, 39 of which were already late, the 39 overdues had a value in excess of 3 million dollars. In just 14 days they were recovered and could report, for the first time in the company’s memory, no overdues.
The most effective way to evaluate a change is how long it lasts. In any Engineering team, if a change hasn’t solved the original problem it won’t remain any longer than a month or two at best.
At the time of writing 3 months after the recovery, we are pleased to report that these change in the process have remained. This has led to some truly transformational changes across multiple teams at Panel Built. With Will Beer continuing to meet with that two team leaders, Trey Thomas and Joshua Wallace respectively for just ten minutes a day continuing to help them keep their teams accountable and ensure that overdue are been kept down as lead times continue to get reduced.
Improvements to processes have yielded a number of benefits to the team at Panel Built The first and foremost been a circa $400000 saving in staffing costs. Before this project of work the team were considering increasing their headcount to combat the number of overdue but now, through improvements to process and increases in team morale, they don’t have to.
To ensure that these changes are not just temporary, Will and the team have worked hard to produce Standard Operating Procedures for their projects and Succession Plans to ensure that the team is continuing to evolve into one that allows for their managers to be less hands-on.
The work with Tunley Engineering and Panel Built is continuing, moving on to the next step from recovery to continuous improvement, moving from good to great. Not needing or wanting more than 10 minutes a day to keep things track we expect Panel Built to continue to reap benefits of this project long into the future.
The team at Panel Built, without increasing headcount or investment in new technology have been fundamentally changed to a team that is better equipped to provide high-quality service to their customers on a consistent basis.
The most effective way to evaluate a change is how long it lasts. In any Engineering team, if a change hasn’t solved the original problem it won’t remain any longer than a month or two at best.
At the time of writing 3 months after a recovery project with Will Beer from Tuley Engineering, we are pleased to report that the changes to Panel Builts processes have remained.
This has led to some truly transformational changes across multiple teams at Panel Built. Will has continued to meet with the two team leaders, Trey Thomas and Joshua Wallace respectively, or just ten minutes a day supporting them in their efforts to keep their teams accountable and ensure that overdue are been kept down as lead times continue
Improvements to processes have yielded a number of benefits to the team at Panel Built The first and foremost been a circa $400000 saving in staffing costs. Before this project of work, the team were considering increasing their headcount to combat the number of overdues but now, through improvements to process and increases in team morale, they don’t have to.
To ensure that these changes are not just temporary, Will and the team have worked hard to produce Standard Operating Procedures for their projects and Succession Plans to ensure that the team is continuing to evolve into one that allows for their managers to be less hands-on.
The work with Tunley Engineering and Panel Built is continuing, moving on to the next step from recovery to continuous improvement, moving from making a good team to a great one.
This body of work now only needs 10 minutes a day to keep things track we expect Panel Built to continue to reap the benefits of this project long into the future.
The team at Panel Built, without increasing headcount or investment in new technology have been fundamentally changed to a team that is better equipped to provide high-quality service to their customers on a consistent basis.
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