Tram Refurbishment Program Acceleration
Production management system enables project control and stability
- 3 minutes read
Our ASX-listed client, Australia’s largest manufacturer and maintainer of railway rolling stock, was delivering the most extensive tram refurbishment program in the world. Due to the complexity of the work and delays caused by the extent of additional scope activity, the project had become significantly stressed. The project was further complicated by the contractor not being the OEM and lacking prior tram refurbishment experience.
The $230m baseline contract involved a series of refurbishment works to 450 trams, which constitute 85% of the entire fleet that carries 200 million passengers a year on the world’s largest tram network. The works include carriage body remediation, upgrade and overhaul of critical subsystems, driver cab and lighting upgrades, and an internal and external aesthetic refresh.
42%
100%
$350K
The approach
ORBIZ was engaged in facilitating a performance turnaround activity to help resolve several critical issues, including the need for engineering scope clarity, material shortages, workforce capacity and capability constraints, and a lack of production controls and effective reporting.
Developing cross-functional improvement plans to align the departmental teams on shared objectives, priorities and timelines was facilitated. These plans aligned to critical project KPIs linked back to the contract.
The project delivery team managed the execution and governance of the improvement plans through a project Visual Performance Centre (VPC) in a project management office setting.
The solutions
The improvement plans were scheduled in three delivery phases.
Phase 1 – Production Control
The engagement initially focused on stabilising the production program by addressing the problems causing significant delays.
A series of critical issues were identified and addressed following a comprehensive operational review:
- Lineside production VPCs were developed and introduced to improve production control and create forums for resource planning and problem-solving activity.
- A VPC to improve communication between production and supply through increased material delivery control and reporting was designed and implemented.
- Delivery metrics were introduced at each production station to measure the availability of materials and increase supply team accountability.
Phase 2 – Project Control
With production stabilised, the focus moved to establishing a VPC to improve communication and governance at the leadership level and overall project delivery. An existing VPC was revised to include new metrics and functional improvement plans owned by each department leader.
Governance meetings were improved and held twice weekly to increase accountability and provide an opportunity for escalation and support.
Phase 3 – Lean Manufacturing
With increased project control, the engagement concentrated on removing inefficiencies from the production process by applying lean manufacturing principles.
ORBIZ facilitated a series of process observations and data analysis to identify and quantify opportunities for improvement. The team prioritised opportunities based on cost and ease of implementation versus return on investment. A program was developed to implement the prioritised opportunities, and the production teams were supported to deliver and own the implementation.
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