OBSERVATION
The client had recognised that the design review process was a significant obstacle in effectively delivering this $12b program due to its lack of control and associated inefficiency. Due to these issues, the client forecast that the process would cause considerable delays and overspend.
Alliance contracting was the method of procurement to deliver this program with several alliances engaged and involving a multitude of corporate entity stakeholders. As is customary in the alliance model, the major parties had incentives to improve their performance throughout the contract.
In early work packages, the efficiency of the design process was inconsistent. One characteristic identified was the common problem of management silos. These silos led to a break down in communications between the design team and the reviewers resulting in a slow pace of throughput.
The design packages were complex, with each pack generating many workflows that different stakeholders must review at each stage of design. Some signaling packages containing a single drawing could take up to 100-hours to review.
ORIENTATION
Our team were engaged in facilitating a week-long Breakthrough Event to engage stakeholders from across the program to examine the design review process and identify opportunities for improvement. The event was attended by a broad range of more than fifty individual stakeholders who interfaced with the design review process across the program.
OPTIMISATION
The activity involved a detailed study of the current state process to identify all communication failures, bottlenecks in information flow and generally inefficient activities.
Once the group had a shared vision of the current situation, they collaborated to agree on changes to create an improved future state.
To achieve the future state, a Transformation Plan containing forty-two separate initiatives was developed.
IMPACT
- This event enabled the industry alignment that significantly streamlined the design process.
- The number of comments generated through the design process was drastically reduced.
- Innovation generated by this event led to cost savings estimated to be tens of millions of dollars.
