Case Studies
Click on each of the titles below to read the case study

Managing change in development quality	Improving hard FM reactive maintenance
Mission Critical Facilitation and Coaching

Managing Change in Development Quality A multinational company building power plants had launched a major new product that was not performing to specification and had a concern that this was an indication of general deficiencies in their Product Development Process. They asked us to develop/deliver a training programme to teach the design engineering teams how to assess the status of each of the other 160 ongoing developments. The client wanted the teams to evaluate projects other than their own so the programme focussed on Knowledge Management and Building Acceptance as well as Process Management and Risk Assessment. The training workshop was delivered more than 20 times and the resulting product assessments ensured that no further products were released with design defects. As a result of the success of the programme the client asked us to design a similar workshop for their Project Managers as a precursor to a full assessment programme for existing construction projects. A new large gas turbine was released with significant product problems (this information is in the public domain) and sold as part of 78 power plants before the scale of the problem was fully known When recognised the company was concerned that the Product Development Process that they used had "allowed" a product to be released in this state The client initiated a programme of improvements called "Product Development Quality" (PDQ) with two main areas of focus Improve the existing Product Development Process with more rigorous checks between the phases e.g. what needs to be in place before a product can "pass" the Concept Gate and move to detailed development Assess the status of the 160 ongoing developments in case there needs to be immediate remedial action. This was the area that Thornbury was involved in The PDQ Assessors course that Thornbury developed was co-delivered by Thornbury and the client. Between the end of 2000 and the end of 2002 some 350 people were trained in process/product assessment from all businesses. A further phase trained people involved in the development of base technology. Benefits from this programme: All development Gate Reviews required input from an assessment team external to the product. Over time this became the major tool to give management their decision basis. Assessment reports give completely impartial input and the act of assessing enables development teams to feel ownership of the entire technology portfolio not just their own piece. As the assessments are done in advance of the Gate Reviews there is an opportunity for any issues raised to be dealt with in advance of the formal review. As a result of this the percentage of Gate Reviews passed first time has increased dramatically.

Improving Hard FM Reactive Maintenance At Thornbury we have recently have applied a "systems thinking" improvement methodology to reactive maintenance; with the hard work and commitment of our Client's* team and collaboration with their client, we have truly transformed levels of performance. The chart below shows how end-to-end delivery times have been reduced. Interestingly, performance has continued to improve long after we "left them to it". As one of our principles is to "transfer capability" we were particularly heartened by this. Concurrent with the reduction in delivery times our client also enjoyed significant improvement in achieved margins, reduced health and safety incident rate, and improved staff morale and commitment (as measured by Group-wide survey). This is achieved by focusing attention on doing those things that the customer truly values (exceptionally well), and eliminating or at least reducing those which are not valued, thus service improves, delays are reduced and costs fall. Also the people involved in delivering the service rediscovered their joy in work; they are engaged more of the time delivering what the customer wants and spend less time being frustrated by those activities that they know are a waste of time. The concept of a reduction in cost resulting from better service is both counter-intuitive and a direct challenge to conventional management, but if we are able to change the way we think, we have the opportunity to realise benefits far in excess of those we imagined possible with a conventional way of thinking. * A FTSE 100 Service Company providing Facilities Management, across the Public and Private Sectors.

Mission Critical Facilitation and Coaching The project to design and build two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy presented significant challenges. A consortium was formed, made up of major organisations which, under other circumstances might be competitors. They faced the dilemma of how to work together effectively on this nationally important project without compromising the broader issues of on-going commercial confidentiality. We were initially contracted by a key member of the consortium to facilitate a succession of workshops with the primary objective of enabling the member organisations of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance to develop trust and teamwork during the design phase. The resulting improvement assisted in the clarity of the design and costings for the build responsibilities for the members of the consortium. Subsequent engagements with this global organisation have so far included providing coaching support for Directors of business units, and facilitating a strategic change programme for a UK-based subsidiary to effect a 180-degree change of direction, including processes, skills and behaviours. To date, a total of six consultants from the Thornbury team have been supporting this client.