Delivering Excellence Through In-House Maintenance

Provision

Presented By

Glyn Cameron-Branthwaite BSc Eng (Hons) CBIFM Tech IOSH

Common Characteristicsof other IHMP

The Service is shaped around the end user.

Effective Use of Information Technology.

Effective Use of human resource.

Effective performance management.

Talk to benchmarking partners and are self-critical. not self-justifying.

Commercial awareness and acumen.

The Service is shaped around the end user

Flexible hours of operation: Tailored around the reasonable working arrangements of the customer especially

those in full time employment or further education and training. Typically 8am till 8pm Mon to Fri with weekend working on Sat and Sun up-till 1pm.

Majority of jobs completed on first visit using impress van stock: Upper quartile performance and Best practise results in 80% of repairs being

completed on the first visit.

High Levels of Multi-Skilling: Typically 75% of operatives have additional trade competencies.

Appointments for all trades: All operatives are fully allocated appointment slots regardless of trade. This also

includes sub-contractors.

Fast turnaround times for repairs and voids: The most effective IHMP ensures that the average time taken to undertake routine

repairs are within a 10 working day period.

Effective Use of Information Technology

Integrated appointment systems.

Mobile working using PDA’s.

Integrated work planning, job costing and materials procurement.

Robust performance measurement arrangements.

Diagnostic tools.

Effective Use of human resource

(Management and supervision of operatives)

High levels of productivity.

Low levels of sickness.

Skills that match the type of works being undertaken.

Good employer / employee relationship.

Competitive and affordable wages enhanced with benefits packages.

Effective performance management

High degree of self awareness of their performance.

(service and cost)

Relevant warning triggers that action correction.

Effective budget control.

Reasonable job cost. (Benchmarked against other IHMP)

Measure tenant feedback in more than one way.

Common BarriersWhen attempting to deliver excellent financial and operational performance

Existing employment terms and conditions. More focused on productivity and high work volume rather than service

delivery and cost reduction. Uncompetitive level of overhead recovery and a lack of detailed knowledge

of what works actually cost. Support services. High fleet management cost. Poor stores management. Materials procurement. The skill set of operatives. Under performance of operatives. Management capacity and capability. Sickness management. Effective re-sourcing of plant requirements.

Solutions in overcoming these barriers

Existing employment terms and conditionsBarriers

Many IHMT employees are approaching retirement age, and are likely to be on £25,000 plus final salary pension schemes.

Holiday entitlement up to 30 days.

Sickness pay.

Set working hours.

Most of the obstacles can be attributed to outdated terms and conditions of employment. We need to arrive at a solution that simultaneously delivers good employer/employee relations and delivers a service around what the customer expects.

Solutions

Excellent performance should be incentivised. Consider the implementation of a incentive scheme.

Apprentices : how better to build strong foundations than training a new generation through apprenticeships? ‘It changes the dynamics of the business,’

Uncompetitive levels of overhead recovery and a lack of detailed knowledge of what works actually cost.

Solution

Job Costing is the process of tracking the expenses incurred on a job that can be tracked against the original budget, or an estimate for that job. Direct and indirect costs can be assigned to each open job; direct costs include the materials used, transportation costs, any rental equipment required and the associated staff costs for carrying out the work. Indirect costs can be amortised across jobs to give a complete job cost profile.

Actual costs such as payroll, administration and purchases can also be fed into the costing system to reflect actual, real costs and refine the level of charges. The main advantage of tracking this data is that it allows us to build up an accurate cost of works undertaken and improves the estimation for future similar jobs.

Support services

Barriers Linked to outdated provision models which may no longer

meet needs of the current service. Not delivering to budget, time or quality.Solutions Ensure that any service support provision is justified by

conducting a best value review. Ensure that we secure reasonable cost and service

performance from support services, if it is deemed that the service is relevant.

Flexibility to purchase goods from external providers in those areas where internal provision is not cost effective.

High fleet management costBarriers

High cost of fuel.

Vehicle cost.

Vehicle servicing.

Fleet management system.

Green and CO2.

Solutions

Vehicle Procurement method that offers value for money.

(Servicing and tyres included)

Ensure that the procurement method offers flexibility to change specification.

Using low-CO2 vehicles.

Consider acquisition of fleet rather than lease.

Fuel suppliers , go to the market place to achieve best rates. No tie in.

With the high cost of fuel, making the most productive use of our fleet has become a business imperative. Optimising fleet planning mileage and productive use can improve utilisation, reduce costs.

Poor stores managementBarriers Poor management of stock requirements. Unable to cope with capacity and demand of operatives ordering

materials, leading to delays in operatives leaving stores. Poor layout of depot. Security. Performance statistics. Substandard Quality. Stoppages on account.Solutions Review materials used over previous periods and establish which products

are in high usage. Materials ordering to be linked with van stock. Use planned programme product information to establish future

requirements for van stock. Ensure that material specifications are being met via quality auditing and

post inspection.

Materials procurement / Supply ChainBarriers

Not reviewing Materials / Supply Chain cost to ensure that VfM is constantly being achieved.

Solutions

Look for economies of scale through purchasing via national framework.

Internal stores.

Outsourcing to major retailers .

Reduce paper usage internally and enabling e-billing and email usage reports.

Benefits including CSR

Rebate percentage for achieving turnover targets.

Discount rates for customers and staff.

Ability to offer discounted material purchasing to other local providers.

Purchase and use sustainable products.

Only use suppliers whose supply chains do not exploit operatives and do not contribute to the destruction of local eco-systems or human rights abuse.

Evidence of recycling products.

The skill set of operatives

Barriers The skill set and operating practises of the operatives not matching

the service required and affording the flexibility needed. Operatives not being able to drive a vehicle effects the ability to

optimise productive output.Solutions Re-balance the skill set of operatives in order to align it with the

stock and customers requirements for future delivery of maintenance.

Invest in additional trade training for operatives in order to improve the level of multi-skilling and reduce waste.

An incentive to take the driving test.

Under performance of operativesBarriers

Operatives not reaching productive output.

Managers not challenging performance.

IT system unable to measure productive output of the workforce.

Solutions

We need to challenge a poor performer, agree an improvement plan and move forward.

Ensure that IT systems are able to provide performance data that is fully usable as a tool for identifying failure.

Instinct and experience tells us that it will always be the people not the model that will be the critical factor for success. A ‘team’ that is motivated and organised to focus on the needs of service users via their performance should always be the primary aim of the service delivery model.

Management capability

Barriers

Managers and supervisors monitoring rather than managing performance.

Not catching and correcting poor performance in a timely manner.

Low level of awareness regarding optimum performance.

Solutions

Develop managers and supervisors by investing in their training, empowering them to develop and implement their ideas.

Change the prevailing culture highlighting the need to be aware of productive output and optimum performance.

Sickness managementBarriers Existing terms mean that some operatives view sickness

allowance as an extension to leave entitlement. Managers not challenging/scrutinising reasons for sickness.Solutions Sickness to be reported by the individual concerned to a senior

manager, both in the morning and the afternoon stating the exact reason for absence, this needs to be on a daily basis until returning to work.

Back to work interviews conducted by line managers. Placing ownership of the potential additional workload on their colleagues whilst absent from work.

An incentive for staff who take no sick leave in a 12 month period.

Effective re-sourcing of plant requirements

Barriers

Hire costs not being recovered in the job cost.

Plant not being directly available for jobs booked in, egscaffold towers, de-humidifiers, generators ect.

Time taken to collect from hire stations.

Solutions

Consider outright purchase.

Benchmark cost against other hire companies (VfM)

Conclusion In order to be effective, efficient and economical there has to be

competent management, and a workforce who embrace change. By bringing the 3 factors above together and benchmarking

performance against other IHMP, we can ascertain whether an optimal balance exists between all 3. The outcome desired;

1. Low costs.2. High productivity.3. Successful outcomes.

What the IHMP offers is flexibility, where the workforce are able to be deployed to where the immediate demand is. We know that the repairs service is one of the most ‘customer facing’ and the highest incidents of customer contact, so we have to get it right. But the added value from the IHMP should be tangible and measurable in enhancing the customer experience.