Creating a Sustainable Business Improvement Programme
The Problem
Airtanker is a consortium of Airbus, Thales, Rolls Royce, Cobham, and Babcock, and is based at Brize Norton. They are responsible for delivering, maintaining and supporting, the tasking of Voyager to provide a cutting-edge air-to-air refueling (AAR) operational capability to the RAF.
The business wanted to improve processes and ways of working, but there was no formal business improvement programme in place to capture ideas or implement them.
The Solution
Our client engaged us to carry out a launch event for the business followed by a short diagnostic piece. We then designed a bespoke training package for a team of selected facilitators and helped them apply their training with three interventions covering; Procurement (supplier onboarding) Service Credits, Crew Rostering using our Rapid Improvement Event approach. After each event, the internal team was assessed and a development plan was put in place to move them towards self-sufficiency. The steering group oversaw the programme and reported back to the executive and board.
The Benefits
The client has now run a number of Rapid Improvement Events over a 12 month period and achieved their target of £500k of benefits from their programme covering aspects such as Supplier-on-Boarding, Service Credits, and Crew Rostering.
Their internal team of four facilitators underwent extensive training in Lean and facilitation techniques and became self-sufficient within nine months from the start of our assignment.