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air transport Factors Respondents (%) IT system 32 Equipment installation 27 Consolidation of sites 11 Building construction 6 Impact of new technology on people 6 Failure of people to work on time 6 Equipment not performing to specification 6 Extended handover time 6 Figure 2: Reasons for disruption to the ongoing operation. Service Level system, the equipment installation, the building construction and the impact of new technology on people. This range of reasons indicates the multidisciplinary nature of such projects. Operational Planning The key question that remains is whether company management is fully aware of the importance of operational planning and preparations for the go live period. In our survey, only one company mentioned they had a detailed plan for the ongoing operation and this company experienced no service level dip. In the case of Terminal 5, the Chief Executive of British Airways advised the Transport Select Committee that the building programme was, in fact, not 100% complete and this compromised testing. At the same hearing, the Chief Executive of the British Airports Authority advised that 28 of the terminal’s 275 lifts were not operational on day one. It was reported that a discussion took place as to whether to scale down or postpone the opening but, presumably, it was 18 ‘Go Live’ Implentation Date Figure 3: Service levels dip, potentially arising from warehouse automation projects. Desired Level Original Level Time decided that the risk of a significant disruption was very low. With hindsight, the Chief Executive of British Airways stated that he regretted that decision and the one major lesson learned was that the planned 6 month testing period should not have been compromised. This should act as a valuable lesson for all management teams involved in major projects. Potential Risk to Customer Service The potential effect of automation projects on customer service levels can be depicted by a ‘service level dip’ (Figure 3). The intention of the project is often to improve customer service levels but, in the short-term, it needs to be recognized that there is a significant risk of a reduction in those service levels — unless the go live period receives the senior management attention that it deserves. Success Factors A key measure of success for any project must be what customers experience immediately after the go live date. There are three important lessons from our research and from the experience at Terminal 5. First, a key component of any project should be a detailed plan of exactly how the operation will continue through the go live period. This should include risk assessments of what could go wrong in this critical period and contingency plans for every potential eventuality. Secondly, the testing, training and commissioning programme should be seen as an essential part of the project. It is not something that can be ‘squeezed’ if other elements of the project overrun. Finally, the ramp-up of the operations should be realistic. ‘Teething problems’ and ‘snagging’ are normal in all large infrastructure projects and, therefore, the scale of the operation should be increased gradually so that these problems can be rectified without affecting customer service. Managers are frequently bullish about projects and, often, it is regarded as being negative to add a word of caution or realism to the discussions. A letter by Alan Braithwaite, visiting professor at Cranfield School of Management, to the Financial Times stated that: “T5 shows a troubling lack of corporate memory and learning,” as there have been many prior instances of such events. All managers need to consider how to incorporate these important lessons from the past into their projects. • For more information Dr Peter Baker Senior Lecturer in Logistics and Supply Chain Management Cranfield School of Management Cranfield, Bedford MK43 0AL, UK. T. +44 1234 751 122 peter.baker@cranfield.ac.uk www.som.cranfield.ac.uk www.scemagazine.com may/June 2009
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