News & Research: Client Successes

Case Study: New Business Process Improvement

ScottMadden assisted a gas distribution company to establish the project management structure and tools needed to implement construction and maintenance business process improvements.

• The client competes in an environment of increasing costs, with additional price pressures from unprecedented commodity costs
• Faced with earnings pressure and increased regulatory scrutiny, it was imperative that the client identify and implement operations business process improvements
  
• Operations were conducted through separate engineering, marketing, and construction and maintenance departments. The Construction & Maintenance Department was further divided into three entirely separate and unique field districts. Organizational divisions discouraged teamwork and communication
• Efficiency was further hindered by dependence on manual, paper-driven processes and lack of automation
• Construction crew foremen were spending most of their time on administrative tasks and very little time supervising their crews
• The client's foremen had minimal project management or team leadership skills

• Streamlined the process of completing new business jobs, from initiation to close out
• Established a cross-functional new business team with engineering, marketing, and construction and maintenance team members that would be responsible for all new business installations
• Implemented automated job tracking and field data capture systems to increase data access and accuracy and to decrease the administrative burden of data capture
• Developed training and identified opportunities so key project players could successfully execute their assigned tasks, some of which would take up to 18 months to complete

• Business process improvements are expected to yield more predictable, on-time performance for customers
  
• Construction crew foremen will be able to spend less time administrating and more time supervising
• The estimated savings from increased productivity and other labor benefits is expected to top $3 million (NPV over 10 years) and the estimated IRR is more than 50%
• Team and project leads have been trained to effectively manage their project role without consulting support