Productivity Reviews

In the Energy world of ever-increasing material and labour costs coupled with a globally increasing competitive environment on the cost of product sold, companies need to search for internal cost reductions.

Maintenance and Turnaround costs are one of the main areas of focus for energy companies, for several reasons. In energy plants, maintenance costs are typically the third largest expenditure after raw material and energy costs: most plants spend between £30 million – £60 million a year on maintenance alone.

A key area is the improvement of labour productivity and how the productivity improvements can be commercialised. To address and take control of productivity, thereby achieving reductions in maintenance costs, CS can help our clients focus on accurate measurement, predictability, and continuous improvement.

Expert advice for informed decisions

Cheshire Solutions (CS) have vast experience in improving productivity in a plant environment, having delivered up to 30% on-site cost savings. We have achieved this by utilising our global norms to develop a local contract factor, scrutinising suppliers’ efficiency and supporting a structured approach to implement Schedule of Norm Contracts. We support both Client and Contractor to work collectively to improve productivity, ideally without having an impact on contractor profit margins.

We can offer expertise in improving Maintenance Efficiency and productivity by providing:

– Random Statistical Tool Time (RSTT) studies for clients at their local sites during normal maintenance working. This allows us to review how efficient their site is and develop a local contract factor.
– The commercialization of the productivity improvements identified by the implementation of supporting NORM Contracting strategies.

Key Areas of Value Addition

Productivity: Define and Measure Specific Activities

Activity Breakdown

Set Time Standards

With vast experience of delivering talent and project consultancy solutions globally to the world’s largest energy organisations, Steve has an exceptional depth of understanding of doing business in the most challenging of locations. Having been accountable to deliver global recruitment and business development strategies, he has implemented innovative ideas to improve group performance and profitability. He has experience of leading tenders for some of the largest contracts in the recruitment industry and his commercial awareness and negotiation skills are excellent.

Steve is a very outgoing person with excellent communication skills, has always enjoyed being part of a successful team, and founded Cheshire Solutions in 2022.

Areas of Expertise:

Recruitment
Business Development
Project Delivery
Leadership and People Management
Commercial negotiations
Compliance and Operations

Activity Breakdown: Begin by splitting out and clearly defining the specific activities that a maintenance crew or contractor must perform to achieve a deliverable. This detailed breakdown allows for more precise measurement and management of each task.

Set Time Standards: Establish time standards for each activity. These standards should be based on historical data, best practices, and industry benchmarks, accounting for factors like task complexity, crew skill level, and equipment condition.

Account for Variations with a ‘Contract Factor’

Identify Variables

Develop a ‘Contract Factor’

Steve is a very outgoing person with excellent communication skills, has always enjoyed being part of a successful team, and founded Cheshire Solutions in 2022.

Areas of Expertise:

Recruitment
Business Development
Project Delivery
Leadership and People Management
Commercial negotiations
Compliance and Operations

Identify Variables: Recognize that there are inherent variations in task completion times due to factors such as weather conditions, health and safety regulations specific to the country, site accessibility, and contractor efficiency.

Develop a ‘Contract Factor’: Create a contract factor that rolls together these variations. This factor is a multiplier applied to the work activity norms, adjusting the estimated time to account for the identified variables.

Identify ‘Contract Factor’ reduction targets to be implemented during the term of the contract to facilitate year-on-year cost reductions.

Use Global Norms for Prediction and Global Benchmarking

Global Norms Comparison

Predict Productivity

Incentivize Contractors

Steve is a very outgoing person with excellent communication skills, has always enjoyed being part of a successful team, and founded Cheshire Solutions in 2022.

Areas of Expertise:

Recruitment
Business Development
Project Delivery
Leadership and People Management
Commercial negotiations
Compliance and Operations

Global Norms Comparison: By applying the contract factor to your activity norms, we can compare performance against our global norms which represent a more accurate prediction of productivity levels across different scenarios, clients, sites and locations, which helps identify existing best practices which can be implemented on site to reduce cost .

Predict Productivity: Use our/your global norms to predict productivity levels more accurately. This helps in planning, budgeting, and resource allocation.

Incentivize Contractors: These norms can also be used to set performance benchmarks for contractors. Contractors can be incentivized based on their ability to meet or exceed these benchmarks, ensuring alignment with refinery goals.

Continuous Improvement

Benchmark Review

Feedback Loop

Training and Development

Steve is a very outgoing person with excellent communication skills, has always enjoyed being part of a successful team, and founded Cheshire Solutions in 2022.

Areas of Expertise:

Recruitment
Business Development
Project Delivery
Leadership and People Management
Commercial negotiations
Compliance and Operations

Benchmark Review: Regularly review and update the benchmarks to reflect changes in technology, contractor efficiency, and other relevant factors.

Feedback Loop: Establish a feedback loop where actual performance data is compared against the predicted norms, allowing for adjustments to the contract factor and continuous improvement in productivity measures.

Training and Development: Use insights from these comparisons to identify areas where contractors or crews may need additional training or where processes can be optimized.

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By following this structured approach, you can take a more scientific and data-driven approach to managing maintenance productivity and contractors’ efficiency, leading to significant cost savings and operational efficiencies.