The measurement of success for turnarounds and turnaround managers is an ever-shifting paradigm. Few have summarized the issue as well as business guru Torben Rick: “Companies most likely to be successful in making change work to their advantage are the ones that no longer view change as an isolated event to be managed, but as a constant opportunity to evolve the business.”
In the old days, if one possessed the technical skills and leadership ability to execute such a complicated task as a major turnaround, he or she was heralded a success and few questions were asked. Worker injuries and hurt feelings basically were considered costs of doing business. Improvements in safety standards raised the bar to executing turnarounds without injury. The bar was further raised by advancements in project controls to executing turnarounds within tightly controlled budgets with allowances for discovery and contingency. These days, the truly successful turnaround manager must perform all the above criteria while simultaneously identifying means of driving down costs rather than yielding to established benchmarks and inflation creep.
One cost saver that has not yet lived up to its true potential is the idea of reusable job plans. In some places, the idea has not gained a footing, and in other places, the concept has been welcomed but poorly managed. The concept is a sound one, tested and proved in some very challenging environments, but it is also a situation where “an unguarded strength can be a double weakness.” While some sites are enjoying significant cost reductions for planning, others are telling a different story: They are frustrated not only by the quality of their so-called reusable plans but also by how inattentively they are sometimes used. Without careful management, reusable plans may result in lackluster field visits, less familiarity with overall job details and the propagation of errors in future turnarounds. No matter how perfect a site believes its reusable job plans are, they still must be reviewed every turnaround, and a robust field visit must be conducted for every job. Experience tells us there are too many small things with big consequences that are subject to being missed.
A cost saver that seems to be gaining in popularity presently is the concept of bundling services. With etymological footprints back to the 1800s, this is not at all a new concept. Insurance companies, for instance, have been bundling home and auto policies for decades to offer sizeable savings to customers. The telecommunications industry offers bundled packages. The fast food industry, the software industry and many others have adopted this strategy. Previously, in the turnaround industry, this concept did not have widespread feasibility because there were not many companies that had that sort of “across the board” expertise. Typically, the nearest we came was hiring a general contractor that bundled suppliers together (without bundled pricing) and managed them for a fee. With a few strategic mergers of late, the idea has become more feasible, gaining ground and pointing to a fresh source of savings. Not surprisingly, a 2012 J.D. Powers study indicated higher customer satisfaction among users of bundled services. After all, the bundled customers represent larger losses if they are not kept happy.
In our increasingly competitive environment, the score card is not only grading change management but “change readiness.” This goes beyond a turnaround manager being able to navigate through changes when they come. This is about how effective a manager is at creating a culture that expects and embraces constructive change. As with many famed scientists, not all Charles Darwin’s theories proved to be correct. But he was certainly ahead of his time and well on point when he stated, “It’s not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change.”
For more information, contact Mike Bischoff or Ray Smith at (281) 461-9340, e-mail sales@onpoint-us.com or visit www.onpoint-us.com.
