Field Resource and Operational Value Chain Optimisation

BMA are using their Decision Intelligence platform, Decisio, to revolutionise field resource and operational planning.

Whilst traditional tools take a siloed approach to planning, we help our Clients take an adaptive, whole systems approach. We enable connected decision making across strategic, tactical and operational planning horizons, as well as across business functions and geographies, reliably delivering operational cost reductions of between 5 and 25%.

Our solutions enable the simultaneous optimisation of human resources, operational activity, asset utilisation and materials management across your end-to-end value chain. This ability to move beyond siloed decision making and visualise, analyse and optimise your value chain uncovers hidden value and insights which improves performance and reduces costs.

Our Resource Optimisation solution is sector agnostic and is readily implemented in a wide range of industries including utilities, offshore wind, highways and rail.

Historically organisations have reduced the complexity involved in field resource management, work planning and stock management activities by breaking down the problem into geographic or functional silos. However, this inevitably leads to inefficiencies, particularly at sub-area boundaries.

A Whole Systems approach to resource, work and stock planning overcomes this limitation by looking holistically at total incoming jobs (planned and unplanned), available field resources (including contractors) and materials. This ensures that the right person and equipment are in the right place, at the right time, for the right job.

For a typical company this would mean considering the whole geographic area they cover, across all job types and all available resources and equipment. All this, with the aim of minimising cost, maximising productivity and maximising customer satisfaction.

Further, in order to respond to the dynamic nature of field operations (e.g. unplanned work) such a Systems approach also needs to be Adaptive. As our world becomes more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, being able to determine the ‘next best optimal’ on an hourly, daily or weekly basis (as appropriate) is becoming an essential business capability.

Enabled by BMA’s leading edge Decision Intelligence technology, an Adaptive Systems Planning capability allows companies to move beyond inefficient, siloed approaches to resource, inventory and work planning. By taking a whole systems approach our clients typically reduce operational costs by 5-25% whilst improving performance.

DECISIO - Enterprise Decision Support & Optimisation Studio

Operational and Resource Strategy 

• Optimise number and locations of service points (e.g. depots) to deliver operational activity.
• Quantify impact of network design on operational efficiency and levels of service.
• Optimise resource strategy: in-house vs contractor; resource locations; resource levels and skills.
• Scenario analysis of alternative working methods e.g. Covid-related hybrid working.

Operations Optimisation 

• Optimise end-2-end value chain operational activity including job allocation to a site level.
• Optimise material management and stocking options; which items are best stocked in-house, supplier stocked or sourced efficiently (taking into account criticality and supplier/services lead times), such as: Stock levels; Safety stock; Replenishment
• Optimise resource and skills planning: productivity, seasonality, levels of service, recruitment, training and skills balancing.
• Inform business continuity planning and stress testing.

Resource Planning 

• Optimise weekly to daily resource scheduling and inventory planning.
• Dynamic resource planning – rapidly determine ‘next best optimal’, responding to permitting, unplanned events etc.

Benefits of an adaptive systems approach to resource planning

BMA’s Adaptive Systems Planning toolkit delivers a resource planning capability that is more:

• Connected across strategic, tactical and operational planning horizons ensuring coordinated and effective decision-making.
• Contextual, meaning decisions are optimised for multiple objective functions. For example, balancing cost minimisation, against revenue maximisation whilst ensuring required service levels.
• Continuous, so that decision making is both timely and agile, being able to maximise new opportunities and respond quickly to disruptions.

The specific benefits of using BMA’s Adaptive Systems Planning resource optimisation tool include:

• Optimising the trade-offs for end-to-end system costs and the varying impact that a number of different service hubs will have on the company’s ability to meet required service levels.
• Understanding the profile of skills required to address preventative as well as emergency repairs in the most efficient way, ensuring the correct blend of skills and resources are made available where and when required.
• Realising and quantifying the longer-term benefit of investing in skills training on operational cost reduction, service level improvements and system resilience.
• Reducing cross service hub competition for human resources, tools and parts as the system considers all elements of the job.
• Improving performance and resource utilisation by reducing job “lost time”, duplicate work and unnecessary travel.
• As the BMA systems approach connects long-term, medium-term and short-term planning in a single solution, ensuring agreed levels of service can be sustained as service levels increase over the medium to longer term.
• Testing and assuring resourcing strategies against future contextual changes.
• The benefits of moving to the BMA systems modelling approach has consistently delivered a 5-25% OPEX cost reduction in combination with a 10-20 % improvement in operational performance and customer service.