Lean London

Viewed as fractious and inefficient, the London Underground (LU) Station Upgrades team was worn down by bureaucratic procedures with a reputation for cost overruns.

Formerly part of Metronet and latterly subsumed into LU, the team is responsible for the upgrading and modernisation of more than 150 stations on the underground network.

A lack of belief in the ability of the workforce left most managers despondent. They were all too aware of the need for change, but doubtful the teams could rise to the challenge. Red tape stifled improvement ideas and positive outcomes were considered to be out of reach. Ownership of projects wasnt the norm and attribution of blame and low morale were common.

Previous attempts to change this situation had ran into a wall of apathy and a paradigm that informs staff that nothing can change, things will always be this way, and we dont have the time to get better at what we do.

The perception of the team needed to change, what was required was a new way of working.

Getting lean
A Lean Transformation Programme was devised, which focused on shifting the negative mindset and giving front-line staff the power to change the processes they work within every day to streamline procedures and take some of the frustration out of the job.

The management team realised that many of the internal processes were more than 125 years old. There was considerable room for improvement within these systems to provide cost savings and efficiencies.

We realised that a lot of what we did involved paper processes, which could be infuriating, take weeks and didnt always add value to the end product, says Jim Abbatt, London Undergrounds lean sustainability architect.

This became the guiding principle behind the Lean Transformation Programme and sits at the core of all the improvement activities delivered by the staff doing the job on the front line.

The vision was clear, the reality of delivery, however, was very challenging. Clear positive sponsorship of the programme was the teams first issue.
It was decided that, to get backing, the team would run a Lean awareness session for the senior managers and directors. Jim says: This was critical to ensure the leadership knew the trajectory of the programme and the need to personally champion the outputs and benefits rather than block changes to traditional approaches.

Once sponsorship was secured, the team started to rollout Lean Champions courses, where colleagues were taught about lean construction tools, management behaviours and authority to take ownership of business improvements. 

Lean champions demonstrated their personal commitment to improving the business by delegating their day jobs for the duration of the course, enabling them to fully engage with the outcomes.

One of the most powerful tools demonstrated during the course was process mapping, the ability to quickly visualise the steps of a process and identify problem areas really hit home with the project management teams.

The time between process mapping and making the changes is only a matter of days, so staff made an immediate positive impact and felt they were making a huge difference, says Daniel Agutter, project manager at London Underground. There are normally so many barriers to making things better and cheaper. It is also difficult to change processes when working in the public sector, but giving staff the power to do it in a matter of days is infectious and people start to challenge more and more.

As everybody within the programme, irrespective of grade, experienced the course it has created a common language of waste removal and a shared purpose of process improvement. Accountability for delivery now sits with the appropriate individual.  

Breakthrough events
A powerful demonstration of the change in ownership swiftly became evident in improvement workshops, known internally as a Lean Breakthrough Event (LBE).

Held over the course of a number of weeks, the focus areas were selected by the staff involved, allowing them to tackle the biggest issues in their day-to-day role.

The courses were designed to eliminate waste and led to significant cost savings. Graeme Shaw, head of London Undergrounds Northern Line Extension explains: Finding 30 per cent savings in three years can seem like an insurmountable problem, and you usually end up getting rid of 30 per cent of your staff, which doesnt achieve anything.

By looking at the process mapping, we often find that somewhere between 90 and 95 per cent of what we did in our procedures could be described as waste it didnt add any value.

This is quite common in manufacturing, so when you look at it like that, cutting 30 per cent looks much more achievable.

Empowering people
Although the financial savings might initially seem to be the programmes biggest and most measurable benefit, the improvement in staff satisfaction and morale has created a better working environment and more motivated colleagues.

Saving money is important but this programme is really about empowering people, says Graeme. Making people believe they can change their own environment for the better, their opinion is worthy and their jobs easier will make things faster, cheaper and create a better place to work.

Graeme cites examples of those who have already benefited from the scheme, and the positive impact they have had on the overall working environment. Some people are absolutely transformed by the course. It tends to be the people who have been the biggest blockers in the business, those who have been there the longest time and from experience believe they cant make a difference, so when they find out they can, they feel empowered.

It also has a big impact on the most junior people because everyone is treated the same on the course, so suddenly their opinion is as valid.

The training and post-course workshop activities of 278 people have resulted in 11m of savings to date.

One team has identified annual savings of 72,475 through streamlining the risk review process. Another department has reduced delays in handover time to the maintenance division, saving 400,000 for every month delay avoided. Elsewhere a group has worked to improve the scoping of tube escalator refurbishment work, saving 170,000 a year.

Culture change
The programme has been a pilot for culture change within the wider LU organisation. A business-wide rollout of the approach is currently under review. The hope is that the model, if repeated, will maximise the development opportunities for staff, helping them become more engaged in the process they are responsible for and encourage improvement across the board.

People say when they come into the building it feels different. I have huge pride in that and the transformation of staff who are delivering cultural change in an organisation where many didnt believe that was possible, says Graeme.

It just shows that people have the energy; they just need the encouragement and opportunity to decide their own destiny and make a difference.

This article first appeared in Project magazine. APM members can read all feature articles from Project magazine over recent years by accessing the Project magazine archive.

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