The Company
A WHOLLY OWNED DIVISION OF A MAJOR ELECTRONICS AND INDUSTRIAL GROUP WITH A TURNOVER OF £T50 MILLIUON PER ANNUM, ENGAGED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHLY SPECIALISED SUBSYSTEMS FOR THE DEFENCE AND AEROSPACE MARKET, EMPLOYING 500 STAFF SPREAD OVE R THE UK AND USA.

The Business Problem
Over the past ten years the company had always assumed the role of a sub-contractor with no experience of being a prime contractor. In partnership with a large USA based subcontractor, the division had just been awarded a £ 600 million prime contract with the UK MOD, that would result in the doubling of the turnover over the next 6 years. The division had minimal skills and processes as a prime contractor. In order to meet the tight development timescales a challenging recruitment program was also required.

The Solution
Avangarde Consulting after carrying our a initial assessment, felt that only a radical project focussed organisation would succeed in delivering the project on time and within budget. It was agreed with the Client to form a dedicated project directorate responsible for both internal as well as subcontractor development programmes. The engineering resource in the division was split into a systems group responsible for delivering the total engineering solution and a product group which was tasked with delivering the in-house project development activity. A phased recruitment program was implemented using a combination of contract and permanent staff to match project resource demands. A new organisational structure was developed and implemented which included the appointment of a new first line director who was tasked to implement appropriate internal processes. This included the implementation of a revised project reporting system, the introduction of employee communication programmes and the achievement of IIP (Investors in People)

The Benefits
During the critical development phase of the project every customer milestone was achieved on time and the forecast project margin incrementally improved. Despite two changes of ownership of the USA subcontractor the project team using robust processes maintained tight control of crucial deliveries and costs. Customer relations were consistently good easing negotiations as project issues were dealt with. Two of the newly appointed directors were subsequently promoted to Managing Directors of their own divisions allowing internal succession planning goals to be achieved.