The MRO sector is hugely important, and very often overlooked. It exists, almost invisible in the background, to keep capital assets in service, ready for operation.

With the financial pressures of the global economy ever more severe, the role that MRO plays within our economy becomes ever more important. Asset life has to be increased on equipment already in service, but perhaps more importantly, new capital projects simply cannot afford the 'service float' equipment and assets that we have been used to in the past.

This combination means that the turnaround time for MRO operations has become of paramount importance. We have seen many MRO businesses having to promise fast turn around times in order to win new contracts that they simply do not know how to achieve in practice.

The MRO training and knowledge transfer that we can provide addresses this problem. The solutions we can provide can halve repair downtime, without needing colossal investment in capacity or 'float' stocks.

The MRO environment is unique in many respects. It is primarily driven by 'failure demand' and hence subject to a high degree of demand fluctuation. You cannot start on the repair process until the primary asset comes back for repair. The process then not only needs manufacturing and re-manufacturing operations on many components, but needs to be preceded by a stripdown project and followed by a re-assembly project.

Any one of these steps is hard enough to manage by itself, let alone in combination, and this is where the focusing ability of constraints management - or TOC - can play a very key role.

The MRO solutions we provide link together three key operational aspects into a consistent 'whole'. We bring knowledge and training in Operations Flow Management for the manufacturing and re-manufacturing phases, project and programme management for the stripdown and re-assembly phases, and supply chain management to synchronise the flow of replacement purchased components and sub-assemblies.

We are also highly experienced in the concept of "TLS" which stands for "Theory of Constraints, Lean and Six-Sigma", a term coined by the US Department of Defense (DoD) who use these principles exclusively for the management of their own extensive MRO facilities. The core essence within TLS is the bringing together of the TOC principles of operations flow management, project management and supply chain synchronisation all combined with the problem solving tools of Lean and Six-Sigma.

Underlying all of this, and implicit in what the DoD have done in their MRO operations, is good leadership. We have programmes which can bring together the strategic, tactical and operational levels of leadership, and the practical experience to teach this in the context of an MRO environment.

If you would like to explore how our programmes can help you in enhancing the performance of your MRO operation then please explore the links to the five major components of what we provide on the right side of this page.

If any of the scenarios and questions below ring true, then follow the links in the box titles to find out how we can help you.

"We never seem to be able to finish one project before a new one needs starting"
"How can we finish projects on time when our budgets keep getting cut?"
"We finished the project on time, but only by robbing components from another project"
"Keeping resources focused on the right tasks is a constant headache"
"If only we knew which area of the project to focus on then maybe we could stop running around like headless chickens"

"We're always waiting for components to finish in production"
"With lead times as long as this we'll never hit our downtime targets"
"I seem to spend all my time fire-fighting and rescheduling"
"We need to be competitive on price, but profit levels are falling - we don't get enough repaired equipment out of the door"
"Our internal efficiencies are good - so why is our Due Date performance so dire?"
"Our last improvement project didn't work as well as we expected....maybe we focused on the wrong area?"

"We've missed yet another project delivery deadline because key components were out-of-stock"
"Lead times are getting ever shorter which places huge pressure on schedules to suppliers"
"Finance want me to cut costs by reducing our stock levels, but if I do that, how will we be able to meet demand?"
"The forecasts we have to work to are hopelessly inaccurate"
"Even though we're using our ERP system and a raft of spreadsheets, our purchasing and production plans are all over the place"

"I think we've got problems nobody else has - where can I find guidance?"
"How can I inspire my staff so that they buy-in to the changes we need to make?"
"We're finding it difficult to make decisions"
"We have to improve our performance even though our budgets are under pressure"
"How can I align the different areas of my organisation so that we're all working towards the right goal?"

"These day-to-day niggles are getting in the way of our real work"
"How can I help my team members work better together - we seem to spend so much time arguing!"
"My staff agreed to these changes, but now they're resisting them. What can I do?"
"I'd like to have an effective way of sorting out internal grievances which doesn't alienate both sides."

For this aspect we cover two distinct areas, the first is that of conflict resolution itself, focusing on the tools we use that have been developed over the last twenty years to great effect. Secondly we run mediation and listening skills workshops for team leaders and managers who are often called upon to mediate and for which the ability to develop listening skills is paramount.