A Tiger Team approach to getting it right

A focus on innovation and a Tiger Team approach to solving complex challenges have produced tangible productivity gains for civil engineering contractor Graham, innovation director Emer Murnaghan OBE told the recent GIRI and CQIC meeting in Edinburgh on error reduction and quality improvement in construction.

Emer explained that after an independent review found that while Graham had all the right cultures and attitudes, it wasn’t moving in the innovation space, the business made three fundamental changes: 

• appointing someone who would be responsible for innovation, 
• securing buy-in from the senior team, and
• joining innovation networks.

Focus on productivity 

“Our approach has been very intentional and pragmatic,” said Emer. “We want to solve the challenges we face as a business – climate and carbon, social value, building user safety – and prioritise these to match our client concerns. This is why we chose productivity as our starting point.”

Civil Engineering MD Leo Martin tasked each member of his senior team with an innovation challenge and appointed Emer as innovation director. “It is my job to collaborate internally while engaging externally with innovation networks such as i3P (the Infrastructure Industry Innovation Partnership), GIRI, the ICE and the CQIC, bringing that learning back into the business and shaping our approach.”

One strategy Graham adopted was the formation of Tiger Teams. These are multi-disciplinary groups of experts brought together to solve tough and often urgent engineering challenges. Graham currently has four Tiger Teams and Emer explained that their success is measured by metrics such as demonstrable productivity gains, reduced carbon, and reduced health and safety risks.

How have they performed? Emer shared a case study of the Tiger Team led by marine director Paul Scott, which tackled the tie rod installation at the South Bank Quay project, a strategic decision based on the element of the project that could deliver the greatest benefit.

South Bank Quay project

South Bank Quay on the river Tees outside Middlesbrough involved the construction of 450m of operational quay. The quay wall sits over 20m above the dredge level and the anchorage is provided by the tie rods. These are 150mm diameter steel rods that anchor the quay wall to the anchor wall. Each is over 38m long.

“There were 166 tie rods at South Bank Quay. This is a job that is challenging, time-consuming and repetitive. Tie rods are also a common requirement when constructing harbour infrastructure so there would be ample opportunity to share the learning with future projects.”

The Tiger Team was made up of representatives from the Graham project team alongside the sub-contractor responsible for the installation, the tie rod manufacturer, and other supply chain partners. “It took some encouragement to get everyone engaged, but it soon became apparent to the team that the solutions being proposed would benefit everyone.”

The Tiger Team started with a desktop study mapping out the installation project that drew on experience within the team and across the wider business. This found opportunities for minor tweaks – marginal gains – to the planned operation that would otherwise not have been picked up. The team then agreed how to measure the effectiveness of the on-site operations, which was achieved through a combination of timelapse videos and what was essentially a time and motion study.

Emer explains that this process was carried out twice at the commencement of the activity. Once the initial findings were compiled and analysed, the Tiger Team identified areas for improvement and planned the implementation. The operation was again monitored and measured once improvements were made. “At this point around 50% of the tie rods were in place and the study provided hard metrics to inform the analysis of the operation both before and after we made those changes.”

The outcomes

Emer says that the overall duration of the implementation was reduced from 185 minutes to 91 minutes per installation – a 51% improvement. “That’s at least a 25% improvement over and above what you would normally expect to see in a task repeated 166 times.”

There was also a 37% reduction in the number of tasks. “One specific improvement – laying out the component parts of the tie rod system where they would be installed – resulted in the last four activities being reduced from 30 minutes to 13.5 mins. This is a great example of how fresh eyes and the Tiger Team approach helped stimulate ideas and critical thinking.”

In total, 14 days were saved on the programme as well as 18 days of plant usage for the tie rod installation. “This equates to a reduction in health and safety exposure equivalent to 31 days per operative. We also reduced the installation’s carbon footprint by 50,000 tonnes and saved an estimated £230,000. It shows that if we focus on the aspects that will make the biggest different, it can be gamechanger.

“The collaborative approach was very positive. There was a real buzz around the project. People wanted to know what happened next, what else they could do, and were coming with ideas – and that’s what you want. None of us have the monopoly on ideas. Everyone on the team can have great ideas.”

Why did it work? “Culture – creating the environment where innovation is nurtured. People – empowering your people to get involved and be creative. And results. We need to see the evidence that something works as this is what drives confidence and enthusiasm in the Tiger Team approach.”