IMC-2019 Learning Session 34:21 Minutes

by Lacie Pierre, Accenture

Reliability transformations call for significant investments in capability, process, and supporting tools and enablers. Despite significant investment, many reliability transformations fail when no clear roadmap exists. Should a roadmap exist, organizations often waver on their commitment to value management and longer-term vision for transformation sustainment. A proactive approach to your reliability journey should begin with sustainability.

Management over reliability efforts is key to ensure improvements stay on course in accordance with the overarching business plan. After appointing experienced leader(s) to advocate and manage the reliability journey, the proper cadences and check points need to be established with a clear picture of what the end goal looks like. But what role does sustainment play in the reliability journey? Sustainment is more than following the work plans and adhering to the laid-out cadences. Reliability sustainment involves an enterprise wide culture shift that changes processes and responsibilities at all levels. Foundational and technology improvements can come at a significant cost, so it is important to create expectations on a value management approach and realization timeline. Without having these goals to capture value, the correct level of commitment will not be present and no shift to a reliability culture will occur. Conversations across different levels in the business need to take place to drive alignment on value capture timelines. Throughout the journey and sustainment phase, the value capture progress needs to be consistently monitored to help keep activities on track. Achieving value should consistently drive conversations of improvements.