The Operational Excellence

Mandate: Transforming the

Utilities Supply Chain

We recently attended 2016s Utility Week Live Conference, where we gained good insight
into the ways in which Utilities organisations and their partners are being pressurised to
improve operational performance. A number of the capabilities needed to adapt to the
future market, including being operationally excellent, are not those traditionally associated
with the utilities sector. Here we examine the ways in which an industry steeped in old
practices can embrace change and use this age of transformation to gain competitive
advantage and long term benefits.
If we took away one thing from the conference, its that an inevitable change is about to
happen quickly. If companies do not get on board, they will most definitely be left behind.
Threats of regulation made it very apparent that the energy and water sectors are
expected to co-operate towards change and innovation in the industry. Meanwhile,
regulators of both the water and the energy sectors stressed that innovations should be
customer focussed, but the real advantages are there for the market too.
So, how can an organisation embrace innovation? What does that have to do with supply
chain efficiencies and delivery?

Cost Saving and Efficiencies

Working in collaboration with suppliers and multi-faceted service providers that can provide
a modular offering, enables companies to pick and choose elements of the supply chain
that challenge them most. By outsourcing their non-core competencies, operational
expenditure can be reduced and cost savings invested elsewhere in the organisation to
provide a solution focussed on the customer experience.
Adopting a collaborative approach makes way for disruptive thinking and new
perspectives. Collaboration is required to develop a responsive and flexible business
model that can adapt to change, and turn transitions in the industry into competitive
advantage - something that holds water!

Select your Solutions

Think of the modular approach to supply chain management less Frankensteins monster,
more a cherry pick of your most required services, enabling specialists to take care of the
trickier elements of your organisation at a competitive rate. Collaboration with service
providers supports this modular approach by adding functionality, flexibility and streamlined
processes, as well as creating a customised supply chain, unique to that organisation and
regardless of industry type.

SMART Metering
Thanks to environmental pressures from the EU, the government has mandated that every
home is to be fitted with a SMART Meter by 2020; thats 26 million homes to get to!The
infrastructure to support the distribution and logistics of SMART meters, as well as the post
installation maintenance, has been refined by relatively few organisations because of its
infancy.
The roll-out of SMART Metering will be the biggest national infrastructure project of our
lifetimes and support to the FSEs (Field Service Engineers) will be paramount to ensuring
that the customer experience is not compromised but enhanced.
Outsourcing the supply chain during transitional times can provide risk management
benefits by providing organisations with consistency and quality of service in order to
perform beyond industry expectations. This helps to ensure that the customer and supply
chain is not affected as a result of this organisational change.

Resilience

Our attitude towards resilience has evolved from simply risk reduction to our ability to cope
with, and recover from, what is now assumed the inevitable. This could mean anything
from maintaining a business as usual approach during a crisis, or coping with the effects
of disruption at minimal cost and disruption to the organisation and their customers.
Whilst many of these scenarios are low probability, the cost implication should they occur
is extremely high. For example, the estimated costs of Londons total water supply failure
would be 7-10billion... per week!
With financial damage a considerable threat to the industry, crisis planning is paramount to
ensure that a safe to fail contingency plan is effective. The critical challenge is ensuring
that the customers are affected as little as possible; whether this is by getting FSEs onsite
at the right time, or simply down to good communications. This requires strategic planning,
crisis management and a great deal of flexibility when it is most needed. Flexibility and
dynamic thinking is just one element of smart supply chain management, and ensuring that
budgets and targets are met at the same time is another.

Your Supply Chain Specialists

TVS SCS are supply chain management specialists with extensive experience in the UK
Utilities market. Having formed strong partnerships with the likes of United Utilities, Anglian
Water and Electricity North West, and thanks to a back history of intelligent solutions and
competitive costing, TVS have fast become an industry leading provider of 4PL and 5PL
supply chain management.
TVS SCS values of teamwork and innovation are echoed in their ability to provide cost
effective and intelligent solutions to their customers. To speak to a member of our team,
please don't hesitate to get in touch.