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Originally Posted by purenuman
I know all about the logistics of an operation like this, and problems of.
Just trying to explain what they may be trying to achieve and nobody can say it won't work until they know exactly what NTLs plans are (If they are more than rumour)...
An efficiently run parts delivery system with everything else being reorganised to fit around it will be better than many thousands of pounds worth of parts permanently on the road when each engineer will only need a small percentage of it on a daily/weekly basis. Many large companies are doing similar things....
Remember nobody has any idea how this would work or if it is going to happen....... It would be very easy to presume ordered parts would arrive 'Next Day' or so, but remember DHL have a huge network of buildings with vehicles permanently on the move..... We can all guess but why can't we be optimistic??
One of the biggest obstacles to dragging a company like NTL in to the real world and make them efficient is the 'It'll never work', 'It always goes wrong' and 'They don't know what they are dong' attitude without even considering the positive aspects of what is trying to be achieved.....
I've seen many a company (admittedly much smaller than NTL) fail spectacularly because the staff resisted change without even understanding what was going on....... I'm not saying that is the way people at NTL are .... just that change should not be dismissed because a rough outline of a plan sounds wrong, less efficient or harder work. 
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While engineers in other areas are driving round with one in their hoard...??
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I think it sounds great from a bean counter point of view, however as you say an engineer in one area could be driving around with a load of spares, whilst another area has next to none. From the point of view of a company still with financial problems ie: not making enough profit to run the business in a professional manner, it makes perfect sense. I know South Wales had a lot of spares a while ago that they couldn't send back to the manufacturer for repair, the guys were stripping down amplifiers and interchanging parts in a mix and match effort to keep the systems running.
The networks as we all know are made up from systems of varying vintages bought from many smaller companies, each area has different equipment from different vendors. Take for example the original CableTel areas, there were approved vendors for equipment so not even all the CableTel areas decided on the same vendor or type.
An area with a glut of spares will not definately help an area with no spares if they are centralised for the above reasons. It doesn't really matter how quick DHL can ship a replacement a stores located hundreds of miles away will take a lot longer to deliver the item. What happens when the wrong part is delivered? This used to happen when requesting items to be brought by people who worked on the equipment on a daily basis, no-one can be kidded into thinking this will improve efficiency, but everyone involved at the coalface will appreciate how the scheme will leave paying customers without service for much extended periods, and put further pressure and more out of hours work for the already low morale employees, all so ntl can continue to run the show on a shoe string.