possible service problems for customers

[Escapee]

I was told last night, that ntl are currently conducting an audit of all "spare" network plant and equipment located in technician/engineers vehicles and buildings. I was told anyone who lies and keeps equipment back/hidden could face disciplinary action, as this equipment will all be returned to a central store.

The offshoot of this is that an engineer attending a network outage for any service, will have to diagnose the faulty piece of equipment and then request one to be sent out via DHL...... No this is not a late April fools joke as far as I know!

I wonder how quick the turnaround is, and I wonder if they have thought about the cost of an engineer having to be called out/return a second time when the replacement equipment actually arrives on site?

I think it just goes to show what a bad financial state ntl is in, the guys said they are looking at every corner to cut costs. Some regions are desaperately short of spare equipment, and this is their only answer.

There appears to be no thought towards the service level for customers who will be affected by much longer service outages whilst waiting for equipment to arrive from a central stores via a parcel firm.

Bean counters strike again.

[greencreeper]

I can see the business perspective, but I thought "boot stock" was part and parcel of every engineer's equipment - the essential bits that are often used. The trouble with sending parts via courier, and we do it at my company, is that occasionally the part doesn't arrive, arrives all battered (and useless), or the part turns up the day after the engineer visited and the engineer has to revisit. Just ends up costing more money.

[purenuman]

Originally Posted by greencreeper

I can see the business perspective, but I thought "boot stock" was part and parcel of every engineer's equipment - the essential bits that are often used. The trouble with sending parts via courier, and we do it at my company, is that occasionally the part doesn't arrive, arrives all battered (and useless), or the part turns up the day after the engineer visited and the engineer has to revisit. Just ends up costing more money.

But would it cost more than having and transporting vans full of the spares that are not used and may be required else where...??

If you can't afford (or want) to fully stock all the vehicles then the same problem of the engineer has to revisit still happens...Like (as I understand) it does now.

It also means that DHL can deliver the part very cheaply compared to an engineer being called off a job to deliver or go and collect.

They must have looked in to it and think it is worth doing.

If they run it properly I think all it does is relieves the technician/engineers of delivery duties and saves the cost of fully stocked vans transporting stock that only a small percentage of is used.

Realistically I think the idea is that you diagnose a problem> order & book del of part> go to next job to receive previously booked del or diagnose> return to previous job when del is due...

I've used DHL a few times and they have been very professional and reliable....... More so than NTL

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by purenuman

But would it cost more than having and transporting vans full of the spares that are not used and may be required else where...??

If you can't afford (or want) to fully stock all the vehicles then the same problem of the engineer has to revisit still happens...Like (as I understand) it does now.

It also means that DHL can deliver the part very cheaply compared to an engineer being called off a job to deliver or go and collect.

They must have looked in to it and think it is worth doing.

If they run it properly I think all it does is relieves the technician/engineers of delivery duties and saves the cost of fully stocked vans transporting stock that only a small percentage of is used.

Realistically I think the idea is that you diagnose a problem> order & book del of part> go to next job to receive previously booked del or diagnose> return to previous job when del is due...

I've used DHL a few times and they have been very professional and reliable....... More so than NTL

The big problem is the spares held in he region will be returned to a central location, this means the part to put an area back on service possibly affecting a few thousand customers will be in the hands of a parcel firm and a stores located hundreds of miles away. Also an engineer very often wants to look at a piece of gear to make sure its the right part, there are so many different bits of kit of various vintage even at regional level. I can just imagine the wrong part being delivered x amount of hours after the engineer has requested it, I think this decision has been made to cut cost because regions have not been allowed to order spares or even able to get faulty gear repaired in many instances.

Imagine an engineer at 2am in the morning diagnosing a fault and then having to get a parcel firm to deliver the required part, or I guess the same could happen at peak veiwing times during a large sporting event. I can see the reason behind the central stores for stock/consumable items, but I find a central stores for maintenance spares very hard to believe.

I think this is another great idea from the bean counters to cut cost and put further stress on an already fed up team at the sharp end.

[Chris W]

If engineers don't need to carry anything that means they can travel by motorbike and this would increase response times in london

[purenuman]

Originally Posted by Escapee

The big problem is the spares held in he region will be returned to a central location, this means the part to put an area back on service possibly affecting a few thousand customers will be in the hands of a parcel firm and a stores located hundreds of miles away. Also an engineer very often wants to look at a piece of gear to make sure its the right part, there are so many different bits of kit of various vintage even at regional level. I can just imagine the wrong part being delivered x amount of hours after the engineer has requested it, I think this decision has been made to cut cost because regions have not been allowed to order spares or even able to get faulty gear repaired in many instances.

Imagine an engineer at 2am in the morning diagnosing a fault and then having to get a parcel firm to deliver the required part, or I guess the same could happen at peak veiwing times during a large sporting event. I can see the reason behind the central stores for stock/consumable items, but I find a central stores for maintenance spares very hard to believe.

I think this is another great idea from the bean counters to cut cost and put further stress on an already fed up team at the sharp end.

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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Originally Posted by Escapee

Some regions are desaperately short of spare equipment, and this is their only answer.

While engineers in other areas are driving round with one in their hoard...??

[slowcoach]

Maybe it's planned for the DHL driver to deliver and fit the parts, maybe ntl will become part of DHL soon.

[wsf86]

It's again a balance between customer service and cost of delivery. Ntl can see a cost saving by centralising parts/stores that is greater than the fallout from increased outages times and reduced customer service.

We must remember that the balance sheet and the shareholders are the ONLY important considerations in any decisions made in ntl. Customers and staff are secondary (and a long way behind at that!)

P.S. This IS happening!

[Escapee]

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...??

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.

a similar thing happened with British Gas. We have a service contract on our boiler, at one time we had a local depot, so an technician needing a spare part would nip down there & requisition it, come back & fit it - job done.

Now the depot has been centralised & parts are delivered by mail/courier - so that means an initial visit to diagnose a fault, then a second to fit the spare, once it has been delivered.

They did spend a lot of money on training & equipment, though - each technician has a laptop with schematics & part numbers of the equipment they will be attending - spares are ordered online, via the laptop.

- what has this meant - in my experience, the technicians carry around a selection of commonly used spares - 'those are always going, mate, I've got one in the van'.... best of both worlds???

[DWW]

I think this is more likely to be aimed at reducing equipment churn and stop fraud via chipped boxes etc, the "spare" equipment being left on the technicians id on their database not actually in the van. When i worked for Telewest a similar thing was done to try to reduce the stock that appeared on the technicians ids but was not on the van due to various issues when various departments don't do all they should with regards to stock control. We had to do van audits vitually every other week and it got to be a real time wasting exercise and right pain in the arse.

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by DWW

I think this is more likely to be aimed at reducing equipment churn and stop fraud via chipped boxes etc, the "spare" equipment being left on the technicians id on their database not actually in the van. When i worked for Telewest a similar thing was done to try to reduce the stock that appeared on the technicians ids but was not on the van due to various issues when various departments don't do all they should with regards to stock control. We had to do van audits vitually every other week and it got to be a real time wasting exercise and right pain in the arse.

No as far as I am aware its network plant equipment and hubsite, possibly Headend equipment as well ?

I can see a need for tighter control on boxes, but then again rumours suggest the unsafest place for them to be is in the stores.

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

Originally Posted by Chris W

If engineers don't need to carry anything that means they can travel by motorbike and this would increase response times in london

increase

[DWW]

Escapee, if its network plant then this is barmy, will mean guys hanging around and getting p*ssed off, from other posts i've seen morale is pretty low already and the network guys are some of the most valuable people NTL employ so hopefully this is just a very short term thing.

[9083]

NTL are looking at nationalising he whole system. A network engineer in Scotland 'should' be doing the same as one in London.

Some areas have spares others dont, by doing a national stock check this should be the start of everyone working to the same procedures.

I know from experience that most areas carry a fully stocked call-out kit which is passed to who-ever is on call.