Management Consultancy

From tender to terminal

IDA management consultancy services offer guidance and long-term scalable solutions to companies from the initial tender documents to continued monitoring and improving of efficient operations, as they did for international logistics giant GAC and their client ADNOC. 

When ADNOC planned to move its Borouge polyethylene and polypropylene subsidiary to the newly built Khalifa Port, it wanted to ensure that the new facility would operate at maximum efficiency to support the company’s planned explosive expansion throughout the Middle East and Asia. GAC was ready for the challenge, but brought in Identify Action as a consultant to manage the move. 

Helena Cuenat, Founder and CEO, worked on the project for five years, from tender to highly efficient modern terminal. She said: “When we started the project, the terminal handled 50 containers a day, after five years, it handled 500 a day.” The secret to this success was a set of management tools and measurement processes, brought by Identify Action. 

Cuenat explained: “We were involved from the preparation of the tender. We process mapped the entire solution to operate the port, which GAC used in the successful submission. Being able to give absolute clarity on pricing, by defining the process, working practices and staff requirements, enabled them to win the work.”

Implementing the processes

The team then began the implementation of the new processes in the warehouse. Cuenat explained: “Over the first year, the organisational structure evolved rapidly. However, because we were measuring everything we understood exactly where the changes needed to be made and could adjust the processes.”

Although the basic processes for container handling remained the same, the system became highly automated and completely paperless, with tablets for all staff. Cuenat said: “The legacy process had reams of paper for each container – an inspection report, a health and safety report, a damage report, container photo, etc. These had to be completed in situ, filed and carried around by staff in the warehouses. Papers would not be filed with the offices until the end of each shift, retrieval of information was slow and difficult and required scores of admin staff.” 

The move to a paperless system was introduced in phases and involved retraining and upskilling of existing staff, as well as creating a bespoke software solution for the client. Cuenat explained: “GAC had a system, but it was not designed for tablets. We had someone based at the port for a year, redesigning, refining and customising the system to suit the exact needs of Borouge.”

The new system allowed all information to be live. Scanned pictures, handling instructions and information updates were available instantly to everyone, in a clear digital format. But the implementation was not without its challenges. The warehouse construction meant that the team experienced real problems with Wi-Fi and connectivity. “The solution was dongles,” said Cuenat. “As we were on site, we could find what worked best for the client, and it was the use of dongles on every tablet to ensure a strong consistent connection.”

As well as retraining current staff, IDA undertook recruitment of new team members, definition of job descriptions and integration of the new staff into the team. “We worked with the client on training and coaching of new skills for the warehouse teams – always listening to the feedback from the front line operators,” said Cuenat. “I strongly believe that processes are developed from the bottom up. Those that perform them need to contribute to their creation, as they know what their jobs entail, and they will be the ones required to follow them. By monitoring, measuring and consulting, we were able to continue to tailor the processes to improve performance. There is always flexibility to improve the systems.”

Scalable solutions

Once in place, the processes facilitated the forecast expansion of the Borouge business, improving efficiency and profitability. 

Cuenat said: “We were able to increase from 50 containers a day to 500 per day, yet the number of staff only increased from 80 to 250. We greatly reduced the number of administration staff, and put the control directly in the hands of the operations team.  

“The built-in scalability of the new processes and the ability to measure every KPI meant that we understood our productivity numbers. We knew exactly how many containers per day one forklift operator could manage, so we could manage resources and scale up production in line with expansion forecasts and customer requirements.

“Over the next three years, we continually amended the layouts and size of the location, to optimise both the warehouse capacity and the operational efficiency. The system and staffing evolved, learning was taken on board and adjustments made, giving both us and GAC a very happy client.”