Control Room Design and Cost Reduction

The Effects of Cost Reduction in Control Room Design IBC Control Room Conference | September 2011 David Watts| Managing Director

Themes of the Presentation
How the economic environment is driving cost reduction
Benefits and risks of consolidation of control rooms
Extending the life of control rooms
Improving efficiency without compromising safety

The Economic Drivers
Budget cuts
Land & property
Assets
Maintenance & support costs
Operational costs
Costs of materials & services
Technology change
...but expectations on service quality higher

The impact
Leaner operations – more with less
Consolidation
Merger
Technology investment – e.g. systems integration
Life stretch

Streamlining Operations
Analysis – where are the opportunities
Likely to be unpopular
Changes in roles
Redundancies
Are there positives for staff?
Can service quality be retained?
Can workload be managed?
Automation of systems might help

Case Study
Analysis of information flows in emergency conditions
Showed the reality
Highlights opportunities for improvement
Facilitated FCC and NR finding the solutions
Communication analysis for Network Rail and First Capital Connect

Consolidation, Co-location & Mergers
Consolidation – reorganise number of small controls into a one or more larger controls usually performing same function
E.g Network Rail closing signal boxes and creating large regional centres
Co-location – accommodating related control functions in the same physical location
E.g. BAA looking at co-location of various Heathrow controls in one central location
Mergers – co-location or more integrated re-organisation of control functions or associated organisations
E.g. Tri-services controls in Emergency Services

Benefits
Close, sell, dispose of property & other assets
Reduction in staff costs
Fewer systems; less support costs
Opportunity for organisational change – get the lean operations too

The pitfalls
Understanding the operations
How do we function now? How might we function differently in the future?
Can they be brought together?
Integration of cultures
Change management
Staff resistance
How to keep the good stuff
Perceptions of different functional groups
Design for those at the coal face
User engagement

Case Study
Multiple groups to get to common operational model
Diverse regional variation
Massive HR impact
Buildings before systems and before operations
Systems design in “you first”
COTS systems with no integration
FiReControl

Technology Change
Short term investment for long term £££ gain
User led – deliver tasks
Avoid unnecessary functions & features
Video walls, 3D mapping, etc
Part of long term strategy
Automation
Keep operator in the loop
Automate the right stuff
What are people bad at?
Open architecture - expandable

Case Study
Rationalise systems
Deal with obsolescence
Better way of working
Integrate stand-alone systems
Designed around user needs, information flow & decision making
Automation to improve performance & increase capacity
Transport for London
Road Tunnel Control

Life Stretch
Small changes to extend life of existing
Systems struggle with parts
Improve working environment
Prioritise spend – max impact

Summary
Economy is catalyst for change
Many options often with real benefits
Clear pitfalls with short term & financial motive
Risk of failure of operational performance & safety
Must involve users in process
Organisational & technological change needs management
Prioritise intervention with max long term benefit

CCD Design & Ergonomics Ltd
95 Southwark Street | London | SE1 0HX
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7593 2900
www.ccd.org.uk

Control Room Design and Cost Reduction

by dpwatts on Sep 30, 2011

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Control Room Design and Cost Reduction — Presentation Transcript