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