Engineering Programme of Work – Engineering Strategy Doc

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Letter to Branches




No. 681/2014
Ref: PTC/RE/dj/135
Date: 29 October 2014


TO ALL BRANCHES WITH POSTAL MEMBERS


Dear Colleague

RE: Engineering Programme of Work – Engineering Strategy Document

I attach an Engineering Strategy document arising from the Engineering Programme of Work which has been agreed between Royal Mail and CWU.

The strategy document fully reflects the agreed terms of the programme of work and has been circulated to Engineering Representatives.

Any enquiries should be addressed to Ray Ellis’s department, quoting reference PTC/RE/dj/135.
Email address: rellis@cwu.org

Yours sincerely



Ray Ellis,
Assistant Secretary

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Strategy and Road Map for Engineering

Introduction

The Agenda for Growth agreement requires us to jointly develop an ongoing strategy for Engineering which recognises the key role the engineering community will play in the effective deployment and use of automation.
Royal mail and the CWU also commit to work together to ensure we align individuals and collective effort in order to achieve leading performance in all aspects of safety, customer service and quality, workplace standards, organisation and productivity.
In particular this strategy will cover:-
1. Developing and embedding a genuinely collaborative working model that respects the mutual interest and relationship of both Royal Mail and the CWU.
2. Review and agree scenarios impacting on engineering skills, capability and workload due to activity arising from the Agenda for Growth, and the changing dynamic of volumes and products, including where appropriate the use of parcels automation.
3. There is a joint commitment to conclude activity to fully capture engineering workload as agreed in BT2010, through the Standard Maintenance Procedures (SMP) initiative currently in process. This will ensure that the workload impact of machine maintenance, performance maintenance and continuous improvement activities are fully captured and quantified.
4. On-going review of the processes, tools and systems to efficiently manage engineering load and capacity.
5. Agreeing a roadmap that recognises and develops the engineering role, utilising the engineering skill set to optimise machine performance and improve mail centre efficiency, encouraging active involvement in continuous improvement activities and higher level technical tasks.
6. Commitment to on-going support and development of our engineers to meet the changing needs of the role.

1. Collaborative Working

R M Engineering and the CWU TSS Section have for many years benefitted from a very productive and progressive relationship. This relationship has enabled significant progress to be made against previous national agreements including Pay & Modernisation Agreement, Pay & Major Change Agreement and is expected to do likewise through the deployment of the Agenda for Growth agreement.
Alignment with the IR Framework

The engineering structure aligns with the IR Framework as illustrated below with the majority of issues effectively being dealt with at local level.
National Team → National Team [Interpretation/ Clarification]
↑
Process Director → Territory & Local Rep [Stage 3 of the IR Framework]
↑
Plant Manager  →            Territory & Local Rep [Stage 2 of the IR Framework]
↑
Plant Engineering Manager  →            Local Rep [Stage 1 of the IR Framework]

National Team

The National Team consist of senior members from Central Engineering and the CWU TSS Section. This group develop and agree anything relevant to be at this national level will meet no less than 3 times per year but with the ability to call additional meetings as required.
The national team will by request attend the respective sides next level meeting eg. The Advisory Committee meeting as requested for the formal presentation of specific agenda items but also in open forum to provide an opportunity for to put points directly to the senior teams.

Joint working groups

Joint working groups [JWG’s] operate a level below the national team and undertake much of the detailed work to support the national team. The JWG’s are made up Territorial Reps and managers from Central Engineering and meet as required covering such areas as:-
Deployment of iLSM/CSS
Engineering Bonus Scheme
Standard Maintenance Procedures

Joint support

Deployment of changes and initiatives has proven to most successful when it is done so jointly and therefore it is agreed that support can be requested from both Territory and National levels to support local briefings, deployment of initiatives and road shows etc.

2. Scenarios

As part of the process to understand the likely impact on engineering workload the following set of scenarios have been identified which are likely to impact on engineering skills, capability and workload due to activity arising from the Agenda for Growth Agreement, and the changing dynamic of volumes and products.. This is not a definitive list but represents the view at this point in time.
Skills
Process & System automation and Production Control systems.
New automation including Parcels automation and conveyor systems
Process , Production and Mails Operations
Continuous Improvement
Capability
Demographics
Move over to Ops Manager
1:1 process
Workload
Change in equipment numbers and profile
Joint review of TPM
SMP development
Production engineer principle [see point 5 below]
Continuous Improvement

3. Engineering workload

The principles of engineer workload are detailed within the BT2010 agreement. The Machine Maintenance time is developed based on Royal Mails verification of information provided by the original equipment manufacturer with additional time for other activities which come under the heading of Performance Maintenance..
The internal verification is being enhanced by the use of Standard Maintenance Procedures [SMP’s] which will be completed for all machines and covers all possible tasks.
It is the aim through the use of SMP to fully capture and quantify impact of machine maintenance, performance maintenance and continuous improvement activities and both sides are committed to this aim.

4. On-going workload review

Both Royal Mail and the CWU are committed to reviewing the engineering workload and the meeting the aspirations set out in the BT2010 agreement and agreed the SMP process will be the foundation for the development of it. These tools and processes used for capturing work activity will be subject to on-going joint review and will be updated or amended as part of the normal business as usual processes.
It is the intention to fully capture and quantify all time and will include the use of new and existing methods of data capture including SDMM, SMP’s, end of shift reports, Maintenance ledgers and EWO’setc to achieve this.
It is expected that engineers will play a greater role in influencing performance and continuous improvement activity across the entire Mail centre going forward. Examples where this is already taking place will be used to benchmark and help to develop the standard for all sites.

5. Roadmap for Engineering

Both Royal Mail and CWU are jointly committed to the development of a strategy for Engineering which recognises the key role the engineering community will play in the effective deployment and use of automation. At the same time it is also recognised that utilising the engineering skill set to optimise and improve overall mail centre efficiency will be crucial to the success of the organisation going forward.
Mail Centres are becoming more like production lines with systems linking work areas and machinery to optimise productivity already under test. This will no doubt in time progress from a simple A to B conveyor toprocesscontrolled systems which will need engineers at the helm of the operation and directly influencing the day to day decisions.
This principle and a need for engineers to be at the heart of continuous improvement across the mail centre is redefining what we understand to be higher level technical tasksand is fundamental to the aims and aspirations of the Agenda for Growth agreement.
The engineering strategy will therefore be based on building on the traditional responsibilities and developing additionally a production engineering principle; one which truly owns OEE and drives the tempo and pace of the automation.Production engineering is a new conceptand we are jointly committed to examining and developing this direction within Royal Mail.

6. Engineering Development

The possible scenarios detailed above have implications for the knowledge and skills required to successfully undertake the engineer role in the future.
A strong commitment was made in the BT2010 Agreement to up skill and professionalise Mail Centre Engineers and this is still at the heart of the Agenda for Growth Agreement.
Continual Professional Development is a joint commitment between Royal Mail and every engineer; and the CWU are partners with us in this.
The use of the Individual Personal Review [IPR] and the introduction of Engineering Team Coaches are the key to delivering on this pledge as is accreditation with the Engineering Council ECUK.
For the aspirations in the engineering route map and strategy to be successful we need to develop the production engineeringand continuous improvement skills. This is already built into the new Advanced Apprenticeship scheme and needs to be developed now for all engineers. Developing these skills is already progressing in some Mail Centres and we are already seeing Engineers becoming the main Focused Improvement Practitioners for the site.
Benchmarking these sites and establishing the Production engineering principle will help us understand the development needs better and ensure we have the right engineers with the right skills in the right places to lead the organisation forward.