Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce plc operates in four global markets
- Civil aerospace
- Defence aerospace
- Marine
- Energy
It is investing in technology and capability that can be exploited in each of these sectors. The success of these products is demonstrated by the company’s rapid and substantial gains in market share over recent years. Rolls-Royce’s customer base comprises more than 500 airlines, 4,000 corporate customers and 160 armed forces. See: www.rolls-royce.com.
Costs, improvement and culture
The objective of the outsourcing project was more than just a reduction in costs. Document services are very important to Rolls-Royce’s effectiveness, therefore, they wanted an intelligent partner that was able to introduce process improvements and technological innovations throughout the life of the contract.
More importantly, the document services function included over 80 employees. It was imperative that the cultural fit between buyer and provider was right to ensure staff motivation and satisfaction. Océ’s commitment to its people, was closely aligned to Rolls-Royce’s needs.
After a comprehensive tender review process, Océ Business Services were appointed and awarded a seven year contract.
Choosing Océ: service delivered
After the transfer process was complete, Océ Business Services set about implementing a document strategy that included:
- Centralised document production
- Wide format document management
- Lithographic print procurement
- Language translations
- Technical libraries
Océ introduced standardised operational approaches to each of the locations, ensuring that best practices were applied across the sites. ‘It’s about taking a holistic approach to document services’, says Andy Norman, Rolls-Royce Regional Project Manager.
Rolls-Royce also had an existing contract with a third party provider of equipment. This contract was included in the overall document services contract and was novated cross to Océ. Océ solved Rolls-Royce’s problem of 80% overcapacity and reduced this fleet by 100 machines. Furthermore, in response to the downturn in the aerospace industry, Océ reduced its contracted services in proportion to Rolls-Royce’s needs.This rationalisation enabled Rolls-Royce to achieve cost savings of over € 735,000 More importantly, it provides Rolls-Royce to have a flexible solution, adaptable to changing requirements.
Partners with common goal
Rolls-Royce looked to reduce administration costs by consolidating their suppliers. Recently, Rolls-Royce has rationalised its supplier base in document production from 50 to just four. This enables Rolls-Royce to form meaningful, long term partnerships with suppliers that are able to work with them to achieve a common goal. Improving information transfer is one of them. ‘We see great potential in the ability to digitise our information and deliver that worldwide’, says Liz Bax, Rolls-Royce General Services manager. Océ has implemented an archiving strategy to digitise drawings and has already completed four million. This has enabled space savings and higher speed of transfer.
Ensuring a smooth transition
The contract involved transferring 86 Rolls-Royce employees across to Océ. Many of them had worked for Rolls-Royce for most of their working lives. These people were understandably apprehensive.. However, Océ listened to their concerns and allayed their fears. ‘The cultural fit between Rolls-Royce and Océ Business Services is very good’, states Liz Bax. Océ commitment to staff development is formalised in the form of accreditation to the Investors in People award. Océ believes that people, are the key to success.
Continuous Improvement to exceed expectations
“Océ has outperformed the service we were expecting and is bringing innovation to the organisation”, says Liz Bax. We have also reduced the cost of document services by over £2m in two years, in line with Rolls-Royce’s requirements. |
Solution at Rolls-Royce Aerospace
