The Support Organization: A Strategic and Value Adding Force

Abstract: Background: Systecon is a leading European consultancy and software company within system logistics, system reliability, maintenance and Life Cycle Cost (LCC)
analysis. Historically the military and military suppliers have accounted for
the majority of the commissions, but over time other industries have realized
that effective maintenance and logistic support can greatly enhance the
overall effectiveness of a system and at the same time lower the costs.
Hence, more and more companies outside the military are requesting Systecon’s expertise and software tools. One of the industries that consult Systecon on support issues is the railway sector. Although the basic support
theories are general, every industry has special prerequisites and requirements. Systecon initiated this master’s project to analyze and identify
improvements to the company’s current practices for developing support strategies for public transport companies.
Purpose: The purpose of this master’s thesis is to thoroughly analyze the support situation for rail transit vehicles. This includes a description of a typical public transport case and Systecon’s engagement. The analyses should result in the development of a structured approach that improves and extends Systecon’s current practice. The thesis also describes how Systecon’s
software should be integrated with the suggested approach.
Methodology: The study is based on a typical public transport case. The case is developed
from public transport cases that Systecon is engaged in, but it is not referring to a specific real-life case. Simulation studies are performed in order to gain understanding of complex interrelationships and to study the
consequence of various proposed solutions. The result is presented in a framework that systematically describes the concepts required to achieve a
strategic and value driven support organization. The framework embraces
concepts from many different theories, where each theory contributes with a
different perspective. The ambition is to create a general framework, since it should apply to any type of public transport system.
Conclusions: The public transport case described in this thesis shows that the maintenance
function has a large impact on the public transport company’s profitability and ability to achieve its corporate mission. This means that the maintenance function has a crucial strategic role in the organization, which calls for a market and value driven management. Hence the traditional cost focused approach based on traditional LCC and logistic support concepts is not sufficient when designing the support organization for a public transport system. This approach must be extended to embrace the support
organization’s full potential as a strategic and value adding force. This thesis presents a framework for developing a strategic and value driven support organization. The framework relies on established maintenance management theories such as Life Cycle Profit (LCP) and Value Driven Maintenance
(VDM). In addition to this the framework also takes inspiration from production management theories, which provides a strong strategic focus. Systecon’s software suite has proven to have most of the necessary
functionalities required to facilitate the development of a strategic and value
driven support organization. However, what must be improved is the integrated use of the tools.