Roadstone Set to Score Productivity Benefits through blackswan Solution

Roadstone, the leading manufacturer and supplier of building materials in Ireland, has developed an industry first Key Performance Indicator (KPI) scorecard for its operations to help to improve productivity throughout its 60+ sites across Ireland, and maintain its position at the cutting edge of industry in Ireland.  The potential financial benefits of this system have even seen its parent company CRH, the international materials building group are looking at implementing this leading edge Blackswan solution across its entire operations, spanning 35 countries and employing 93,500 people.

Clients results: 

blackswan, which combines people, process and innovation solutions to maximise the performance of global companies, worked with the senior management team to develop a scorecard which would not only see an improvement in results, but also the underlying processes to make sure improvements are maximised.

In developing the scorecard, blackswan and Roadstone identified the Castlebar site as a pilot, a site which was one of the top performing across the country, and set about a programme of identifying a series of KPI’s which would have the largest productivity gains across its operations.

About CRH: 

Headquartered in Ireland, CRH operates in 35 countries, employing approximately 93,500 people, focusing on three closely related core businesses:

• Primary materials
• Value-added building products
• Specialist building materials distribution

The company has consistently delivered superior long-term growth in total shareholder return, averaging over 17% per annum since the Group was formed in 1970.

Development Strategy:

Shortly after CRH’s foundation in 1970 the Board set a clear strategy for the development of the Group which, while it has evolved over the years, is still broadly applicable today. CRH’s development strategy is based on the following:

• Stick to core businesses in building materials
• Invest at 'home'; be the low cost market leader
• Develop 'overseas'; create platforms for future growth
• Negotiate deals that meet the sellers’ and CRH’s needs
• Devolved development teams reporting to regional and product group managers
• Rigorous approach to evaluation, approval and review
• Generally mid-sized deals augmented from time to time with some larger transactions
• Objective is to maintain and develop a balanced portfolio across regions, products and construction sectors
• Focus on performance and growth

The Challenge: 

Continually looking at ways of improving its operations, Roadstone was keen to develop a non-financial performance scorecard to identify ways of improving efficiency and cost effectiveness across its sites. 

The blackswan solution:

During the trial a possible 140 KPIs for the site’s operations were considered, but following ongoing consultation with managers based at other sites, approximately 70 were identified as being critical to the performance of its business, 15-20 per each distinct operation – Concrete, Stone, Blacktop and Block. These KPIs included the volume output per hour and mixing costs in its Concrete division through to energy usage and haulage earnings in its Blacktop operation.

Further refinement of the process with Roadstone’s senior management culminated in blackswan developing the Measurement and Performance System (MAPS™).  MAPS, an IT based system to aid the effective gathering, storing and reporting of information was then tested and validated at the Castlebar site.

Currently, MAPS is being rolled out to a further 18 sites across Ireland, where data will be collated for one month, before each site is set specific improvement targets in-line with the specific operating conditions at their site.  In addition, following a presentation of MAPS to the senior management of CRH, the scorecard will be eventually transitioned and implemented across the CRH Group of companies.

Quote:

Comments Tom Healy, (Financial Director) at Roadstone: “We were keen to implement a scorecard which would offer sustained long term improvement to our operations, which is why such importance was placed on the solution changing the underlying processes.  In addition, we also wanted our team to be involved in the development and implementation process, to ensure the system can be effectively managed going forward, blackswan has provided a first class training package.”

Says Colm Lowndes, (Project Implementation Manager) at blackswan: “Initial analysis of the Castlebar site data indicates a number of productivity gains and efficiency savings.  We’re currently working with Roadstone on the roll out of MAPS, and we’re looking forward to putting a measurable financial figure against the impact of MAPS on its operations.”