Sometimes a fresh look at a problem by new people sheds light on the hidden obvious. Sounds like a platitude; and maybe it is. We all, however, grow inbred in our attitudes and perspectives and can benefit by standing on the other side of the platform. Not easy to do, as I discovered again this evening while dealing with a family issue of much emotion: should the youngest kids be expected to clean up the mass and mess of fallen plumbs on the walkway to the front door? My son-in-law demanded they should. Their mothers objected. The kids tried to get out of the work by fake and feign. I sat drinking a beer, bewildered by the dispute. Then I intervened–what else is an opinionated grandfather to do? I persuaded my daughters to let the “men,” a son-in-law and three boys, deal with it by force of will and power of personality. I reckoned that in “real life,” they would have to face obdurate bosses and workers, so they might as well start now. And obdurate they all were; but after some shouting and negotiating, the plumbs were picked up, the walkway cleaned, the boys restored to their PayStation2 privileges, and we sat down to desert happy.
On the basis of this family “crisis,” I wondered if these companies whose websites I came across this week by sidetracks too devious to detail could bring a fresh perspective to your mine, your obdurate situations, and the knotty issues that bedevil you? Here are links to their websites. Maybe they, and you, will do us the favor of commenting more on this irreverent thought and on the potential for involving these consultants in your projects. (By way of disclosure: I have received nothing from any of these companies to post what follows. I write about them because they came to my attention, I was interested in what I read, and I believe you too may be interested. )
The Highland Group whose website has many case histories involving solution of industry problems ranging from employee performance through supply chain analysis. They provide services related to Process Excellence; Project Management; Productivity; Revenue Growth; and Mergers and Acquisitions. Regarding the latter they provide these services: Developing strategy related to acquisitions and divestitures; Preparing a business for sale (Seller’s Due Diligence); Reviewing a business for potential acquisition (Buyer’s Due Diligence); and Integrating acquisitions (Buyer’s quick synergy capture). Surely there is a mine out there that could benefit from a fresh look by such folk?
Then there is Integrated Control and Technology. I quote from their site re their services: “From Plant Automation to Fleet management, Legislative compliance auditing and design to Machine Guidance, Information system deployment to Electrical Power engineering we are dedicated to solving the Mining and related industries problems through the use of cutting edge technology.”
Finally from Vancouver are folk I will surely look up once I get back to the city, namely Goto Sargent. I copied this from their site as I could not resist its force and verve:
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Goto Sargent provides key services to facilitate and improve expected outcomes for engineering and construction projects.
Today’s project environment is risky due to a shortage of qualified resources, excessive price escalation and limited supply chain capacities. New strategies are necessary to avoid budget and schedule blowouts, to realize margins and to meet incentive based targets regardless of the delivery model or the contracting party.
Whether it’s managing your project from a global execution perspective or firefighting a particular problem, our involvement is guaranteed to improve your outcome and give you the best chance of success.
Our experience is based on a long history of executing large industrial projects in North America, Australia, South America and Asia. Our approach is “fit for purpose” inherited from delivering our own lump sum EPC projects and not a cost-plus based mentality. We will take ownership of your situation providing the optimum services for the desired outcome with the knowledge and expertise from having resolved similar problems on our own projects.
Our strategies may be implemented during any project phase but ideally our involvement is from the outset of your project in order to limit the potential for problems during execution and to reduce and/or enhance the opportunities for claims and contract equitable adjustments. If you have a particular problem on your project, we are prepared to make an initial assessment (at our cost), develop a strategy and implement a process. You can use us to advise you and coach your team or to directly manage the process with our own key resources. In any event we will ensure that your actions and communications maintain your contractual rights and emerging problems are quickly identified and resolved.
If a claims situation arises we will develop a strategy based on the merits and the potential cost/benefit. We will involve only the necessary resources at the appropriate stage and are prepared to manage the outcome including negotiating a settlement or managing dispute resolution on your behalf.
Our principals have been directly involved in EPC projects for 20+ years, have drafted and implemented global project execution processes and procedures, have pursued, defended and settled major claims and have held senior line management responsibilities.
