Sue Williams of Hexagon Consultants Shares the Importance of Strategic Expertise for Future Success
I’ve been in the industry coming up to 30 years, though I don’t like to admit that too often,” begins Sue Williams, Managing Director, Hexagon Consultants. “I started out in the automotive sector when operations were logistics based rather than centred on the more modern supply chain. I began my career as a planner and then moved into various roles in supply chain and operations. I worked in the motorsport sector for a while and then moved into a broad range of industries, specialising in inventory, demand management, planning and supply chain design in complex business environments, such as defense, aerospace, and oil and gas, among others, before becoming part of Hexagon Consultants nine years ago. In fact, we recently marked our nine-year anniversary.”
Problem solvers
Hexagon Consultants was formed in 2015 with a focus on practical solutions that improve overall performance. Since its inception, the company has built a network of experts capable of solving complex organisational problems. Sue is Hexagon Consultants’ supply chain and operations expert.
“We’re based out of Leeds,” she continues, “more recently, I was asked to join the Vaccine Task Force to lead the supply chain risk and resilience team and the inbound planning team for the vaccine. So, that was something I don’t think I’ll ever experience again, but something very unusual and unique in my working life. On a usual day-to-day basis however, Hexagon Consultants works with businesses to fix internal challenges or improve performance. We like to work alongside our client teams to identify potential barriers to growth or performance improvement, and then work through not just the diagnostic phase but also the actual support and delivery of any change programmes.
“My business partner, Peter Ahye, is CEO, and we previously worked together at a company called Pattonair. We were leaving at the same time and decided to do something together rather than go off and do something individually. We work with an expert range of associates who are all deeply experienced in their fields. We use a combination of diagnostics to get to the root causes of clients’ issues and then our industry experience and technology help solve problems or improve performance to drive growth,” she explains.
Experience and capability
“Currently, I think there are a few critical issues affecting the construction sector, including rising costs and inflationary pressures, material shortages and delays, labour shortages and, even more so now, increased regulations. In terms of solutions, I believe the real opportunities lie in leveraging technology and making the most of the more modern building information modelling techniques and digital twins. In terms of data and analytics, it’s about really understanding what’s driving some of the problems and leveraging the information and technology to solve the issues. Also, from my traditional supply chain lens, I think it’s crucial to consider the total cost of managing the whole supply chain, with an emphasis on planning and understanding what the operation needs to deliver and how to coordinate and optimise that,” Sue shares.
“Partnerships and collaborations are critical in this sector. The construction supply chain is generally very fragmented. As such, we must think about leveraging partnerships and collaborations to squeeze cost out of the supply chain by exploring alternative materials and methods, working together to look for opportunities to enhance efficiency, and reducing reliance on traditional labour; all with the aim of lowering overall costs as well as supporting the sustainability agenda.
“Our business model is all about experienced people adding capacity, capability and value. An example of Hexagon Consultants’ approach in action was when we built the business case and programme, managed through to construction, of one of the UK’s key nuclear submarine infrastructure projects, providing the programme director, finance expert, procurement specialist, engineering resource and a construction project manager to the client team. We worked with them over an extended period to successfully deliver that project.
“Another example is the completion of a proof of concept with HS1, the high-speed rail line, to assess whether we could translate an enterprise digital twin from the aerospace industry and adapt it to the rail sector. To do this we had to establish a deep level of understanding and engagement across the entire Network Rail organisation. We completed that work within three months. Quite often, what we find is that companies have the ambition to do certain work, but they just either don’t have the capacity or they can’t release their own skilled resource to do so without potentially compromising their day-to-day operations. So, that’s where we step in and fill the gap because we have the experience and capability to get involved rather than simply advise.”
Implementing organisational change requires employee buy-in, as Sue explains: “From my point of view, the biggest success is when you understand the impact of change on different employees and you’re able to communicate the reason for change in a way that enables them to relate it to their role or activity. Generic communications don’t enable people to understand how change impacts them. It’s not a one-size-fits-all engagement and communication strategy and there’s also a real need to avoid business speak and jargon.
“The other key element is listening. Communication should be two ways and involve listening and responding to people’s concerns so that they feel heard and understood. Communication should also be ongoing so that people are kept up to date on progress and feel part of the process.”
Huge potential
A key driving force behind Hexagon Consultants’ approach to business improvement is assessing whether the implementation of any organisational change will deliver value. “If you consider the implementation of AI, for example,” Sue continues, “from digital twins through to predictive analytics for demand forecasting and risk management, there are numerous applications that can add value in a construction setting. The important thing though is to make sure any adoption of those technologies is appropriate and not in response to hype. Across many industries, including construction, the difficulty can often lie in people not knowing where to start or how best to apply AI in their organisation. It’s crucial to be clear about the problem you’re trying to solve, making sure that AI is the right answer to that problem and then making sure you pick the right tool for the job. There’s a lot of options out there, but you need to start small and balance innovation with practicality.
“This kind of approach is also pertinent to supply chain optimisation. It’s not simply a case of tackling symptoms but rather identifying the root cause of any pain points. We’ve recently been working with a company that’s been struggling with on-time delivery and subsequent negative customer feedback. By mapping out the process, the data, the products and the information flows, we’ve been able to identify several issues contributing to that poor performance. As such, we’re currently working through a process with them to address those issues and solve the problem in the longer term. This kind of mapping is also useful for supply chain risk and resilience assessment, where your objective is prevention rather than cure. Getting an understanding of your supply chain, thinking about where risk may occur and starting to think about your mitigation strategies ahead of there actually being a problem means that if there is an issue, you’re in a much stronger place to respond,” she elaborates.
“Staying the same is not an option for the sector. It’s about implementing technology given the current challenges and where construction is in its adoption of tech. There is a huge potential from digital and AI capabilities, but I think that the message must be to get value from that capability. It’s not just about buying a system; it necessitates a change to business operating models and service delivery to suit new ways of working and to leverage value. Another crucial element of that is to remember it’s not an IT project; it must be managed and the impact understood at the strategic and organisational level, not just through the lens of systems and IT.
“I think construction is a complex and dynamic industry and the ongoing successful businesses will be those that can move and adapt to that changing environment,” Sue concludes. “I think there are some legacy ways of working from which the industry should try to move on. Many of the challenges that I hear about and talk about are the same in multiple industries, and there is real opportunity in seeing how others are tackling problems and moving up that improvement curve more quickly by taking advantage of the lessons that other industries and other people have learned.”