Road closures on the road to 2025
2024 is almost in the rearview mirror. Despite road closures on the A2, A7 and A10 motorways, the threshold to 2025 is in sight.
We are going to experience road closures more often in the coming years. Many of the bridges, viaducts and locks built during the post-WW II reconstruction period are reaching the end of their lifespan. Infrastructure owners like Rijkswaterstaat are preparing for a wave of renovation and replacement projects.
Energy infrastructure is also in the works. Companies are lining up to connect to the power grid, and at the very start of the chain, wind and solar farms are also waiting their turn. The result? A robust supply of power, ready to meet the demand. The problem lies with network operators such as Tennet, Alliander and Enexis, which are overstreched with the task of reinforcing the power grid.
Still, I assume that the lights in your Christmas tree are burning cosily and that you will enjoy Christmas in the circle of your loved ones. I also hope that it will remain so long into the future.
In that respect, I have good news and bad news. It is good practice to start with the bad news.
Bad news: tight budgets and shortage of skilled workers
The bad news is that the Dutch government is not providing sufficient funding for the renovation. In October, Jan Benjamin wrote in the NRC that Rijkswaterstaat needs 35.5 billion euro for the period 2023-2037, while only 20.5 billion is available.
Other bad news is that the professionals to do the job are scarce. Rijkswaterstaat, provinces, municipalities, Tennet, Alliander and contractors are all fishing in the same pond. The vacancy filled by one comes at the expense of another. The bottom line is that there are too few technical specialists.
Responsible politicians stress that all hands must be on deck. Jeroen Olthof, North Holland province’s deputy for mobility, among other things, urges infrastructure managers to work together. ‘If this fails’ Olthof declared at a conference ‘North Holland has a very big problem to stay connected’. Stating ‘it’s all taking so long’, he also demonstrates impatience.
Good news: two new successes
So the cooperation and speed with which infra projects are executed must go up. I can relate to that with good news.
Yesterday, we had the pleasure of publishing on our website two more results achieved by our clients.
Martijn Hoosemans, Unit Manager Maintenance & Realisation Infrastructure at the Province of Zeeland has achieved a 20% throughput acceleration. He is also very happy with the improvement processes themselves.
Thomas Hoffmann of HIL GmbH calls the effects of FLOW techniques ‘mind-blowing’. With the help of our experts, he was able to reduce the time needed to refurbish Leopard tanks by almost 50%.
You can read both references on our Why page.
And if you find this makes sense, I would be happy to talk further with you about your own organisation’s challenges. And about the question OF and HOW flow principles can make a difference.
More flow through the bottleneck
Project management in Europe is quite at a high level, but of course there is always room for improvement.
In 1984, Eli Goldratt published his ideas on the bottleneck in organisations. The bottleneck is the factor that most constrains an organisation’s productivity. Thus, the bottleneck is the only point where improvement of one component, leads to improvement of the productivity of the organisation as a whole. What this really means becomes clear when you realise that this implies that any change that does NOT address the bottleneck CANNOT have any effect on the productivity of the organisation as a whole.
Do you know what the bottleneck in your organisation is …? That’s why so many changes are not improvements…
Many have heard of the concept of the bottleneck, but only a few are familiar with it. Change and especially improvement takes time.
The experts in the Mobilé 4 flow & innovation team apply Goldratt’s findings to project organisations. We have also found ways to accelerate both the throughput or flow of projects and the improvement processes required to achieve this.
Have flow in 2025!
The Christmas story from the Bible has been a bestseller for over 2000 years.
‘The Goal’ by Eliyahu Goldratt has enjoyed the same status for 40 years.
And there is another similarity. Many people know the message, but only a few truly put it into practice.
When it comes to the Bible, I am not an expert and cannot give you answers. But in the field of organisational change, I feel like a fish in the water. A lot of organisations struggle with the fact that change takes so much time. ‘It all takes so long.’ There is a perception that people simply don’t want to change.
With the latter, I absolutely disagree. The secret is that while people want to change, they do not want to be changed or improved by others.
We apply this motto to the way we transfer our expertise. To do this, we use the image of ‘motorbike with sidecar’. The Mobilé 4 flow experts ride along in the sidecar of your organisation’s motorbike for a while, as it were. To transfer their knowledge and experience. Your organisation’s professionals sit on the bike, at the wheel. Change, or rather improvement, is something they do themselves!
This way of working together is part of the secret behind the successes mentioned above. With it, our clients solve the problems of limited budgets and scarce professionals we talked about above: with the same budget and the same people, and on top of that with less stress, they now get (much) more work done.
If this appeals to you, you can book an introductory meeting today. In it, we can talk together about the challenges your organisation faces and IF and HOW we can help you to increase the speed or flow of projects.
Dat doen we dan in het nieuwe jaar. Tot die tijd wens ik u een bezonnen kerstmis met licht in de boom en in uw hart, samen met al degenen die u lief zijn.
Slow down now, and have flow in 2025!
By Willem de Wit, 17th december 2024
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Founder & Managing Director of Mobilé 4 flow & innovation.