BT's Supply Chain

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We chat to Leigh Feaviour, CTIO for BT’s Supply Chain, all about the challenges and new opportunities he is facing at the helm of the technology underpinning BT’s Supply Chain.

Written by Anna McMahon • Produced by Danielle Harris 2

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LEIGH FEAVIOUR HAS SPENT HIS ENTIRE CAREER – ALMOS 30 YEARS – WORKING AT BT, SPENDING THE LAST TWO YEA AS CTIO FOR BT’S SUPPLY CH

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huge undertaking but also an exciting opportunity that Leigh couldn’t afford to miss, it’s a role that is largely unrecognised from within the company, as Leigh explains, “Our supply chain is the lifeblood of BT, fundamental to all BT operations, but people don’t really know it exists. Anything the company delivers, from staff laptops and customer orders, to every spanner and screwdriver that Openreach engineers require, runs though BT’s Supply Chain.”

Within BT, the delivery of technology is done through platforms, and their supply chain platform is no exception, bringing 4

together numerous suppliers and vendors to deliver technology solutions. Leigh explained, “My role is to work with our Supply Chain business stakeholders to understand business objectives and long and short-term goals, and then working with the technology architects to design roadmaps to meet our long term goals and short term tactical requirements.”

Leigh’s focus is to agree the roadmaps with the business, describing and turning them into delivery projects to put into platforms within the organisation, which will see a return on investments. Leigh added, “As well

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BT AND SKILLWEB WORKING TOGETHER TO DRIVE SUPPLY CHAIN INNOVATION

BT’s supply chain is collaborating with Skillweb to achieve continuous improvement of its transport management and item tracking processes. As a key technology partner, Skillweb has been tasked with delivering better control of the movement of parts to around 30,000 engineers and a growing number of external customers helping the business keep pace with technological advances and remain at the forefront of the logistics sector.

“Our partnership with Skillweb is a critical part of our digital future that will allow us to take a joined-up and innovative approach to our supply chain systems,” explained BT’s Technical Delivery Manager.

Skillweb Deliver is transforming BT’s parts distribution by replacing a paper-based system with a new app-based tracking solution. Optimising the transport operation and streamlining logistics processes has resulted in improved 6

service delivery for customers along with reduced mileage and environmental impact.

“Skillweb has enabled us to gain added visibility and control by helping implement a fully-automated logistics system,” he added: “Their ongoing support has enabled us to effectively consolidate the transport operation, while ensuring we are best-placed to handle the increased volumes that have resulted from our rapid growth.”

Integration of Skillweb Deliver with a transport planning tool is creating an end-to-end system which will further enhance transport management and order fulfilment, while enabling planned versus actual reporting to better measure performance. Further integration into BT’s newly acquired network of over 1,000 nationwide drop-off locations is enabling both parts distribution and forward stock collection for field service engineers.

www.skillweb.co.uk

as initiating projects, I also provide a delivery assurance role when projects are up and running. I help define the roadmaps, kick-start the projects and ensure the platform delivers them, helping with any escalations that may arise.”

So, what are the general challenges Leigh faces in the supply chain market? He said, “OTIF (On Time In Full) is the primary KPI, which we use as a baseline measure, but if we are to give our customers great service, we need to do more than just reliably move boxes from A to B. What customers are demanding

is a complete end-to-end service.

If we take computing or mobile assets, for example, we can open the box and put on a customer configuration before sending them out. Within BT, when we roll out laptops to employees, they will all come with a BT build on them, done within our supply chain function. Similarly taking assets back to repair or replace them. There’s a much richer valueadded service that sits around BT’s Supply Chain to meet customer expectations.”

Customers also want supply chains to be seen to be lowering 7

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“WE ARE ALWAYS THINKING ABOUT HOW WE CAN UTILISE NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE FUTURE” Leigh Feaviour

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BT’s Final Mile lockers 10

their carbon footprints. How can supply chains demonstrate that they are lowering the carbon footprints of their customers whilst trying to reduce costs and preserve margins? Leigh added, “We have a transport management solution that ensures that we optimise delivery routes for our own fleet of vehicles, which saves time and fuel, thereby reducing our carbon footprint.

Further challenges include emerging regulations, such as Ultra-Low Emission Zones. It will soon cost more money to drive diesel vehicles that are not Euro 6 compliant into major cities. This hugely affects our transportation costs .”

BT has had considerable systems investment in recent years to ensure customers receive an up-to-date, data-rich service, modernising the systems in place to support both internal and external customers. The big drive in BT’s Supply Chain at the moment, however, is the move from an internal function to a revenue generating venture.

Leigh explained, “For around

30 years, BT’s Supply Chain has been supporting internal BT customers, providing the logistics for all the moves of kit around the company. A few years ago, we moved from a group function to an external-facing revenue generating function, focusing primarily on two areas – the endto-end supply chain services and final mile logistics supported by the acquisition of a company called Pelipod, a standalone final mile service that can also form part of an E2E service.”

BT’s Final Mile service provides remotely-controlled, pin-locked lockers (or pods) for customers.

Goods are delivered to one of the company’s 5,000+ lockers across its 800+ sites and growing, within easy reach of every town or city in the UK. A driver is given the pin to access a locker, which he opens and makes the delivery. Once closed, the locker re-sets itself and an engineer will receive a new pin to retrieve the item. When the locker is opened an image is taken of the contents, ensuring total traceability. Leigh added, “The reason for pushing a full supply chain solution and externalising it

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within a 15-minute drive of pretty much anywhere in the UK, as BT exchanges host the lockers.”

was based on our track record and our world-class warehousing and distribution. We have a really huge infrastructure and spare capacity within it. Add onto that BT’s Final Mile service, we can deliver to

Another hot topic for BT’s Supply Chain is digitisation. Leigh said, “We have a massive technology team headquartered at Adastral Park in Ipswich, with support teams around the world, and a range of suppliers and partners. Between us, we are constantly developing, deploying and supporting new applications to help grow the capabilities that we can offer internally and externally. On site,

BT’s Final Mile At Ascent Software, we are proud to be the software development partner of choice for BT in delivering the software technology powering BT’s Final Mile logistics capability.

Our close partnership with BT enables us to focus on building the software for the product whilst also being highly responsive to customer specific requirements. This has allowed BT to concentrate on driving the meteoric growth of their Final Mile business. Together, we have enabled a big increase in engineer productivity across the UK, and as a result, greatly enhanced the user experience of BT customers.

www.ascent.software 12

BT’S FINAL MILE SERVICE PROVIDES REMOTELYCONTROLLED, PIN-LOCKED LOCKERS (OR PODS) FOR CUSTOMERS. we have an applied research team, which looks at emerging technologies and how we can apply these technologies to business problems to turn them into projects. To be efficient for our customers, as well as costefficient for our own operations, data is completely key, ensuring it is up-to-date, accurate and driving real-time decision-making. Having good data analytics to allow us to make decisions based on that data is both a challenge and an opportunity. We are increasingly looking at moving from traditional large-scale on-premises deployment to more cloud-based solutions. They each have their merits, but moving more things to the cloud changes the cost model for new deployment, with

less capital expenditure upfront and fewer ongoing costs. Crucially, though, we can get things done faster with quicker upgrades, and we can scale up or down more easily, based on demand.”

And BT’s Supply Chain is keen to exploit emerging technologies in order to fulfil its ambitions. It is already employing IoT in the use of its Final Mile lockers, 3D printing in the production of tool prototypes, and a fixed wing drone has been prototyped to make emergency deliveries to remote parts of Scotland in the event of a BT exchange going down. Leigh said, “We are always thinking about how we can utilise new technologies for the future.

We have a VR tour of Magna Park 13

“THE NAME OF THE GAME IS MAKING LIFE EASIER FOR OUR CUSTOMERS IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION” Leigh Feaviour that allows external customers to experience the scale of the operation from anywhere in the world. It is about demonstrating, not just describing, our services, and bringing what we do to life.

Robotic process automation also allows us to optimise manual work, saving time and money whilst increasing accuracy, and AI algorithms can determine whether the warehouse infrastructure is working efficiently, or whether the facility needs to be moved around, with the ability to look at potential savings and change the physical

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network infrastructure. Looking further ahead we’re exploring applications for Augmented Reality within the warehouses to increase efficiency and safety and many more applications of IoT.” What’s more, the company is in the midst of developing an app to allow external customers to place orders without having to log onto their desktop or tablet. Leigh concluded, “The name of the game is making life easier for our customers in order to achieve the highest levels of customer satisfaction.”

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www.supplychain.bt.com

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