CPA Bulletin

www.cpa.uk.net CPA Bulletin > November 2023 45 RAIL PLANT ASSOCIATION: 2 process so that critical works at bank holidays, particularly at Christmas, could be thoroughly checked before they went ahead. This has made a huge difference to the stability of the plan and to successful delivery of the plan at bank holidays. From a plant supplier’s perspective, bank holidays provide a stable plan around which they can roster plant, operators and other resources. So that provides six points of stability during a 52-week year. Feedback from the suppliers is that the other 46 weeks are as badly planned as ever. It is not uncommon to hear of over 50% of plant orders being cancelled at short notice. This is understandable in extreme circumstances, for example where access is lost due to weather conditions, but I hear stories from just about every supplier, just about every week. As we look to the efficiency challenge which CP7 presents, improving the basic ability to formulate a good delivery plan and then to actually deliver that plan offers huge potential to remove waste, rework and cost from the industry which will ultimately benefit both taxpayers and passengers. Rail Plant Association Terms & Conditions 2023 In October, the new Model Terms and Conditions for Railway Plant Hire went live. The new Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) will be made available to the RPA Membership in the coming weeks. I would encourage everyone to utilise these when new contracts are put into place. When we were redrafting the T&Cs we looked closely at supply chain risks and who is best placed for competence of resources is best controlled by the service provider as they are responsible for their training. In another example, the insurance of plant, once delivered, is best covered by the customer as they are responsible for the compound, the site and the security. Relating to my observations about poor planning, the risk of cancellation is best covered by the customer as they are responsible for the plan and its stability. Returning to, ‘What gets measured gets managed and what gets paid for gets managed first’; by putting the risk of cancellation onto the customer, it will achieve both of these things in that it will certainly get measured and the costs of cancellation will become very visible, very quickly. In the short-term, this may be painful for customers, especially those who plan on a wing and a prayer, but in the medium-term it will provide a stimulus for significantly improved planning which will benefit both taxpayers and passengers. We can hopefully all agree that good planning is not just for Christmas, it is for every day of the year.