19-05-2026
Profitable growth requires effective processes
The engineering consultancy business had entered a new market and was growing very fast. They won several large orders in close succession but struggled to deliver them with existing resources.
Engineers were very enthusiastic to work on a new exciting product in a rapidly expanding market. The whole workforce was highly motivated, and everyone did their absolute best to deliver the new projects.
However, the lack of adequate internal systems and procedures to support the rapid expansion of the business led to serious issues that put the survival of the company at risk.
Serious issues
Work on these large projects started before signature of the contract by the customer leading to cost and timing overruns when the final scope of work and the assumptions differed from what had been anticipated.
Inexperienced customer-facing engineers were exclusively focussed on satisfying the customer. This had serious financial and timing repercussions when the effects of changes demanded by the customer were not communicated back to them, leading to loss making projects, delays and negative cash flow.
Technical drawings and reports were often supplied to customers without being checked beforehand for the sake of “saving time”. This led to errors and re-work damaging the reputation of the business.
The lack of budgeting and monitoring of spend on projects meant that corrective actions were not taken on loss making projects until it was too late and the project was completed.
Processes introduced
Simple project management processes were introduced, covering all stages from proposal preparation to project initiation, delivery and close out.
A more reliable timesheet system was set up to record the time worked by engineers on projects. This provided the cost information required by project managers to monitor the financial performance of their projects.
Project managers were trained and supported to focus on meeting contractual obligations with customers and on taking actions to protect the project margin and cash flow.
On the technical side, experienced engineers were tasked to document detailed technical methods and procedures.
Team Leaders were appointed to provide expert technical support to new joiners and check the quality of the work delivered to customers.
Hindsight
With hindsight the analysis of the company’s issues and the actions required to address them may seem obvious.
However, it wasn't the case at the time when everyone was overwhelmed by the surge of work and by the pressure from demanding customers.
People were focussed on working harder and longer. There was a reluctance to invest time to introduce the systems and processes required to enable the business to grow profitably.
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