In early 2018 B2B supported Sellafield Limited in developing plans for implementing the collaborative working standard ISO 44001. This jointly written blog reviews how B2B and Sellafield worked together to deliver the project collaboratively and to the principles of the standard itself and to time and cost.

LINC is a new Sellafield Ltd scheme that encourages SMEs at local and national level to collaborate and deliver innovative solutions to the mission at Sellafield. The first LINC project was to engage a small to medium enterprises (SME) to develop an implementation plan to enable Sellafield Ltd to achieve certification to the new international standard: ISO 44001:2017 Collaborative business relationship management standard. As this was the first LINC opportunity it was important to carry out a review, post-delivery, of how well the first LINC opportunity went and to incorporate any learning into future LINC opportunities. Five excellent proposals were received from SMEs and these were evaluated. B2B were successfully awarded the contract due to their comprehensive proposal with excellent proven technical capability to deliver the work with the most economic offering and lowest timescale.

Work to deliver the implementation plan was carried out in a short period over January – February 2018 and delivery of the plan required effective collaborative working between B2B, the Sellafield team and B2B’s local partner React Engineering. The overall scope of the project was to:

  • Create a gap analysis between Sellafield Ltd processes, structures and culture for working collaboratively and collaborative working expectations of ISO 44001.
  • To identify a roll out plan to engage key supply chain partners into an ISO 44001 way of working with Sellafield Ltd.
  • Develop an implementation plan including key actions, priorities, risks and costs.

Key challenges
The Sellafield Ltd mission is to clean-up the UK’s highest nuclear risks and hazards, to safeguard nuclear fuel, materials and waste. It has an annual budget of £2.2bn, an employee team of 11,500, and engages 1122 companies in its supply chain. Effective collaborative working across Sellafield Ltd and with its key supply chain partners is a critical success factor for 2018/19. Sellafield Ltd wanted to test the extent its practices and culture met the demanding challenges of the new international standard.

Over January – February 2018, B2B reviewed over 60 processes across 11 subject areas, including risk management, people management, project execution, supply chain relationship management, procurement and governance. The B2B team engaged several Sellafield Ltd process owners, conducted interviews with key personnel and conducted a gap analysis and collaboration maturity survey with 20 key personnel from across all key functional areas. The outcomes identified the Sellafield Ltd current position in a range of areas related to ISO 44001 compliance and indicators of the existing collaboration culture.

The project provided an implementation plan for both the development of processes and structures to achieve compliance to ISO 44001, and of key importance, a route map for the journey to go beyond compliance and to become a world class, and high performing collaborative working culture.

Collaboration on the Project

B2B led on the delivery of the implementation plan but delivery of the project objectives required effective collaborative working between B2B and the Sellafield Ltd ISO 44001 project team, a range of Sellafield Ltd personnel and close working with B2B’s partner React Engineering – an existing and local Sellafield Ltd supply chain organisation. Their role was to:

  • Provide a supply chain perspective on experience in working with Sellafield Ltd, and to check and validate the B2B findings on the baseline position.
  • Review feasibility of the proposed implementation plan and review of the potential risks and opportunities identified by B2B.

Collaboration with Sellafield Ltd

The B2B approach aimed to deliver the work in a way that mirrored the principles of the ISO 44001 standard i.e. working collaboratively with the Sellafield Ltd team. Key aspects of collaborative working between Sellafield Ltd and B2B are mapped to the eight stages of the ISO 44001 model below.

Barbara Scrugham Sellafield Ltd Project lead said “Working with B2B, their partner React Engineering and the Sellafield business to develop the plan to implement ISO 44001 was a postiive experience from beginning to end. This project clearly demonstated by working collaboratively with our supply chain we optimised our effectiveness to deliver the joint outcomes of the project”.

Emma – Jayne Gooch, Head of Supply Chain Development & Innovation, said “I was delighted that this was our first challenge through LINC as collaboration is a key part of what LINC is all about – Liaise Innovate Network Collaborate. Sellafield Ltd’commitment to accreditation to ISO 44001 is a huge step toward changing the way we work with, and view our supply chain. B2B were a pleasure to work with delivering the project to time, cost and quality.”

John Doyle, Director B2B said ‘We thought that from the start we should model the collaboration standard in how we worked with our customer Sellafiled, and our local supply chain suport. The project was delivered to time, cost and quality and this was due to effective collaboration throughout’.