A need for speed

You cant hurry genius. When your objectives are to design the worlds first 1000 mph car and inspire a new generation of scientists and engineers, its a mind-boggling concept that cannot be dreamt up overnight. But five years after the then Minister for Science and Innovation, Lord Drayson, officially launched the UK-based Bloodhound Project, the time had come to accelerate towards the finishing line.

A year on, an integrated project schedule is in place and a build completion date set for 24 July 2015. Its been a tricky yet rewarding process requiring a change of mindset for everyone involved in the design and build of this iconic prototype.
 Chris Fairhead, delivery director, explains how the shift came about.

He said: The project had been going for about seven years with a team of 10 to 12 people. The objective was to provide an engineering adventure for a generation of youngsters and weve run it in parallel with an education programme. The whole detailed concept had been driven by some very skilled engineers who worked through the design to understand the risks associated with each of the elements and from that define what the eventual structure of the car will look like, the materials we will use and so on.

By last July we had reached the point where we could begin to define the total work package necessary to complete the car. Up to then it had been a fairly moveable feast as we defined the complexity and determined the design concept; it was necessary to  move the end date until we understood sufficient of detail to move on. We needed a milestone which married with the expectations of our major sponsors coming on board such as Rolex, who were looking for a clear finish date.

Enter Colin Higginson as principal consultant, who with colleagues Laura Smith and Simon Harrison from BMT Hi-Q Sigma helped the Bloodhound engineers and designers develop a fully resourced and integrated project schedule  using MS Project. The initial schedule  enabled the team through a number of what if scenarios  to see that the original land speed record attempt date of 2014 was unrealistic. Fortunately it also equipped them with the tools to generate a new set of realistic dates, culminating in a record attempt scheduled for 2016. Colin talks through their approach to developing the programme.

Richard Noble set the objective to maximise the delivery schedule through best utilisation of available resource and identify opportunities to accelerate the programme through scenario modelling using a fully resourced schedule. We looked at the basic logical steps of how we were going to carry through from the design process to manufacture, build and test. We  looked at the basic steps to get there then broke those down further  to 100 or more detailed steps, continually checking the logic with the Bloodhound teams lead engineers. We then broke them down further to ensure each element was captured. On completion we tested the visible critical path and logic and with a few minor adjustments we gained general agreement that this was a reasonable, believable and achievable plan.

At this point we had all the lead engineers around the table and we had something that started to resemble an achievable plan we could all believe in. Bloodhound is totally funded through corporate sponsorship and public donations, so is not flush with cash and therefore is constantly in a state of flux. To understand the resourcing levels and what was required to arrive in South Africa ready to commence test running we carried out a number of what if scenarios which included: What would it take  to deliver to the original target year of 2014, what would it take to deliver in 2015, and the likely date if we continued with the current resource levels.

To deliver in 2014, we worked out that we would need 75 additional designers immediately, 31 additional stress engineers immediately, 5 additional assembly engineers and unlimited availability of parallel manufacturing and assembly facilities, and it did not take a rocket scientist to determine this was not feasible.

We then looked at what was a practical approach to complete in 2015. That showed us we would need seven or eight specialist engineers and subject to availability and affordability of the specific resources was deliverable. With the current resources we deliberated that 2017 was feasible but would not be acceptable to the major sponsors.

There were always going to be some gaps as the design hadn't yet reached full  maturity and through a number of brainstorming and head scratching sessions over the last 12 months we have developed a fully resourced schedule which has now grown to over 1300 identified activities with each activity fully resourced. This plan, as you would expect from a prototyping project which is subject to funding and resource issues, is never fully stable but the overarching structure we have built allows us to continue to test the differing impacts of change.

BMT Hi-Q Sigma favours what if scenario modelling for many of its clients and Colin believes its adaptable to projects of all sizes. We get involved in lots of defence projects at the concept stage, for example, and scenario modelling can help a client understand the feasibility of their ideas, and is a good way of using a clients knowledge to establish just what is realistic, as they invariably have a predefined delivery date and the budget is often set before they commence detailed design.

The Bloodhound team has continued to work with Colin and BMT Hi-Q Sigma over the past few months to further develop  their understanding of the plan at the same time building up the team using the schedule to identify specific and specialised resources..

Reaching this point, however, has required a cultural shift that the team has done extremely well to navigate successfully.

We needed to build a culture which is more like an industry if you like, rather than the small team we set out with, Chris explains. You have to bring in some of the discipline and structure of a much larger organisation to make it work, and recognise the need for proper risk assessment, quality control and all the other good things you must have when you run a business thats spending 100,000 a week and has 60 people in it.     

Understandably, engineers can be reluctant to finish a project because the funs over once youve designed and built it, he admits. Weve had to convince them that continually finessing a design will not deliver success and that we must use all our expertise to make a decision on the detail design when further evaluation would be more comfortable finishing is the only point at which we can measure  our success and prove it actually works.

Involving the whole Bloodhound team in the scheduling process has been key to getting them on side, be believes.

Weve used their expertise in determining the size of the work packages and how they interact. First of all we involved the lead engineers, then worked with the full  team so eventually we reached a stage where everyone had been involved in the preparation of the plan and could believe and feel part of what we were putting in. People are now taking ownership and feeling focused on the end result. Every week we go through the plan with the team to see if were on track and whether we need to bring in extra people, and were continually flexing, which is absolutely vital. One of the challenges with a large scale programme is that its always live you can't just set it up and expect it to run; youve got to constantly revisit it and make sure you understand the changing circumstances.

Alongside the cultural change, the team has been gradually expanding to provide the resources that will keep Bloodhound on schedule as the fundraising team, led by Project Director Richard Noble, works to keep up the cash flow. Some of the manufacturing is completed on site in Bristol but most is done externally by contractors the team has 220 suppliers who are real supporters of the project and help keep costs down and the schedule on track by providing work quickly and at very reasonable rates.

The projected end date is memorable and not one which Chris is prepared to move.

Running the project plan with realistic increases in manpower gave a,  finish date for the build  of 24th. July 2015 which is very useful and easy to remember, he says. Were going to finish this 24/7/15 even if we have to work 24/7 to get there!

If you have a good project framework then give people a focus to think about and work towards, I believe it makes it that much easier to stay on track.

About Bloodhound

• The Bloodhound SSC will attempt to break the 1000 mph barrier and set a new land speed record on a dried up lake bed in South Africa
• Bloodhound project director is Richard Noble OBE, who held the land speed record from 1983 to 1997
• The project is Bristol-based and currently employs 40 people in the design, procurement and build activity.  A further 20 people work in sponsor liason, PR, the education programme and administering the supporters club.
• The car will be driven by RAF fighter pilot Andy Green, who holds the current land speed record and was the first person to break the sound barrier on land, driving ThrustSSC in 1997
• Its aerodynamic shaping will allow the car to withstand speeds of up to Mach 1.4 faster than a bullet fired from a Magnum 357
• It will be able to travel four and a half football pitches in one second
• It will weigh over seven tonnes and the engines will produce more than 135,000 horsepower thats more than six times the power of all the Formula 1 cars on a starting grid put together.
• Over 5,600 schools have been involved in our education programme stimulating interest in engineering in young people of all ages from primary school to PhD.

Find out more on bloodhoundssc.com

About Chris Fairhead
Chris is Bloodhound delivery director. In this role he manages the people at the Bristol Technical Centre responsible for the design, the procurement of the components and their assembly in the car.

Chris spent 40 years of an earlier career working for Rolls Royce PLC, beginning as an engineering apprentice and in the later years concentrating on the military engines, working as project director, director of customer support and managing director of Eurojet, the Eurofighter engine company.

About Colin Higginson
Colin is Principal Consultant to Bloodhound and works for BMT Hi Q-Sigma, part of the BMT Group. He joined BMT in 2002 after spending 23 years in the Royal Navy as a weapons engineer in ships and submarines and has held various submarine engineering and project management roles. In recent years he has worked with the Ministry of Defence on its Submarine Dismantling Project as they developed a solution for the dismantling and disposal of 27 of the UKs nuclear submarines and is currently supporting the Ministry of Defence Programme Team for the next generation of Ballistic Missile Carrying Nuclear Powered Submarines Successor.

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This article first appeared in Project magazine. APM members can read all feature articles from Project magazine over recent years by accessing the Project magazine archive.

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