ZLB Plasma Services, A CSL Company

Client

Aventis Bio-Services (ABS), now merged with ZLB Plasma Services, a CSL Company, is one of the world’s largest plasma collection companies.

Challenge

As ABS grew, project overload had overwhelmed consistent project success. There were too many projects and, too often, projects were inadequately defined or lacked management buy-in. Some critical projects had fallen behind schedule, and project managers struggled to meet the demands of a growing project load.

Solution

Kepner-Tregoe worked with ABS to identify gaps in project performance, develop an improvement plan, and implement improvements. KT helped establish a project management office responsible for managing the organization’s project portfolio, providing project governance, and ensuring that projects met objectives. Other efforts included:

A skill development program to introduce KT Project Management, a systematic methodology that provides a common language for project management, and KT Project Logic®, software that makes it easier to learn and use Microsoft® Project.

Development of ABS employees as certified Program Leaders who teach KT Project Management workshops, coach project managers, and support best-in-class project management.

A communications program to share information about project work and communicate project success.

Results

Results have been rapid and lasting. Within a year, everyone working in projects used a consistent familiar language for project management. Project awareness, communication, and success improved dramatically. On-schedule projects increased from 56.4% to 90%. Project leaders were responsible for an average of 1.4 projects, down from an unmanageable 2.6. In one instance, properly defining the project using KT Project Management saved $191,000 and 696 “people days.” Projects are the way work gets done at ZLB Plasma Services, providing a flexible structure that is focused on results.

“The ability to properly define projects has saved us countless dollars and months of wasted effort…Change is no longer the exception; it is our way of life. Because we partnered with KT for Project Management, we are in a much better position to leverage change and make it work for us.”

— Matt Shapiro, Senior Manager of ABS during project rollout