Heathrow Airport Case Study

To maximize airline revenues and airport reputation while minimizing disruptions and delays, Mace was appointed to provide consultancy, logistics, and contracting services for various Heathrow Airport projects. VisiLean was deployed to drive the PPCS (Production Planning and Control System) process. Projects included cargo management, security upgrades, air bridges, and balcony areas within Terminals T1, T3, and T5.

• Labour-intensive manual processes leading to poor coordination across airport projects
• Limited collaboration between the Mace team and suppliers
• Multiple tools creating non-value-adding work and information silos
• 20 hours per week spent on planning and review processes

VisiLean was deployed as a unified production management platform across Heathrow projects:

Unified Supply Chain Platform — Piloted across 2-14 projects within six months, providing a single platform for the entire supply chain.

Process Alignment — Close collaboration with on-site teams to define processes aligned with tools, ensuring standard processes across projects adaptable for subcontractors.

Single Source of Truth — VisiLean served as the single source of truth, integrating the P6 master plan with supplier production plans.

Constraint Management — Weekly mapping of 20+ constraints including approvals, design, RAMs, and manpower to proactively remove blockers.

• Planning time reduced from 20 to 8 hours weekly — a 60% reduction in planning effort
• Improved work clarity and reduced ambiguity across all trades
• Eliminated operational variability through standardised processes
• Reduced paper documentation usage across project teams
• Enhanced real-time project control and faster decision-making

• A single source of truth integrating master plans with supplier production plans eliminates information silos
• Standardised processes across multiple airport projects enable rapid scaling
• Weekly constraint mapping with 20+ constraint categories is critical for complex operational environments