As the often-quoted adage goes, ‘failure to plan is planning to fail’. That’s why, as AIS Vanguard, we put as much time, effort and expertise into planning your lift and shift requirements as we do into delivering.

What’s more, by working closely with us as early as possible to plan your lift and shift needs, we can often help you manage costs, reduce risk and avoid disruption by advising and supporting you throughout the planning and implementation phases of your project.

Why is planning so important?

Planning ahead of time as a collaborative process has several benefits for your operations and your project. Here are just a few of them:

Risk: Effective planning enables us to identify and address risk early. We will always offer proactive advice to help you reduce risk, and that commitment goes much further than health and safety; it’s also about reducing operational, commercial and financial risk. By understanding where your project fits into the bigger picture we can work around any constraints you may have, such as a planned shutdown period or a third-party delivery date.

Opportunity: As part of the planning process, we look for opportunities to leverage any additional benefits of our presence on site, such as updating your asset register, for example, or removing any redundant assets for you while we are on site. This can deliver tangible commercial benefits and may even reduce the number of projects you need to undertake. For example, dismantling and removal of redundant assets while we are on site could provide revenue from scrap that offsets the cost of your project.

Availability: One of the biggest risks that operators face when planning any project is the cost and disruption of delays. By working in partnership with AIS Vanguard, you can be certain that the correct equipment and personnel are available when you need us, with a critical path for project delivery. We have a wholly owned fleet of lifting equipment and vehicles, which means we have the well-maintained resources you need at the correct time, and the flexibility to respond quickly if there are any changes to timings or scope, such as delivery delays from an equipment supplier, for example.

Cost: A meticulous approach to planning is essential for considering all the costs involved and factoring these into the quoted price. Fairness is important to us and planning effectively means that we can communicate clearly and transparently about costs.

Safety: Effective planning is critical to a safety-first approach. Alongside our own strict safety protocols, we ensure we understand the safety requirements specific to your site and the project so that we can identify risk and manage hazards, developing robust RAMS for your project.

How we approach planning lift and shift projects

All our projects begin with a site visit so that we can fully understand the brief and the site conditions. Only when our team has considered the specifics of your project and your site will we put together a risk assessment and method statement. Moreover, planning doesn’t end when we start on site. Continuous review of the RAMS ensures that we are always prepared to manage risk and ensure your project is delivered efficiently and cost effectively.