TSG happy to let the data do the talking

THE application of theoretical models to real-world business problems has enabled Perth consulting company TSG to grow from the small, run-down office it occupied almost a decade ago to a nationwide network with plans to open a branch in Chile.

“We started with five of us in our old office in Shafto Lane with buckets on our desks to catch the leaks when it rained,” founding director Craig Stewart said.

Mr Stewart, and the four other founding directors now employ a core of more than 40 consultants in their Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane offices. One of the founders, Mke Dallimore, is currently in Santiago, where the company has operated for five years, working to open TSG’s first international office. The company also has projects in the US, Africa, Europe and other parts of South America.

Executives at TSG pioneered the use of advanced mathematical techniques and statistical modelling to draw information from huge amounts of data, maximising the efficiency of supply chains and helping producers get product to port as efficiently as possible.

By modelling their supply chains, clients are able to stress test each part in a simulated environment.

Executive general manager Rod Houston, who was CEO at Orbital Corporation and an independent management consultant before joining TSG in 2011, said the business had a logical approach to delivering information.

“One of the key elements for our business is doing detailed analysis combined with close engagement and innovative communication, so our clients get an outcome they can trust,” he said.

“So what we really pride ourselves in, and how we differentiate ourselves, is being able to communicate to the client in an easy and understandable way.

“It requires close engagement and transparency in the modelling, because clients don’t like to think of it as a black box; you have to bring them along so they understand how it works and they can trust the modelling.”

Mr Stewart said ensuring clients were comfortable with the process was the most important part of their work.

“If someone gives you an answer out of a box, you’re not going to trust it,” he said.

“They have to know how it works and feel free to challenge it, that’s how you earn their trust.”

Mr Houston said among the reasons he was approached was to help manage one of TSG’s biggest challenges; maintaining the core culture of creativity as the company grew.

“If you have a bunch of driven, passionate problem solvers, and you have the right environment with 10 of them, you need to find a way to keep the same feeling with 30 or 40 of them,” Mr Houston told II'. 1 Business News.

One way TSG helped create the right environment for staff, according to Mr Stewart, was for management to let the employees decide what the company’s values would be, and “maintaining the right environment for them to thrive”.

TSG’s first client was BHP Billiton Iron Ore, and much of the work the company is doing in Chile is with Mnera Escondida, a copper miner in which BHP has a 56 per cent interest.

Mr Houston said Chile’s dominant mining industry made the country an attractive place to do business.

“In Chile there are a lot of Australians because we’ve got so much expertise in this area now,” he said.

“What’s special about Chile is that it’s going through a similar boom as WAhas done in the past few years, except here it’s about iron ore, and over there it’s about copper.

“In Chile, because of the focus on mining, we can let the data speak for itself, so that’s a fantastic opportunity.”