Thoughts From a Lanner ‘Newbie’

New Consultant Brian Reilly discusses his first month at Lanner

It’s been a whirlwind month. I’ve joined Lanner, moved house and even moved country. To a certain extent it’s all come full circle. Back in the 90s I studied engineering and was taught simulation using WITNESS – that was a mere 18 years ago. After periods in various industries as an engineer, consultant, manager, and director (all with an Operational Research theme) I’m now back focused on simulation… and golf.

Having been at Lanner now for just over a month, I’ve had the following tasks:

Task 1 – See what’s new in WITNESS 12

Task 2 – Deliver a project for a US based client

Task 3 - Training

Task 4 – Play golf

Task 5 – Write a blog on my first month at Lanner

Without attempting to belittle the importance of WITNESS, customer projects, or training, let’s talk about golf. Last week was the annual Lanner golf day, and in the clubhouse afterwards the outright winner was awarded with The Roger Beadle Memorial Trophy. This is a competition for Lanner current and ex-employees that’s been going for 20 years. Yes, 20 years. That’s heritage. As Lanner’s History says, “In it for the long-term”, and being new around here I certainly enjoyed being a part of it.

In one sense, I’m not exactly a Lanner ‘newbie’ – I’ve used WITNESS for many years as a Lanner customer, worked with Lanner consultants, I even visited the old offices in Redditch and Houston. But being on the inside is different. It’s an extremely customer focused environment – its work hard, play hard (but business comes first).

To illustrate the ‘Business comes first’ principle, a customer arranged a meeting when I was supposed to be having lunch with our CEO. “‘Business comes first" the CEO said, saving him the cost of lunch in the process. (The lunch will be rearranged!)

But to be honest I’m still finding my feet in this new environment. New systems, new processes, new people. Knowledgeable. Experienced. Opinionated. Helpful – and this is what I’ve taken from my first month at Lanner. A sense that all of these factors are brought together, specifically, to provide better solutions for each individual customer. This, and a proud Lanner heritage.

Note – I found out more about Roger Beadle. He was part of the British Leyland Operational Research group who developed the world’s first visual interactive simulation package, and this led to Witness. Lanner’s Customer Relationship Manager Tony Waller had this photo of him working on a manual simulation model back in 1978. (Roger Beadle, furthest right)