Operations Improvement Project
The Situation
A client approached me, initially with a request to cast a measure on the Manufacturing arm of the business, with the aim of indicating how well it was performing and to provide details on the opportunity for improvement. I requested definition on the scope of the project, as my experience tells me that ‘issues’ in any Operation often originate from outside, and merely exhibit themselves within the Operation. Being a forward thinking CEO, he advised that the scope was a broad as was required.
The Task
I interviewed some 20 people and deep dived into all the key processes of the business, both inside and outside the Manufacturing facility. I was able to quickly get clarity on the challenges and the opportunities, and assess the team for how willing they were to undertake a transformation project, gaining a significant buy in before it even started.
Having completed a report on issues and opportunities, I shared it with all those I worked with on the investigation, allowing me to fine tune it and further gain buy in before presenting to the Main Board of the company, along with a proposal to work with them to deliver the outcomes. The project involved 14 deliverables, in terms of activity, with the overall outcome being output up, quality up, margin up, and a stable, less stressful operating system. For my part, I reduced my daily rate in return for a share of the ‘above budget’ Net profit that this project will deliver.
The Action / Approach
The project was kicked off with me leading two events with the Main Baord to define and document a 5 year strategy for the business using the Policy Deployment process. This gave priority and alignment to everything that I did after that.
I spent 3 months full time on site, with the team, coaching daily whilst introducing quality and lean tools to back up all the activity we are doing. A new MOS (Management Operating System) has been implemented, including daily Tiered Escalation Meetings to drive autonomy and encourage decision making at an operating level. The big ticket items will be a re-layout of the site to improve flow, and make it easier to manage, along with a version upgrade of the MRP. Before this was completed, the entire process was mapped (a two week exercise) to ensure the new version of the MRP was configured to operate in an ideal way, not just the way it had been used previously, which was subject to all sorts of poor practice.
The Result
Testimonial
MCDBT were asked to help us with our manufacturing issues, main objectives were to increase efficiency, reduce costs and increase capacity – what every manufacturer is after!
Mike has lots of manufacturing knowledge and is easy to work with, initially some of the suggestions seemed a bit out there, however, if you accept change there are lots of benefits.
Currently we are about halfway through, most of the work so far has been coaching/ training the team and they are now seeing the benefits. Next phase is physically re-organising the production area and then updating our MRP system.
I am confident that we will meet our objectives at the end of the programme, there will be a positive impact to our organisation and we will meet our objectives. Also, the team will be more engaged & motivated having being part of process.
Manufacturing Director
