If businesses in the Manufacturing & Supply Chain sector are not continuously improving their speed of design, production and delivery – while maintaining quality – they simply will not last. We focus on instilling accountability and engaging your teams in their work to reduce errors and increase productivity.
Here's how we do it.
Aerospace & Automotive
Heavy Industry & Engineering
FMCG and Pharma
Supply Chain Management
Challenges
Inefficient Design Processes
Long design lead times and a focus on back-end manufacturing distract from taking an end to end view of product cost and margin erosion.Achieving Quality Standards at Low Volume
The OEM’s demand for pre-production quality testing and certification can outweigh the benefit of the actual order run to the end manufacturer.Workforce Capability and Engagement
There is a declining skilled workforce capability and often a lack of engagement in process improvement/innovation among the workforce.Supply Chain
Supply Chain Management practices are poor, and the lower tiers of the supply chain are lacking investment and capability.
Questions
Measure Value
How do we consider and measure value in our operation? Do we have a holistic understanding of our cost base and margins by product?Quality Focused
How do we economically apply advanced product quality planning (APQP) or similar in a low volume environment? Do we have a culture of quality and do our people understand our expectations of them as they go about their daily activities?Better Together
How are we engaging our colleagues towards the achievement of a common goal? How are we enabling and equipping our teams to innovate and solve problems at their own level?Set Priorities
How are we working with our partners to innovate and add value to the process? Do we encourage collaboration and transparency? Is our governance and management distracting our partners from the priority at hand?
Impact
20% lead time reduction through more efficientpre-manufacturing process improvements
Established process ‘lite’ approach to introduce Automotive Quality
standards for bespoke VIP vehicles (c1,000 per year)
50% increased production area capacity through the introduction of
cellular manufacturing and organisation redesign
€1m inventory reduction delivered through facilitated collaboration
between supplier and OEM client
Challenges
Asset Availability
Redundant capacity due to machine downtime or bottlenecks elsewhere in the value stream.Flow
Jobbing shop processes and inefficient material management.Problem Solving
The default is to look for technical expertise Six Sigma, TPM etc to unlock the value in processes.Culture
Housekeeping and safety standards aren't where they need to be. There’s no identified 'way of working.'Questions
Supply Chain
Supply Chain management and integration is poor.Measure + React
How are we measuring our process effectiveness? Do we have a full understanding of lost time and the root causes?Become Resourceful
Does our business carry too much inventory? Are we making the most efficient use of the resources and skills available?Avoid Delays
How often could minor stops and major breakdowns be prevented through in-line maintenance activities? Can I afford a team of Six Sigma experts who really knows our processes and machines best?Consistent Culture
Do we have an embedded safety culture at all levels of our business? Do we have a culture where our people take pride in their workplace and have a passion for our long-term future? What’s my role as a senior leader in all this?Impact
80% of downtime losses addressed through intensive OEE analysis€17m inventory reduction though new planning processes and
replenishment models for spare parts
80% of all production problems now solved by front line supervisors and engineers
A focus on key behaviors indicators drive housekeeping and
compliance standards to 90%
Challenges
Cost Pressures
Retailers expect quality & service as a given, with incremental improvement in costs. Raw material costs are volatile.Engaged People
The challenge with performance management is never the top or bottom 10%, it is the 80% in the 'middle'.Accountability gaps
Despite all the training and development, people and teams do not seem to feel accountable for results.Supply Chain Management
Supply chain integration is poor and distribution costs are volatile.Questions
Efficient Teams
Could you structure and train cross-functional teams to identify and implement cost savings and value engineer products without reducing the product offering?Engaged People
How are we involving and engaging our people in the journey towards new performance levels?Culture Of Ownership
Does it feel like the more you talk about responsibility and accountability, the less it exists? Have you looked at leadership (or your own behaviour) as being part of the problem?Mutual Benefit
How are we working with our supply chain to solve problems to mutual benefit? Does our production footprint align with our sales strategy?Impact
€1.1 million improvements in cost variance achieved andongoing improvement opportunities identified by implementing
cross-functional teams
€3 million EBITA improvement through completely transforming
operations and engineering
37% improvement in capacity with no increase in people or
resources
Inventory accuracy improved from 52% to 99.9% through standard
work introduction
Challenges
Logistics Challenge
The big picture is often missed by ‘optimising’ the component parts of the logistics supply chain as individual elements.Point Of Use Availability
Having the right thing, in the right place at the right time (noting complexity of seasonal demand).Asset Turnaround
Slow turnarounds, ineffective maintenance regimes and asset obsolescence are all avoidable sources of lost income.Supply Chain - The New World
Creating an environment where people and teams feel accountability for the completion and quality of their work.Questions
Customer-Centered
Does everyone understand the role of logistics in our organisation? Do we sometimes lose sight of the real/ paying customer in the complexity of our supply chain design?Seize Opportunities
How do we measure and understand availability? Are we losing customers that we don't know about? How do we capture and escalate this information?Maintain
How do we triage asset maintenance and does customer demand play a role? What is our maintenance regime for low use assets?Equip Yourself
What tools, systems and processes are required to guarantee customer satisfaction?Impact
Pick accuracy improved from 97% to 100%On-time and in-full improved by 10% through tiered planning
processes and strict decision making criteria. Root cause analysis
carried out on all lost customers.
Asset turnaround time reduced by 50% by streamlining admin
touch points.
Shared service/consolidation saved £1.1m.