There were plenty of Lean Gurus employed but nobody who could develop effective KPI's.

Our client is a FTSE 250 plc with operations throughout the World.  The success of the company meant that the main UK manufacturing facility had become stretched almost to breaking point.  Although the group had adopted Lean principles, labour productivity was mediocre at best.  In some areas it could be described as poor.  Also, there was no reliable data available with which to monitor and control the normal production routines.  The company was lacking in several key areas:

• There were no up-to-date KPI's to control productivity levels

• Product costing and production planning was based on the same inaccurate data

• Line balancing was required

In addition, the problem had remained for several years and in-house staff did not have the expertise to improve matters.  Sales volumes were expected to rise by a further 20% and this had to be produced in a plant that was at full capacity.

We were asked to train a number of staff in the rudiments of Lean, plus the derivation and application of time standards.  The training courses were a combination of theory and practical, culminating in a completed project by the team in a genuine production situation.  

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The project was undertaken on a flow-line that had been underperforming for many years and had become a bottleneck.  With regard to the outcome, the line was balanced, working methods improved and KPI's were introduced.   The result was an increase in productivity of 43% and a pay-back on the project fees of 8:1.

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GLOBAL OPERATIONS DIRECTOR - "The project has been a great success, can you provide us with a quote for another one next year."