Leader Needed To Hit Cost

Production output capability from 10 units per day to 20.

Case Studies

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Business Issue

An industrial provider of large measurement systems to the oil and gas industry was continually missing customer commitments and profit targets.

Approach Used

Due to the recent departure of an experienced plant manager, Flow Consulting was asked to place an experienced Operations Manager with deep Lean background to run the facility for three months. The interim plant manager recognized that the production process of single-unit build teams resulted in wildly inconsistent lead times and quality performance. Personnel turnover and strong sales further accentuated these problems. A Lean single-piece flow project was initiated, including work instructions and added quality checkpoints. Over the course of two months the plant layout was revised and two parallel flow-production lines set up. Personnel were cross trained and cycle-time targets implemented.

Results

With the implementation of single-piece flow with standard work, production output capability went from 10 units per day to 20, utilizing the same staff and man-hours. A leader from within the plant was groomed and trained to run the facility and took over once Flow’s assignment ended.