Type of Business: Manufacturer of construction and industrial equipment
Revenue: $900 million
The Challenge: Capital costs were too high relative to the company's profit. Shareholders would be better off putting their money in a mattress than investing in this business.
The Goal: Several initiatives were identified to address this challenge. This specific project's goal was to reduce cost of goods sold in order to be more competitive.
The Process:
- Project identification
- Analyzed financial data
- Observed operations
- Interviewed key personnel
- Focused on slow production times and high inventory costs as two key components of the needed process improvements
- Recommendations
- Line balancing
- Standard work procedures
- Set-up reduction
- 5S
- Kanban systems for managing work in process
Results:
- 48% reduction in manufacturing lead time
- 36% reduction in WIP dollars
Duration: Nine months from beginning of the project to achieving results
Consultant's Role:
- On-site continuous improvement expert
- Worked with production management and line operators to implement solutions
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