IMPROVING INDUSTRIAL PERFORMANCES

THE PROBLEM

A multi-national company working in the Automotive components sector needed to significantly recover its industrial performances in two Italian facilities, within the scope of an arrangement with creditors aimed at continuing operations.

 

OUR ACTION

Owing to the complexity of the situation, firstly we needed to define the priorities so that we could focus on the areas for improvement and consequent actions to be taken.

After this study, we focused our efforts on improving plant maintenance and efficiency, recovering direct labour yield and increasing customer service levels.

We then carried out Value Stream Analysis a number of times in order to understand the current state. Specific actions were defined to clearly identify the final state to be achieved.

The actions put in place were the following:

  • Standardisation of the production cycles which laid the groundwork for defining the production lines and cells with a Lean approach (production team). This required the direct involvement of the workers with whom the objectives of each single team were set;
  • Improvement of plant maintenance through TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) activities which led to defining independent and preventive maintenance plans;
  • Identification of existing waste in every production area;
  • Tidiness and cleanliness (5S) as the basis for developing efficiency recovery activities (kaizen events). 

An important study was also started to increase production capacity without costly investments for the company which could lead to a strong recovery of customer service levels.

 

THE RESULTS

Our action led to:

  • An approximately 20% increase in production capacity with average service levels constantly above 85%;
  • Improvements in plant efficiency and labour yield such as to support the increased production capacity with basically the same occupational level, apart from slight reductions related to individual mobility plans;
  • The positive conclusion of the agreement with creditors aimed at continuing operation according to the deadlines and in the manner set out in the business plan.