CASE STUDY

The client faced several challenges that hindered their manufacturing operations and prevented them from achieving their targeted sustainable throughput performance. These challenges included: 

• A siloed way of working between the procurement and supply chain teams, leading to inefficiencies. 
• Delays caused by late supplier deliveries, no-shows and incorrect part shipments, resulting in prolonged assembly line interruptions. 
• Inadequate support services, such as warehousing and quality, further contributing to delays in production. 

Our objective was to transform towards operational excellence by defining both ‘game-changing’ and ‘fixing the fundamentals’ initiatives. With the ultimate goal of improving the throughput time on the client’s production lines, enabling them to meet their contracted volumes efficiently.

In collaboration with ASV Consult, the company undertook the journey to align its  Planning & Sourcing strategy with strategic objectives and future requirements of the market. 

To address these challenges and achieve our objectives, we kicked off by: 

• Conducting a comprehensive diagnostic of missing parts by deploying a tracking tool across the site, providing full visibility and enabling faster & more reactive management. 

• Implementing proactive management strategies alongside reactive measures to anticipate and mitigate missing parts issues. 

This operational transformation was sponsored by a speed-sourcing exercise to capture both the impact of the market downturn and achieve sustainable savings.

Planning & Sourcing strategy

• Demand Forecasting and Planning: Enhanced demand forecasting capabilities to improve accuracy resulting in tangible improvements in safety stock management, scheduling lines and replenishment amounts. 
• Root-Cause Analysis and Action Planning: Conducted root-cause analysis to identify underlying issues and define a clear action plan, including the creation of helpful reference materials (help cards) for material planners. 
• Procurement Support: Assisted the procurement department in identifying critical blocking parts, ensuring their timely delivery by suppliers or finding alternative sourcing solutions. 

Operational Excellence

• Line Management Support: Provided day-to-day coaching to shorten the interval of control, monitoring and feedback for line management. 
• Non-Conformity Cell: Established a non-conformity cell to reduce backlog and anticipate non-conforming items, both internal & external, in a more expedient manner. 
• Production Performance Measurement: Implemented a value-tracking framework and defined KPIs to measure production performance, providing valuable insights and facilitating continuous improvement.