The project facilitated sharp volume increases due to that some of the group’s products were to be concentrated to one plant and reduced manufacturing costs per unit.
Background
A significant capacity increase was imminent at one unit, as the manufacture of some of the group’s products was to be concentrated there.
At the same time, the company was wrestling with weak profitability.
To improve profitability at this time of volume growth, Mantec was engaged to carry out an objective and comprehensive analysis of operations.
Implementation
During a preliminary study, Mantec identified a number of potential improvement areas, and so the company and Mantec jointly entered into an implementation project. The main measures put in place during the project were:
- the design and successful implementation of a new organisational structure in production, with the planning department and operations management located together;
- the design and successful implementation of a management system (Balanced Scorecard), in which the company’s overall goals were broken down into comprehensible numerical values at an individual level. The management system also included a system for follow-up and deviation management;
- the production of handbooks, in which both the systems and their users were described;
- the training of personnel in problem solving methods, increasing their understanding of efficient planning and follow-up;
- the development of personnel to improve team spirit, sense of cooperation and leadership skills.
Results
The goal of the project was to facilitate the desired volume increase and to reduce manufacturing costs per unit produced by 7-
8%, which on an annual basis would provide an increase in earnings of approximately 7M SEK (EUR 0.8M)
The actual increase in earnings amounted to 12M SEK (EUR 1.3M). As a result of the clear success of the project, the company asked Mantec to work with more units within the group.
