Case Studies

AUTOMOTIVE - "LEAN HISTORY DOESN'T SECURE THE FUTURE"

The Opportunity: The survival of this Tier 1 automotive supplier, and the 150 jobs attached to it, was reliant on meeting extreme delivery pressures at exceptionally low cost and stock holdings.

Client Success: 45% improvement in labour performance worth millions of dollars per annum and secured the future of the business.

Implementing Change: In the automotive sector, where the fundamentals of Lean were developed, there is significant opportunity for people with the right mindset and determination.

A plan was developed with the local management team using Lean improvement tools already familiar to the business. Rapid improvement was essential, it was needed in weeks, not months or years. The Denken consulting team brought a rigorous prioritisation approach that led the local team to tackle one challenge at a time, rather than being swamped by the dozens of processes that could have been improved.

Close investigation and challenging the way the factory team operated in the Moulding department revealed that time was being lost through poor load balancing between teams, repeating mechanical problems and poor schedule communication. Each of these issues could be dealt with individually by the responsible department in isolation. However, the Denken consultants showed the management team how to rewire the organisation for improvement and work collaboratively to find solutions that were quicker, more successful and enduring than any isolated solution.