A retail manufacturerDoubling production capacity, expanding profits

Helping a retail manufacturer improve production output while maintaining product quality

The project

A manufacturer was experiencing massive market growth, challenging the production capacity, as well as a continuous cost pressure from customers. This required improvement of the production output and efficiency while maintaining the high product quality.

The project took a structured “flow approach” to increase capacity and efficiency, reduce work in progress and indirect time usage as well as to increase the gross profit through initiatives such as:

• Balancing the production line to even out the cycle time for each workstation as well as implementing standardised ways of working.
• A new material transportation concept to reduce non-value-adding time such as movement of material and personnel.
• Structured knowledge-sharing with more efficient assembly teams passing knowledge to other departments as tutors/mentors.

The impact

• Increased production capacity by 100% within the same premises (m2).
• Reduced lead times from 1-2 weeks to two days.
• Reduced indirect time usage to 15%.
• Reduced direct time usage per product by 30%.
• Increased gross profit to 35%.
• Increased component production line capacity from 800 to 1600 units per week.