Offsite Manufacturing
Volume Improvement Programme
Volume Improvement Programme
Founded in 1946, this market leader in holiday home manufacture operates from a 90 acre site in Kingston Upon Hull. Employing over 1100 staff, they produce in the region of 50 units per day ranging from 28′ x 10′ to 42′ x 14′ singles to 40′ x 20′ twin lodges, all with fitted furniture built entirely on site by a highly skilled team of cabinet makers and carpenters.
Results
- A reduction in walking for the Furniture Loaders by over 50%, enabling them to take more care while loading the material; reducing damage and rework
- 37% reduction in the search for drawings for the slotting process, reducing overtime in that process by 15 minutes per operator per day; at a saving of £9k pa
- A reduction in printing worth £21k pa
- A £93k annual labour cost reduction, gained through reducing the headcount by 2 heads and replacing 4 skilled operators with unskilled labour.
- £123k in total savings identified and recognized, with £10k investment in new equipment, this project delivered an ROI of 2:1
Observations
Through process observation, mapping and diagnostic analysis, we were able to determine that the layout of the Cabinet Shop did not support that of the furniture install bay.
Objectives
Our client was undergoing a significant volume ramp up to meet customer demand. With a full order book, they needed to be able to increase capacity by unblocking some of the bottleneck processes, improve in-process quality, and to reduce staff turnover in areas of high physical demand. There was also a shortage of skilled cabinet makers available, so an alternative approach to staff recruitment was required.
Actions
By modifying the entire layout of the Cabinet Shop and changing the order of material from the Machine Shop, we were able to supply the Furniture Loaders with the material closer to its point of use, with the barrows that contained 1 or 2 items built closer to the load point, and those with a full batch of 10 further away (less returns of a greater distance).
With the introduction of digital drawings linked to an alpha-numerical index, we were able to take away the reams of paper drawings which were time consuming to review, speeding up the process and reducing delays to the Cabinet Shop.
Through process mapping and conducting shop-floor observations, we identified the non-value-added work elements and removed these from the skilled cabinet makers, creating new processes for the unskilled labour that fed directly into the skilled elements of the department.
