Company Profile:

Payroll Services Department of an International Bank - 28,000 employees. The Payroll Services Department was responsible for processing salaries for every employee each fortnight and for making many hundreds of adjustments to salaries resulting from promotions, recruitment, etc. The staff were highly stressed and the Department was under huge pressure to perform. Staff turnover was at record levels. Several consultants had been employed over time to little effect.

Objective:

To improve operational efficiency delivering accuracy and improved lead-times.

Approach used:

• OPTIM Improvement conducted an analysis of workflow. It quickly became apparent that a considerable portion of most operational procedures added little or no value to the end 'customer'. It was quickly realised that if the staff were not to own the final recommendations little change would result.
• OPTIM Improvement created a project team, trained them through an OPTIM Improvement process called "Simple Systems for Administration", and guided the team through the processes of analysis and questioning that underpin the techniques they had learnt. Once the final opportunity for operational waste elimination was recognised, the team then set about redesigning the workflow and finally re-designating responsibilities around focused team concepts and communicated to the rest of the staff by the team.
• This team also implemented the training of their peers.

Outcomes:

• The first project team quickly identified that only one of forty-four steps in a critical procedure added any real "value" to the process. Of the remaining forty-three steps, a few were classified as "process enabling" and the remainder were "waste". The team was able to reduce the procedure down to a total of eight steps, most of which could be handled by one person. Other projects had similar outcomes.
• This provided the Department a way forward to make more effective use of people's time and to radically reduce the internal lead-time for processing salaries and changes.

Company Profile:

Manufacturer of laundry products and consumer goods. An international company with 17 plants worldwide. This site was the 2nd highest cost producer in the group and considered, historically, to be a poor performer.

Objective:

Aim is to become the lowest cost producer with the highest productivity.

Outcomes:

• Moved from 2nd highest (16th) to 2nd lowest cost producer in the group in less than twelve months.
• Developed a motivated and very flexible workforce.

Dramatic improvement in productivity with:

• Line 1- capacity increased from 400 cases/day to 1250 cases/day with no capital outlay.
• Line 2 - labour cost reduced by 67% and line capacity increased by 34%. Line availability increased from 80% to 98%.
• Line 3 - reduced product variability by 50 % and saved 12.5 tons of material annually. Warehouse - analysed the supplier delivery patterns to find massive peaks and troughs in the delivery volume through a week. They modified the ordering process and worked with suppliers to evenly spread the delivery times during the days and week.

Approaches used:

• All employees, including management, were trained in the dynamics of working together and how to use a uniform problem solving methodology that leads to decisions and actions being based on facts and data.
• This was achieved through the OPTIM Improvement "New Generation Problem Solving" process.
• The whole plant was involved in a 2 day process to implement the 5S process and visual control systems resulting in a clean and orderly workplace.
• Ongoing facilitation by OPTIM Improvement is maintaining the enthusiasm and motivation of the people through further training and review of current projects. OPTIM Improvement guidance is showing the company's managers how to lead the Continuous Improvement process.

Company Profile:

Australian operations of a US manufacturer of prescription and retail drugs.

Objectives:

To improve machine and process efficiencies.

Approach used:

• OPTIM Improvement has trained several groups in techniques to measure material/information flow and machine performance. We provided the company with a participative approach to productivity improvement through our Smart Changeovers process.
• Project teams were established with specific terms of reference and defined authorities to make change in their work places.

Outcomes:

The results have been exceptional:

• Project 1. Operators and maintenance crews worked together to simplify a changeover process so that only operators need to be involved. Team wrote its own procedures. Maintenance staff then improved the manufacturing process making it more reliable and user friendly.
• Project 2. 18 hours set up time reduced to 3 hours (83% reduction). A productivity improvement of 249% is now setting a world-wide "benchmark" for production and packaging of this drug.