 CASE STUDIES Example 1 Issue: American General was losing its Federal contract and needed to successfully transition to civilian market. A Toyota-like lean manufacturing/operating system was proposed to address this issue. On-site design and facilitation with co-design by American General cross-functional work teams were put in place. Team-based redesign and reengineering of all processes was conducted in all departments including engineering, manufacturing, administrative support, accounting, purchasing, and HR. Joint company/supplier skill building workshops for process mapping, problem solving, and team effectiveness skills were arranged. Natural work teams were directly involved in design, development, implementation and continuous improvement of the actual work system. Change was not only allowed but encouraged. Result: New manufacturing processes were developed to support new customer needs. New marketing capabilities were developed to serve new customers. All support and administrative processes were re-engineered to support the new company. A marketing department was established. No employees lost jobs. Part defects were reduced 90%. Interior gauge defects were reduced to zero. The company saw increased volume per hour per person, decreased equipment downtime, decreased material downtime and increased available floor space. Issue: The entire workforce was encouraged to participate. The entire supply base was also brought into the program. They worked together to develop a new contract between the company and the union. Result: A new union contract was resolved in 75% less time. All items in the new contract were implemented for the first time in company's history. Client Pain: There are often too many groups trying to accomplish similar things. No one knows what anyone else is doing. This leads to poor results due to diluted efforts. There is no ability to capture lessons learned and apply them. Example 2 Issue: Ford managers were given the task of saving the plant at which they worked which was besieged by terrible quality issues. We helped get a twenty person engineering and manufacturing team together to address this task. People involved met before work started to develop a relationship based on trust, common direction and the desire to continue the life of the plant. Result: The team managed a $25 million cost reduction which was twice as great as any reduction in the past. This effort saved countless jobs and the life of the plant. Example 3 Issue: Employee involvement coordinators needed to get cost out of the system to sustain the an automobile factory. The Factory needed a new painting system for a new product. There was, however, only enough money for one new paint booth or two products. Employees got together to resolve the problem. Result: Skilled trades offered to build paint booths to specifications in 4 months at no charge. This kept the car line at the plant and secured jobs for their fellow workers who would otherwise have had to go on unemployent. Rapid Change: A division of Ford used this methodology for three and a half years. During that time, they experienced change that was 93% faster than any other methodology they had relied on. As a result, Ford added $537 million to its bottom line. |