A North Eastern Manufacturing Company

Background:

This client was a supplier of bearings to a variety of manufacturers when it was first established as one of the first Japanese inward investment plants to be set up in the UK. It began operations in 1976, and was part of an initiative by its Japanese parent company who perceived a business opportunity in the European sector

Eight years ago the plant reorganised and focused its attention on supplying the automotive trade only, and this change of strategy resulted in significant structural changes, a very high investment cost and a reduction in headcount. In the year 2000 the plant employed around 770 people including 51 managers. By 2008 the establishment was round 320 with 12 managers left to run the whole of the operation.

The Manufacturing Director recognised that following these reductions, the plant could not be managed in the same way and preserve its reputation for quality, price and delivery.

It was decided that the best approach would be to introduce model where the responsibility for minute by minute production was given to a number of self-managed teams (SMT’s), while the management team focused on issues of plant management and strategy implementation.

The project for introducing this throughout the plant was named as “Destiny is in Our Hands” and it involved a shift in mindset on the part of everyone in the plant. GCConsultants was brought in to help with this process.

Issues

The challenge was to release the potential intellectual capital of everyone in the business for the production of the product. To do this meant:

• There needed to be a strong message communicated throughout the plant about the role everyone needed to play to help to secure its future
• Everyone at the plant needed to be clear about what SMT’s were, what they could be expected to do and why they were being introduced
• The Management Team needed to understand, then support the introduction and development of SMT’s from the outset
• Managers were to be expected to create and maintain the environment in which SMT’s could operate successfully, and this meant a fundamental change of style and the acquisition of a new skill set for many
• There needed to be far greater “transparency” in a business in which the majority of people had been used to keeping most of their jobs in their heads
• The operational performance of the plant was to become a collective concern, rather than the responsibility of a department or an individual
• The development of a communication strategy which would be specifically designed to increase the awareness of the workforce of the issues affecting the performance of the plant as a whole

Click here to see the GC Consultants Approach