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Approach: Process: Scenarios

Market Share Gains

Creating a Customer-First Company

Leveraging Lean Processes to Recapture Market Share

In an increasingly competitive global marketplace, no company—even one with a leading position—can afford to become complacent regarding customer satisfaction.

In the case of a packaging equipment manufacturer, poor quality, long lead times, late deliveries and a disregard for customer needs had caused its market position and reputation to plummet. The first step was to address a problematic manufacturing process, replacing batch and queue with a one-piece-flow process by utilizing a series of Kaizens (rapid improvement events).  After the first four years the following results were achieved:

1. Productivity increased 400%
2. Product manufacturing lead times went from 16 weeks to 12 hours
3. First pass yield improved from 0% to 90+%
4. Inventory turns increased from two to twenty-four

But manufacturing process improvements were not enough. Products were actually redesigned to take advantage of lean production methods: all products were built to order in short lead times using pre-engineered modules. Distribution was able to work with end customers to configure equipment that was an exact match with their needs rather than attempt to push inventory from their warehouses.

A highly flexible lean manufacturing process and company-wide commitment to regain customer trust enabled the company to yet again enjoy market leadership.