Case study: the refrigeration manufacturer
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A company manufacturing supermarket refrigeration units found itself in dire financial straits. In an increasingly price-led market, they struggled with high staff turnover and sickness, low production levels, poor quality control and dissatisfied customers. No matter how hard the management pushed, the demoralised staff failed to hit the ambitious targets imperative for the company’s survival.
The Human Dimension challenged the ‘do as you are told’ culture and introduced a management style that encouraged dialogue and rewarded initiative. Three programmes brought shop-floor team leaders and managers together to learn new leadership skills, and explore ways to empower themselves and their people.
Outcomes
Team leaders made 45 practical suggestions to improve production methods.
Work flows became more streamlined.
Problems were documented and fed back for improvement, not blame.
Further production improvements were implemented across sections and at all levels.
As a consequence, productivity rocketed, from 0.85 completed units/hour to over two units/hour – a leap of no less than 235%.
And customer satisfaction soared.