Background

The company is part of a Swedish group which has more than 13,000 employees and is listed on the Swedish Stock exchange. It has approximately 1,000 employees including 600 engaged in Research and Development (R&D). A multi-site company with R&D and Production in four plants, its business is advanced technological products and systems for a demanding global market.

The company wanted to improve its business in the total Supply Chain, and asked Mantec to undertake a pre-study in Development & Technology. This was carried out using a combination of analysis and workshops with the management team in order to define areas of improvement. The main finding was that connections between line and project management were weak, which led to lack of control of projects and unclear roles and responsibilities.

Implementation

Based upon the pre-study findings, a project was defined jointly between Mantec and the client with the following objectives:

• reduce time to market;
• reduce lead times;
• improve project control (delivery performance and cost); and
• improve planning and cost calculation of projects.

Time to Market was addressed by improving the configuration of product structures and management itself, as well as the organisation of engineering changes.

Lead times and project control were improved by breaking down company goals and deploying them to the relevant levels throughout the organisation. This gave the management team better control, and the objectives of middle and first line managers were clarified. In addition, a Visual Management System was implemented, which enabled first line managers to get more involved and communicate better with project teams.

The need for more precise planning and calculation of all projects was addressed by setting up a Project Office. This enabled more effective organisation and better communication with Marketing and Sales.

Throughout the project, work on the main objectives was supported by group work and one-on-one coaching to improve leadership values and attitudes at all levels, and this was consolidated in the overall company by conducting workshops with the management team.

Results

The main benefits to the client of successfully implementing the project have been:

• delivery performance has improved from 70% to 95%; and
• overrun on projects has decreased accordingly.

The improvements correspond to a project ROI of between 300% and 400%.

Background

The company produces the world’s largest container vessels, employs 3,500 people and has a turnover of 4.9 billion DKK (€0.6 billion). The company is a part of a corporate group that in total employs 110,000 people in 125 countries.

The company had for a number of years produced vessels exclusively for its parent company, but was about to commence producing vessels for other ship owners. Further, due to hard competition and depressed cargo prices, it was imperative to become competitive with vessels produced in the East, and the company turned to Mantec for help

Implementation

During the initial analysis, a large number of people at various organisational levels were interviewed. Process mappings were executed, analysis of the management system was performed and the client’s view on management was documented.

The findings concluded need for the following activities related to Logistic & Quality:

• Establishment of a new logistic organisation with focus on:
• internal transportation planning (movement of ship sections between workshops and gantry crane);
• external transportation planning of barges (transporting ship sections and articles between yards);
• inventory handling, including goods receivable and transfer out to the different work places;
• purchase follow-up.
• Major changes to the existing quality department:
• establishment of quality workers in the different production departments;
• establishment of specific handover procedures, when ship sections are passed between departments.
• KPIs for the whole logistic area.

The solutions were developed in close cooperation with the management team (including the new logistic manager) and the quality manager of the yard.

Results

Headline benefits to the client have been:

• implementation of a management system that continuously supplies information on logistic performance; 
• reduction in numbers of warehouse staff;
• more efficient internal and external transportation. Transport service levels have improved by 30%, with a 15% reduction in resource usage;
• establishment of a “continuous improvement culture” in the logistic area; and
• improved quality – and consequently higher productivity when the ship is erected and finished in the dock area. The number of sections requiring welding corrections in the dock has reduced by about 33%.