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OEE improvement by the help of agile project management

When is agile project management particularly useful?

When the goal is clear, but the way to get there is unclear!

And: when many different specialist functions are needed to achieve the goal!

A large plant of an automotive supplier regularly faces such challenges – for example, when performance KPIs such as OEE (Overall Equipment Efficiency) are not meeting the target. In that case, an iterative approach like Scrum helps an interdisciplinary team maintain focus and work step by step to solve the challenge in a way that delivers results.

But an organization does not always have the necessary experience. BLSG provides the ideal start-up support for this kind of situation: from the initial qualification of the project team and convincing important stakeholders, to the project setup, to accompanying the project in the role of Scrum Master. Of course, the BLSG consultants also contribute their expertise in the operations environment and thus help the team to meet the challenge.

The result is not only a sustainable solution to the problem, but also the experience gained with the agile approach – which can be used in the future for new challenges even without external support.

Introduction of lean manufacturing at the leading maker of door hinge systems

Reducing throughput time by 80% by introducing lean manufacturing was the goal of the leading producer of door hinge systems. This was accomplished, but the team comprising customer employees and BLSG consultants managed to achieve even more: delivery reliability and service levels were improved, inventories were reduced and the flow rate in production stages across two locations was increased. Along the way there, data and IT processes were analysed and adapted and various Kaizen measures implemented. Outside the core team, lean thinking was also promoted throughout the company in individual consultations and workshops (e.g. on setup optimisation through SMED).

KPI-board connected supply chain at a leading freight forwarding company

An international freight forwarding company was selected by an OEM as a pilot freight forwarder for a project called “Connected Supply Chain”. The aim of this project was to provide the OEM with an ETA (estimated time of arrival) of the delivering trucks every 5 minutes based on GPS data. The OEM divided the project into three phases, the hypercare phase, stabilisation phase and series operation, which lasted a total of 16 weeks. To ensure process and data quality, approx. 30 key performance indicators (KPIs) were defined for these phases, e.g. each status message transmitted by a truck should contain a geo-location. To do so, BLSG’s experts developed a KPI board in cooperation with the client. The data recorded by the trucks was accessed by means of various SQL queries. To be able to influence the KPIs, one or more reports were created for each KPI. These reports provided detailed information that was used to derive subsequent measures.

Redesign of order processing at a medical technology manufacturer

How can order lead time from initial customer enquiry to delivery be radically reduced? In a heterogeneous portfolio ranging from series products to custom-made products, it is essential to establish clear standards in both administrative and value-adding processes. BLSG’s experts documented the target processes in detail and introduced comprehensive key figure reporting. In the end, their accurate implementation support and intensive transformation management resulted in a customer order process with improved lead times.

Planning a new factory in the automotive sector

That BLSG consultants are experts in analysing existing production and logistics processes has often been proved. But planning an entirely new factory was a special challenge. In a multi-stage acquisition process, an automotive supplier was supported in redesigning its production facility. The customer, a newly founded joint venture, was presented a sustainable and competitive production and logistics concept, making it well prepared not only for this but for future projects as well.

You can find out what challenges are involved in planning a new factory with a variety of logistics scenarios and related calculations, and how these are solved here.       Read more