A Consumer Packaged Goods company was faced with a mandate from the Board of Directors to significantly reduce the cost per unit. A diagnostic exercise proved the labor costs were out of control as temporary headcount was continually brought in to cover a myriad of problems. We observed inconsistent work methods, high equipment downtime, quality problems, an excess of inventory (no room to move in the warehouse!), and underutilized operations leadership – they were fighting fires rather than driving improvement. We utilized a number of the Win Holistic Transformation Model™ elements.

We utilized Strategy Engagement Execution™ (SEE™) to ensure the team was focused and aligned on the most important improvement themes, helped define the accountable metric owners, and helped them create action plans that would achieve their targets.

We led Lean Thinking exercises to clarify issues with their current material and information flow and define their potential future state. We led a number of Kaizen events to begin putting the basics in place, including Standardized Work, Total Productive Maintenance, and Material Replenishment Systems.

We taught some Daily Leadership principles during the initial Kaizen events, especially pertaining to visual management techniques. The next step is to get the entire management team through a variety of workshops to future develop their leadership skill. We also coached the new Senior Vice President of Operations on the challenges he had with his team.

Results: Within the first couple of months, they experienced productivity gains of 20-30%, significantly improved overall equipment effectiveness, and have enough momentum to confidently hit the Board of Directors’ unit cost targets. Financially, they saved over 10 times their investment in consulting fees.