For a large German mechanical engineering company with more than 12,000 employees, the interim manager took on the task of optimizing the processes for order processing for the construction of high-quality, complex machines. Production - from the foundry to sheet metal and electrical production to assembly - used to take 9 months. The aim of the optimization was to deliver the machines, including customer-specific requirements, ex works after 4 months.
The analysis of the existing processes and the design of a new order processing system were scheduled to take 3 months. To make efficient use of this period, the interim manager organized the task using agile project management methods.
Manufacturing dependencies between the assemblies identified
After recording the existing process descriptions, the interim manager added missing descriptions. In this way, he created a complete overview of the manufacture of components and assemblies at all stages of production as well as the procurement of components. In the next step, he identified and documented the production-related dependencies between the assemblies in order to recognize the relationship between processing and idle times for all time-critical components. One of the challenges was to communicate this view of the manufacturing process to all responsible employees. Once this had been achieved, the employees enriched the project by independently creating partial analyses and contributing their in-house knowledge of the internal processes in a targeted manner.
In the next step, the interim manager visualized the processes with a view of lead times and dependencies between the assemblies in graphics. This revealed the weak points in order processing, which could now be discussed within the company.
Finding solutions for the standardization of assemblies in agile sprints
Together with the production team, he now defined tasks to look for solutions in a series of fortnightly sprints. On the one hand, the aim was to reduce assembly and production dependencies in procurement, production and assembly between the individual assemblies. On the other hand, the sprints served to reduce the idle times of the components between the individual production steps and stages. This showed that some of the components and assemblies could be standardized to such an extent that they could be stockpiled in good time at a reasonable cost. He also developed new concepts with the teams for the timely production of order-specific components.
Delivery time successfully reduced from 9 to 4 months
The next step was to reorganize production for the standard assemblies and order-specific components of the machines. The interim manager and the internal teams were able to successfully overcome this challenge in another agile project lasting 3 months with many sprints. The company is now able to guarantee delivery times of 4 months for customized machines. This enabled the client to increase turnover and further expand its market position.
