Case Studies
Produmax - The Brief
Produmax is a precision sub-contract engineering company and has been trading for over 40 years. They specialise in complex machined parts made from a range of steels, titanium and aluminium alloys and supply predominantly to the aerospace industry.
Company Profile
Produmax is a precision sub-contract
engineering company and has been trading
for over 40 years. They specialise in
complex machined parts made from a range
of steels, titanium and aluminium alloys and
supply predominantly to the aerospace
industry.
If Produmax had a motto it would be
something like “Give us the most complex
components; we will machine it if others
can’t”. The organisation thrives on
production engineering challenges.
Background
The company’s sales are currently made up of
aerospace, telecoms and medical products
and machined components and assemblies
are delivered to a wide range of clients in these
sectors. Component batch sizes can vary
between one-off orders to over 1000 in
quantity. Produmax are keen to increase their
sales in assembled components and
production engineering services in the future.
The organisation already had a dynamic
management and shop floor team who were
technically and process driven, and had
invested heavily in machine tools for a small
organisation.
However, Jeremy Ridyard, the Managing
Director, knew there were opportunities for
further improvement at Produmax. He was
also sure that the key was to involve
employees, utilising the huge levels of
experience and skill of the workforce in order
to implement changes throughout the
organisation. MAS gave invaluable assistance
here.
Making it Happen
To begin implementing culture change
across the business, a continuous
improvement team was formed
involving several key members of staff.
The team were instrumental in putting
changes in place on the shop floor and
within the business processes.
Initially the team concept was met with
some uncertainty, but once the staff
realised that it enabled them to work
towards putting in place some of the
changes they had been asking about for
some time, the level of scepticism
reduced.
An early challenge set for the team was
to run a pilot 5S project in the canteen.
This was actually harder than
anticipated - the difficulty is always to
sustain the improvements once they
have been introduced.
Finding the time to put the project actions
in place between the training sessions
was challenging for team members. In
Jeremy’s view this was not optional to the
job; improvement work needed to become
part of the job. The use of MAS
specialists was critical here to maintain
the ongoing momentum.
The weekly meetings and techniques
used, whilst straight forward, gave the
team a structured approach to putting
changes in place. Most people in the
organisation were involved in the project
in some way. A number of obstacles were
encountered but the team learnt to work
through them in order to make progress.
Jeremy Ridyard, Managine Director
“We wanted to promote a climate of change
throughout the business. The continuous
improvement team have driven the changes
from the bottom up whilst support has been
provided from the top down.
I have been very happy with the progress
made so far but feel the biggest ongoing
challenge is to change employee attitudes
even further. We intend to continue this
process with the help and support of Ian
Peacock at PDA Management Consultants
and MAS funding.
Produmax will continue working to Lean
principles. Increasing the level of Lean
thinking will keep Produmax on track to
becoming world class and is critical to
sustaining success in an ever more
competitive market place.”
What Produmax people said:
“Initially combining our efforts and working
together as a team was challenging with
some strong personalities wanting to do
things their own way. We now have another
perspective on problems, share ideas and
have seen many solutions including better
tool management and set-up time.”
Robin Peart,
Cell Leader
“The early apprehension and suspicion
subsided as the team began making
changes that have improved both the
working environment and techniques used
for working more efficiently.”
Peter Watmough,
Operator
“The attitudes of most people have
noticeably changed over the last 9 months
and people are prepared to try new methods
of working where the emphasis is on
continuous improvement”.
Dave Brady,
Cell Leader