Managing change: Example - transitioning from R&D into Manufacturing business
The company had been trading successfully for approximately 4 years. Its novel design's and technology had won the attention of some major subsea equipment manufacturers and military contractors. The company recognised that it needed to transition to realise growth but required a new approach to manage the change as previous attempts had failed.
situation
SOLUTION
Steven:
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Took over the responsibility for managing the company’s main technology development projects, ensuring all new products were being designed for manufacture using a common design philosophy.​​
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Harnessed the creativity and skill of the R&D Engineers to help decode complex 'hand-crafted' manufacturing techniques into high volume, process driven and tool orientated production techniques.
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Designed, constructed and commissioned a new production facility with an emphasis on workflow design, worker productivity and asset utilisation. Steven also compiled all the work pack and production documentation.
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Implemented visual metrics and dashboards to help both staff and customers understand progress and provide confidence for consistent on-time deliveries.
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Reduced the range of products under development by identifying growth products with significant proven market demand.
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Recruited, trained and transformed a team of engineers and semi-skilled technicians into a high performance manufacturing team delivering a product range that until previously could only be produced by very highly skilled and experienced personnel. This was achieved through custom designing a training and competency scheme, team development and personal coaching.
OUTCOME
The enhanced capability was regarded by international customers as being best in class and resulted in several new contract wins from major defence contractors.
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Throughput was increased by over 130%, per person, per month whilst improving yield and reducing material costs.
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Production costs were reduced by 57%.
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Failure rate at the final test stage from being in excess of 15% down to 3%.