An aluminium industry supplier ran into trouble when demand picked up again after a recession. Six previous consultancies had been unable to reverse the decline. Ten months after Axisto was brought in, production plan attainment had risen from 55% to 95%, output was 13% higher, and delivery reliability was no longer under pressure.
Duration: ten months
“You were the seventh consultancy in a row. None of your predecessors had improved our situation. I never believed Axisto would succeed, but you did, and how.“- Production Shift Leader
The situation
In a short space of time, a recession turned a successful, profitable company into an organisation in crisis. To survive, it cut deep into operating costs and the capital budget. The company came through the hardest period, but the scale of the cuts made it impossible to respond properly when the market recovered and volumes returned.
As operational problems mounted, production reliability and finished-goods stock fell. Keeping customers supplied on time required expedited deliveries, which unsettled customers. Bringing in more contract staff pushed costs up further still. The company asked for an action-oriented approach, with concrete operational improvements and a focus on supply chain reliability.
What was really wrong
Soon after we arrived, the tension in the organisation was palpable. Before the operational problems could be investigated, an open conversation was needed first. So we carried out a broad cultural diagnostic and spoke to 167 people: almost half the organisation. The picture was confronting. The gap between management and the shop floor was wide, mutual trust was low, and departments operated as islands.
In parallel with the cultural diagnostic, we analysed the operation, which showed that the biggest issues were equipment availability and reliability, and the way Production and Maintenance worked together.
What we did together
Cleared the air. In dialogue sessions with groups from across the organisation, each attended by a member of the management team, we built a foundation for collaboration: transparent, interactive and reflective. Small wins were achieved, employees felt they were genuinely being listened to, and momentum built.
Got to the bottom of the situation together. Shift leaders developed their own tools to gather the information they needed. Together we developed an operational vision, and held current performance up against that vision and against the employees’ own ambitions. The entire management team was actively involved.
Designed a performance framework, with the people themselves. Employees lacked feedback on their performance and didn’t really know what targets Production and Maintenance were pursuing. Together with them, we designed a new framework for performance management.
Got Production and Maintenance working together. Transparent reporting by shift, with accurate recording of breakdowns and maintenance performance. Tight management of performance improvement, combined with on-the-job coaching, brought about the necessary development of more effective behaviours.Strengthened the operational foundations. The teams introduced Total Productive Maintenance: equipment criticality was established, planned maintenance routines developed and a maintenance master plan drawn up. 5S was introduced across the whole plant and in the maintenance workshop.
What it delivered
- Production plan attainment: 55% (start of cooperation) → 95% (end of project)
- 13% More output.
- 20% Higher Maintenance productivity
- Critical equipment restored to its base condition
- Order and tidiness on the shop floor much improved
- Performance is transparent and visible to everyone
- A clear improvement in the global employee survey, particularly on:
- scope for personal initiative
- being heard
- opportunities for personal growth and development
- commitments being kept
Financially: the investment paid back ten times over.
What happened afterwards
The atmosphere in the plant had improved markedly, and divisional management’s confidence in the site was restored. That released funds to modernise the site and its equipment: money that wasn’t available while performance was in question.
Together with the client, we drew up an improvement plan for the next step. Thanks to the coaching in the first phase, the organisation was able to carry out that follow-on phase independently, without outside help.
