Toyota Kirloskar Motors Pvt. Ltd - Lean Practices - Case Study

http://www.toyotabharat.com/inen/about/tkm_production.aspx
Facility to visit the plant in groups http://www.toyotabharat.com/inen/about/plant_tour.aspx


2 Jan 2014
Total Number of employees 6400+
Installed capacity 310,000
http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/auto/20140102279871.htm

Resource efficiency at TKM India
http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jbm/papers/Vol4-issue4/B0440815.pdf


30 November 2013
Mr. V. Ramesh, Senior Vice President, Toyota Kirloskar Motors addressed a student conference Prayojan on the theme ‘Lean and Quality Revolution- Design to Delivery (The Toyota Way)’. He emphasised on the philosophy of Customer First; for Toyota, Quality means meeting and exceeding customers’ expectations at a cost that represents value to them. He explained some of the  facets of the unique Toyota Production System like Just-In-Time, Jidoka (quality built into the production process), Genchi Genbutsu (“go and see for yourself” to understand the real situation), Kaizen (Continuous Improvement), Mieruka (Visual Control), ‘Quality Gate’ after each process, Respect for People and feedback from customers and dealers which TKM is implementing in India.
http://imnublog.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/prayojan2013/

2013
Hiroshi Nakagawa, Managing Director and CEO of Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM),  visited the paint shop at the company's facilities in Bidadi, 40 kilometres south of Bangalore to personally visit the plant to see how a position change in the paint shop's equipment (result of kaizen by the shop people) resulted in a five second saving per vehicle.

This is Genchi Genbutsu, or on-site inspection, a core principle of the Toyota Production System (TPS). Nakagawa, who has been a TPS practitioner for four decades, doesn't believe in seeing things on his computer screen  but  prefers to go where the action is. During the on-site visit or study, sensory organs of the manager will be alert - smell, sound, vision, and that will help in locating more improvement ideas.


The Toyota motto is Safety First, Quality Must, Kaizen Forever. Vikram Kirloskar, vice chairman of TKM, signed up for a joint venture in 1997 to learn from  the number one manufacturing company in the world.

The company annual revenues stand at Rs. 11,589 crore now.

Toyota production system is a triangle with ' Current Process' at one end, 'Standard' at another and 'Target Setting' making up the third.

In the case of standard processes, there is much stress on PDCA, or Plan, Do, Check and Action.  It is traditional management theory only, retold by Deming in his own way, but Toyota sticks to it. Every standard process has to be implement, results have to be checked with plan and if any deviations are there, the cause have to be found out to make the process work. Otherwise, one goes back to the old standard process and continues his effort for improvement.

Lean Supply Chain Relationships

Relationship of TKM with its 110 vendors countrywide is based on a high level of hand-holding in the processes and process improvement.

Motherson Sumi Systems supplies wires harnesses and plastic mouldings.

Motherson Sumi's General Manager Shivendra Mathur gives credit to Toyota  as a very good sensei (teacher): On the Motherson shopfloor, Toyota's 'Parts & Information Flow' process ensures zero over-inventory. Last June, the process identified four areas in the shopfloor that were overstocked and Toyota managers helped the company to  review these processes and streamline them.

Kanban systems are used in TKM for  lean management.

The Rs 2,000-crore Lumax Industries supplies rare combination lamps, shift lever and small lamps to the Etios platform.

Typically, a 4-6 member team from TKM visits all suppliers and guides them through various aspects of lean production. The Toyota Way gets cascaded as Lumax  and others try to improve their suppliers. For Toyota parts and assembles, Lumax has 40 suppliers and Lumax is working for improving their efficiency with continuous learning from the TPS.



A captive supplier, Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts (TKAP), on the TKM premises gives a demonstration of the Toyota Way of supplier partnership. The three plants of TKAP spread over 50 acres provide  gasoline engines and transmission for the Etios platform and gearboxes for Toyota's integrated multi-utility vehicles (IMUV). They also make axles and shafts for Innova.



The company systematically picks up components from its 47-odd local vendors. While components are picked up from local suppliers, say, eight times a day, they are picked  from a far-flung supplier near the Wagah border once a day and reach the TKAP facility in five days. Toyota does not believe in zero inventory for zero inventory's sake. Zero inventory is demanded when even one piece of inventory is waste. Decisions are made rationally in Toyota Production System. TKAP supplies to TKM eight times a day. For TKAP, the turnaround time from the time an empty truck comes to its plant to loading it and sending it to TKM, is 20 minutes. The other suppliers are also given standard times or target times within which they have to load their parts in the transport vehicle.

Heijunka or leveling the daily production is practiced so as not to overload the system with any excess demand for one type of part.

A plant visit illustrates how every process is visible. It is called meiruka. In Toyota, opaqueness is avoided and the process is made visible to all including operators. Making problems visible and solving problems is a daily chore.

TKM has 6,000 people

To achieve the Toyota Way, every stakeholder must be on the same page in terms of teamwork, efficiency and understanding.

http://m.economictimes.com/features/corporate-dossier/how-toyota-brought-its-famed-manufacturing-method-to-india/articleshow/msid-19381179.cms

2012
Plant visit to Toyota Kirloskar
http://www.motorbeam.com/cars/toyota-cars/toyota-india-plant-visit-report/

2009
Company's vision and mission
http://tkmombudsman.com/index_files/tkm_coe_rest.pdf

June 2009
Article in Outlook
http://business.outlookindia.com/article_v3.aspx?artid=102385

2003
TKAP to make manual transmission as an EOU
http://www.hindu.com/biz/2003/01/20/stories/2003012000170300.htm

http://m.economictimes.com/features/corporate-dossier/how-toyota-brought-its-famed-manufacturing-method-to-india/articleshow/msid-19381179.cms

To be expanded further

Mahindra and Mahindra Limited - India - Lean Journey

2013

Mahindra Logistics - Supporting Mahindra as well as other companies
http://www.automotivesupplychain.org/features/190/79/The-Mahindra-Network/

A Complete Report on Mahindra and Mahindra - More on Marketing
http://www.slideshare.net/santoshtiwari14268/complete-analysis-of-mahindra-mahindra

A prize winning IT Project
Elimination of virus problems in Paint Robots of Mahindra Chakan Plant
http://www.pcquest.com/pcquest/feature/192287/mahindra-vehicle-s-paintshop-robotics-systems/page/2


2012

A lean improvement study in Tractor Plant

Table II Cycle time on M/C HMC 492.10

S.No Activity
Cycle time
in min
1 Drilling Dia. 23.5mm 1.2
2 Drilling Dia. 39.0 mm 0.8
3 Hole mill Dia. 25.0 mm 0.9
4 Rough milling 3.8
5 Finish milling 1.5
Total 8.2

Table III Reduced Cycle time on M/C HMC 492.10

S.No. Activity
Cycle time
in min
1
Drilling Dia 23.5, 25.0
& 39.0mm
1
4 Rough milling 3.8
5 Finish milling 1.5
Total 6.3

Lean Manufacturing Implementation in the Assembly shop of Tractor Manufacturing  Company
Gundeep Singh, Dr. R.M. Belokar
International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering (IJITEE)
ISSN: 2278-3075, Volume-1, Issue-2, July 2012

(Company is Mahindra and Mahindra)
http://www.ijitee.org/attachments/File/v1i2/B0157061212.pdf




An intensive 5-day certification workshop on Lean Manufacturing based on Toyota Production System was
conducted at Mahindra and Mahindra Limited, Khandivli Plant during 8-12 October 2012. 20 participants from senior management level participated.
Mr Ashok Sharma, Chief Executive and Head of Agri Business along with Mr Sudhir Pathak, Sr. Vice President - Manufacturing & Supply Management and Mr Raj Deepak Chatterjee, Head-Business Excellence inaugurated the program by lighting the traditional lamp. The Lean Manufacturing Certification program has
enabled the participants to equip themselves with targeted technical and team leadership competencies in lean manufacturing as the course was a combination of interactive classroom training and discussion along with actual shop floor study and analysis on specific assembly lines and machining cells. The course objective was driven by the Gemba and Gembutsu approach, in the true spirit of Toyota way.
Participants understood the methods to apply each of the
principles and tools of Lean including Value Stream
Mapping for both manufacturing and business processes,
Continuous Flow Manufacturing Cells, Lean Production
Control, Level Production, kanban and pull systems, 5S,
quick changeover, problem solving methods, Kaizen
events, 7 Tools of Industrial Engineering to name a few.
2012 Annual Report
http://newsletters.cii.in/Quality-Newsletter/Annual-Edition/Annual-Edition.pdf



2010
Presentation on Grey Iron Foundry
http://india.amsconferences.com/Admin/attachments/document/AMSI12_Amar_Patil_MAHINDRA.pdf


2007
Supply Chain Reengineering for Farm Equipment Division for Lean Production
http://www.bp-council.org/wp-content/uploads/Papers_2007/presented/Paper_SCM_Reengineering_at_Mahindra.pdf


1997

M&M's historic labour agreement  to improve the production practices and boost production


December 23, 1997

Mahindra & Mahindra signed a historic wage agreement with its union at its automotive plant at Kandivali, paving the way for a new work culture. M&M evolved Mahindra Production System (MPS) which is an amalgamation of the latest work measurement techniques and the Toyota Production System.

As a result of the agreenment, the Kandivali plant will now operate on JIT, multi-skilling operations by workmen, single piece flow process, observance of TACT time and flexibility. These new practices  will result in improved quality, significantly higher productivity and reduced costs due to reductions in inventories, rejection rates and optimum utilisation of manpower, machines and floor space.

The new agreement  will cover 5,085 employees of the automotive division in Mumbai.

With this agreement, daily production of vehicles at Kandivali is proposed to be increased from 68 to 150 in stages over six months.

http://expressindia.indianexpress.com/fe/daily/19971224/35855803.html

Alucast - UK Company - Lean Training

Alucast on track for £10m goal

03 Apr 2008

A strategic acquisition is set to help a Wednesbury-based aluminium component manufacturer close in on a £ 10m turnover. Alucast, supported by Birmingham Chamber-backed Accelerate, has added specialist machining to its portfolio with the purchase of Dixi Precision Components.

Coventry-based Dixi has seven employess and it gives the business a platform to share complementary customers and move into new markets.
Tony Sartorius is the Managing Director at the sand, gravity and pressure casting specialist Alucast,
He and  John Swift  took over the company in 2003 and  set down a clear strategy that focused on growth that was set against a diverse customer base.”
They  now supply many industrial sectors, including construction, medical, compressors, white goods and even street furniture for Birmingham City Council.
“The automotive, commercial vehicle and motor cycle industries is  still  an important sector and currently account for 25% of  turnover supplying components that are used by Aston Martin, Bentley, Jaguar, Bugatti and Lotus.”

Based on the acquisition, Alucast has already secured a new £350k contract to supply machined parts to a major player in the automotive and commercial vehicle industry. “Within two weeks of taking over, we’ve virtually doubled turnover of Dixi and this is the benefit of synergy." he said.

He went on to add as most of the work we do has to be machined,  bringing everything under one company will help to streamline quality and make the whole process more efficient and cost effective.

Accelerate has played a major role in Alucast’s development over the last five years, providing a range of strategic and financial assistance in modernising operations and introducing lean manufacturing.

The support we have received has been invaluable and allowed us to grow the business from £5m when we took over to its current £8.5m level,” added John Swift, who is the Operations Director.

Alucast management said that they are now working with the Manufacturing Advisory Service – West Midlands on training our workers in the techniques of lean manufacturing.

Alucast, which currently employs 115 people, has set its sights on surpassing the £10m mark by 2010.

About Accelerate

Accelerate is funded by the European Regional Development Fund. It has assisted over 1500 companies last year in implementing lean manufacturing, boosting sales, launching new products and improving quality, cost and performance.

It also gave component manufacturers from across the West Midlands access to the latest technologies, including alternative fuels and telematics.



Source:

http://www.engineeringcapacity.com/news101/sector-news/automotive-and-transport/acquisition_puts_alucast_on_track_for_10m_goal





March 25, 2014 9:44 am

Completing the biggest training scheme in its 47-year history has helped a Wednesbury foundry win £2.5 million of fresh orders.

Alucast,  specialises in sand, gravity and pressure casting, has put 73 of its workers through a comprehensive programme that has delivered diplomas in business improvement techniques and a host of adult apprenticeships.

It collaborated with Lean Education and Development and  implemented a number of improvement projects that have already delivered £232,000 of savings and cash flow benefits and boosted workflow through its factory.

The management team also believes that improving the skills of its staff has been directly responsible for landing £2.5m of contracts previously undertaken by foreign rivals.

These include complex components for a leading luxury car manufacturer, a brake piston casting for Carlisle Brakes and gravity die cast parts for Delphi Pumps.

Managing director Tony Sartoriu also completed a course as part of the programme.


The organisation came up with an approach to training that focused on securing national qualifications for our staff by working on issues within the company.

This ranged from energy management solutions and visual management to improvements in the core shop and the introduction of a dedicated cell for a new client. Increasing our technical capability as well as the training around the Japanese Lean manufacturing techniques of 5S and Kaizen has been instrumental in  winning the new work.

Alucast is a founder member of the Midlands Assembly Network – MAN – a group of 10 world class sub-contract manufacturers who work together to deliver turnkey projects and bring work back to the UK. The collective, which has more than 650 people and records combined sales in excess of £65m, provides access to precision pressings, castings, design, etching, injection moulding, wiring looms, toolmaking, PCB assembly and electrical control systems.

Member firms include Advanced Chemical Etching, Barkley Plastics, Brandauer, FW Cables, Grove Design, Mec Com, PP Electrical Systems, Westley Engineering and SMT Developments. SMT has also benefited from Lean training, putting all of its 28 employees through an adult apprenticeship programme.


For details on Alucast visit www.alucast.co.uk. For more on MAN go to www.man-group.co.uk.
http://www.expressandstar.com/business/business-picks/2014/03/25/training-behind-raft-of-orders-at-alucast/

Seaman Corporation - Lean Manufacturing

Seaman Corporation was given the corporate award by TBM Consulting Group for 2012
http://www.tbmcg.in/about-tbm/tbms-perfect-engine-award.html


Lean initiative at Seaman assisted by TBM Consulting Group
http://www.tbmcg.in/cases/TBMCS_SeamanCorporation_TransformationFastTrack.pdf

Doncasters UK - Lean Initiatives

The company has adopted institutionalised 'lean manufacturing' and uses Six Sigma principles throughout
its operations. In recent years this has resulted in a dramatic and sustained improvement in profitability.
http://www.doncasters.com/index.php?s=0


The company made a wider investment in continuous improvement  across all Doncasters sites,
with a target for 1% of Doncasters 5,000 employees to be Black Belt qualified by the end of 2011.

Grand Haven Stamped Products - Case Study

Hart, MI - On May 13, 2009, at the 7th annual Lean Network conference held in Cincinnati Ohio,
GHSP’s Hart plant was presented the 2009 Lean Network High Performance Award. The annual
award was presented by the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University to the one
member of the Lean Network that scored the highest on a series of audits. The network is open to
all Honda Tier 1 suppliers in North America.

http://ghspfiles.ghsp.com/News/GHSP_Wins_2009_Lean_Network_Award_13May09.pdf


2007



Grand Haven Stamped Products Co. in Grand Haven, Mich., makes the automatic transmission lever assembly for the Honda Civic. The supplier feeds Honda's East Liberty, Ohio, plant, where the Civic is assembled.

"But they also supply this component to Honda plants in Japan, Thailand and the U.K.," Akio Hamada, CEO of Honda of America Manufacturing Inc. said. "That shows they have become globally competitive and achieved it locally in the U.S."
http://www.autonews.com/article/20070419/REG/70419032/honda:-involving-suppliers-early-can-cut-costs


About GHSP
http://www.ghsp.com/About_Us/

JSJ Corporation - Owns GHSP
http://www.jsjcorp.com/about/history/

Nissan Sunderland Plant - Ultimate Lean Production System

2013

The site has become by far the northeast’s biggest private sector employer, with 6,100 currently on its payroll. It also indirectly supports around 12,000 supplier jobs in the Sunderland area, Most components are sourced within Europe.
The complex, which has grown into a £3.5bn-plus investment, last year made a record 510,572 vehicles, and output for 2013 output looks set to top this.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0bdb80d6-4ad8-11e3-ac3d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2v1GgEbSk

2012
Nissan Sunderland breaks UK manufacturing record

Nissan produced 480,485 vehicles at its Sunderland plant in 2011, up 14% from 2010 and a new record for a single UK car plant. The growth was largely due  to the success of the Qashqai models, of which around 300,000 were made. The plant also makes the Juke and Note models.

The Sunderland plant has two production lines, one of which makes the Qashqai on three shifts, running 24 hours a day, five days a week. There are now 5,462 people directly employed at the site.

Nissan is expecting further expansion at its Sunderland plant this year, with the opening of a facility making lithium-ion batteries for electric cars. It will start constructing Nissan's electric car, the Leaf, in 2013.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16391397
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16408511



Interesting case study from Times 100
So far, Nissan has invested over £2.1 billion in the Sunderland site, taking its production capacity to 500,000 vehicles per year.
http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/nissan/planning-for-quality-and-productivity/#axzz2v1GVkwRZ

2006

A number of other partmakers will produce inside the plant as Nissan pushes to boost Sunderland's production 25 percent to 400,000 units by adding three models by late 2006.

Positioned along the assembly line, Magna Kansei will supply cockpit modules and Calsonic Kansei will provide front-end modules.

"The factory-within-a factory is the ultimate lean production system conceivable," said Colin Dodge, managing director of Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK.

It provide the quality feedback of the system; you just shout to the supplier when you've got a problem. It does away with other reporting systems and analysis."

Lear is also believed to be close to a location decision for a new 100,000-square foot plant in Sunderland

"As part of the Nissan Integrated Management System we are actively talking to other Sunderland suppliers with a view to integrating production and to ensure we maintain the highest quality levels into the future," said Trevor Mann, Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK deputy managing director.

Dodge wants to see even today's minimal inventory reduced further and eliminate daily delivery truck movements around the plant. The suppliers form a 'fishbone-like' structure within the plant, with suppliers connecting directly to the main spine of the assembly line.


2001
Nissan's Sunderland car plant sets new European productivity standards in year 2000
Output increased from 271,157 in 1999 to 327,701 in 2000. The ratio of 101 cars per employee is approaching the European productivity record set at Sunderland in 1998.
http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/nissans-sunderland-car-plant-sets-new-european-productivity-standards-154794285.html

1998
NISSAN'S SUNDERLAND car plant has reinforced its position as the most productive in Europe, producing three times as many vehicles per employee as Rover's Longbridge factory in Birmingham.
The manufacturing workforce of just under 2,800 at Sunderland produced 98 cars per employee last year.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/sunderland-shows-you-can-with-a-nissan-1173040.html

Moffitt Associates - Lean Consultants

Consultant Biographies

Jim Cutler(President)

MaryPat Cooper

Jerry Foster

Mark Hamel

Harold Hassebrock

Rick Jeffrey

John Rizzo

Craig Robbins

http://www.moffittlean.com/who/biographies.asp

Britvic Softdrinks - Lean and Efficiency Improvement - Case Study

2012
Robin Howlett, continuous improvement manager, GB Operations at Britvic Soft Drinks, provides the example of a high speed automated FMCG environment to analyse how leader standard work can support the implementation of a continuous improvement programme.
http://www.themanufacturer.com/articles/putting-the-fizz-into-continuous-improvement/



2010

On process energy efficiency, the company delivered cut in  energy in kilowatt hours per litre of product by about 23% between 2002 and 2010.

The secret to Britvic’s success: “Over the past four years it has developed and rolled out to all  sites an improvement  system that builds on the principles of lean manufacture and total productive maintenance. The Britvic Work System evolved from workplace organisation tools,  now focuses on getting equipment operators more involved in maintenance.
http://www.endsreport.com/26018/britvic-systematic-reductions

Sigma Electric Manufacturing Company - SEMCO - India - Pune - Lean Case Study

TBM Helped SEMCO to become a lean company.



Performance improvements at the plant level included (2011):
• Eliminating waste in manufacturing, assembly and packing processes by reducing work-in-process (WIP) from  22 days to less than four days.
• Improving quality in excess of 50%.
• Doubling productivity in four years.
• Doubling plant volume while reducing  floor pace by 30,000 square feet.


http://www.tbmcg.in/misc_assets/newsletter/MT_Q111_CaseStudy_Semco.pdf

Alexander Doll Co. - Case Study

Alexander Doll Co. was founded in 1923 by "Madame" Beatrice Alexander. It was sold to two local investors for $20 million. In 1995, it was headed into bankruptcy and it was bought for $17.5 million by an investment group formed by TBM Consulting involved in lean manufacturing consultancy.

TBM had assembled a buyout fund to buy troubled American companies and revive them using lean systems.

Making dolls has number of steps. The costumes alone contain 20 or more separate items, which have to go through as many as 30 production steps. Accurate planning is essential because doll fabric is bought in tiny quantities that can't be reordered, and 75% of the styles change every year. Customers waited up to 16 weeks for delivery.

In August 1996 TBM appointed a new CEO: Herbert Brown, a manufacturing expert who had run operations for Black & Decker and Johnson & Johnson.  He went to work reorganizing the factory and, in true Toyota fashion, enlisting the aid of the 470 workers,

The workers were organized in seven- or eight-person teams, each of which is responsible for completing about 300 doll or wardrobe assemblies a day. The amount of work in progress has been cut by 96%, and orders can now be filled in one or two weeks instead of four months.

Sales have risen from $23.8 million in 1995 to an estimated $32 million for 1998, and  the company is expected to turn a profit l next year.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1999/01/11/253787/index.htm

Maruti Suzuki - India - Case Study

2010
Maruti Lean Supply Chain Initiatives
Corporate Dossier Article




At  Maruti Suzuki, India's largest carmaker, E. Nagare or 'electronic flow' is a religion. This electronic flow is actually the sequence of production plans from the vendor to Maruti's shopfloor, which now runs  at a two-hour cycle.  E. Nagare has completely transformed the supply chain at Maruti over the last four years.

Across Maruti's twin sprawling plants in Gurgaon and Manesar, multi-coloured bumpers arrive in mobile trolleys and components line up outside factory sheds directly feeding the ever-hungry, multi-tasked assembly lines.  The company's 250-odd Tier I vendors and 20 global suppliers, now supply multiple times in a day within a slot of two hours based on the information given out tothem the previous night to crank out 4,600 cars a day.
http://m.economictimes.com/features/corporate-dossier/maruti-suzuki-sports-lean-look-and-ensures-its-vendor-network-gets-even-leaner/articleshow/msid-6948124,curpg-2.cms


2010

Maruti is  moving to the next level by upgrading the entire process quality through our production management system (PMS), process improvement and people capability development.  It is  adopting latest production technologies (eg, TWB, weld automation, new paint & assembly technologies, etc).

It has employed some cross functional teams to work in various areas like assembly, paint, weld, power-train and materials, etc, to identify the opportunities for capacity enhancements.

Automation and robotics have always been a focus areas for improvement in process efficiency, product quality and also for elimination of unsafe & difficult work. Lot of stress is put on internal low cost automation. Low cost automation provides lower process cost, repeatability and reliability. Robotics, in addition, also provides flexibility and accuracy in weld and paint processes.

Maruti has adopted  lean processes enveloping man, machine, material & methods – the four resources of manufacturing.  It has built its own lean philosophy, ‘Maruti production system’ which is a customised waste reduction concept, which is easily followed by our line supervisors and in-charges. Over the years, the company has realised tremendous improvement in quality and productivity by targeted application of lean methods by involving the  workforce through its ‘production management system’.

It also developed an innovative cost index system for cost reduction and control, which includes various elements like process costs, energy cost, and consumables cost, etc.

The total R&D engineers’ strength has gone up three fold to around 1000 engineers.It  will give it  the capability to completely design and develop new models in India only in the coming years.

 All assembly lines are capable of manufacturing multi-models. It built a  robust system of model and line compatibility, which helps  in shifting models from one production line to another line across weld, paint and assembly lines without much effort.


Presently Maruti is making a car every 16 seconds from Gurgaon and Manesar plants put together. It is basically the production of one million vehicles from four integrated plants from these two locations.



100 per cent water recycling is being used  for process use, rain water harvesting and co-processing of hazardous wastes. The company is moving towards becoming zero landfill company, with reusable and recyclable packing to reduce generation of solid waste. Lot of energy conservation steps are being taken. For example, use of energy efficient pumps and motors; variable frequency drives for motor operation; special sensors like temperature sensors in cooling towers; motion sensors in lighting; calendar timers for street lighting; LED lights in place of CFL and HPSV lights for illumination and optimisation of equipment start-up time. Reduction of  the carbon emissions is also being emphasized by using natural gas based power plants; waste heat recovery to process steam; steam compressor operation; use of natural lighting during day time and solar lighting.

 In MSIL, management is  extremely conscious to bring down resource consumption to reduce operational costs. Management is focusing on this aspect  through constant involvement of frontline people and supervisors in various cost drive projects. The ideas for cost reduction from the shop floor people are equally valued. The innovative cost indexed system referred to above is used  to monitor operational costs. The constant efforts are yielding  better results.




http://www.efficientmanufacturing.in/pi-india/index.php?StoryID=443&articleID=126613

Leyland Trucks Ltd. - Case Study

The Leyland plant has won numerous awards including the prestigious UK Overall Manufacturing Excellence award two years in succession 2009 and 2010, the Green Business award, the Queen’s Enterprise award and has received a Gold Distinction for Safety for 17 consecutive years.

Leyland has been on a Continuous Improvement journey for almost 20 years, carefully building a
culture of team working and employee empowerment.

http://www.nwautoalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/NAA_Case_Study_Leyland_Trucks.pdf
http://www.themanufacturer.com/articles/andrea-thompson-team-captain/
http://www.shingoprize.org/documents/ProfileSheet-LeylandTrucksLancashireUK.pdf



Ian Miller, (Demand Management Manager at Leyland Trucks, and a Management Consultant with Optimal Personnel Services, Leyland, UK.)
Citation: Ian Miller, (1995) "Manufacturing flexibility in a build-to-order environment", Logistics Information Management, Vol. 8 Iss: 1, pp.40 - 41

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=851933

GR Spring & Stamping, Inc. - Case Study

October 15, 2013, Grand Rapids, MI

GR Spring & Stamping, Inc (GRS&S) has been named Nissan’s 2013 Most Improved Supplier representing
the America’s region which includes the United States, Mexico and Brazil.     The award recognizes
outstanding improvement in quality over the last three years.

GRS&S President, Merle Emery, was presented the award at a ceremony held on Tuesday October 8,
2013 at Nissan’s North America Headquarters in Franklin, TN.  

“This is an award the entire organization can be proud of.” said Merle Emery, President of GRS&S.    “All
the associates at GRS&S are committed to continuous improvement each and every day.   This award
recognizes those efforts.” he added.

http://www.grs-s.com/press%20release%2010.15.13%20-%20GRSS%20receives%20Nissan%202013%20supplier%20award.pdf


http://www.grs-s.com/whatwedo.htm



Key Components of the GR Spring and Stamping Approach

• The company culture aligns with their mission of "profits through continuous improvement, while having fun during the process" and contributes to a motivated and engaged group of associates.

• A World Class Idea program taps the knowledge of associates to drive continuous improvement. Employees are rewarded for implementing measurable cost saving, productivity enhancements and safety recommendations.

• GR S&S University ensures effective employee orientation, skill enhancement, and has helped reduce costs and boost productivity.

http://www.hitachifoundation.org/news-a-views/thf-blog/509

Best Practices - GR Spring & Stamping
http://www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/Initiatives/Global-Symposium/Best-Practices/GR-Spring/GR-Spring.aspx