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
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
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