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

Objections, Rejections and Dejection in Sales and Marketing Activities

Objections and rejections are very frequent in sales and marketing activities. Many salesmen, managers and marketers feel dejected when they face objections first the rejections next. But marketers and sales people need to understand that marketing and sales communications are not one way traffic and every persons contacted may not have the need for the product or brand that they are offering. No doubt, salesmen and marketers are trained to identify potential buyers through various methods, but still it does not guarantee that the person approached has a real need for the product or brand being offered.

Objections are natural behavioural responses from prospects. They object where they do not comprehend the offering. They object when the offering does not satisfy their need. It is very important for the salesman or marketer to understand the root cause behind the objection. If, the reason is improper understanding the offering, the marketer must try and explain his offering - benefit-feature combination adequately. This requires first that marketer has thorough knowledge and understanding of the product and service that he is offering. He must have conviction in his product or service to communicate confidently to the prospective buyer.

Rejection are normal and rejection should not lead to dejection. Marketers and salesmen must have resiliency that comes out of understanding and experience that rejections are part of sales/marketing activity.

The incidence of brand rejection in FMCG categories
2011 paper
http://anzmac.org/conference/2011/Papers%20by%20Presenting%20Author/Truong,%20Oanh%20Paper%20634.pdf

The phenomenon of Brand Rejection
http://www.buyerbehaviour.org/2009/12/phenomenon-of-brand-rejection.html

Developing Tomorrow's Leaders - IBM - HR Head India/South Asia

Developing Tomorrow's Leaders

Article in Livemint 9 Jan 2012

Avoiding Innovation's Terrible Toll - IBM and Apple Examples

January 2012

Avoiding Innovation's Terrible Toll
Article in Wall Street Journal

The article quotes the research of Stubbart and Knight that only tiny fraction of corporations reach the age 40.

PresentlyEast Kodak, Barnes and Noble are in problems.

These companies are being creatively destroyed by innovators.

What companies that lived long are doing. Creatively innovating, cannibalising existing products and are making required small acquisitions.


Related research paper

Organizational Ambidexterity: IBM and Emerging Business Opportunities