PMC Case Study - Consumer Health Care Product and Service Provider Seeks Lean Culture Transformation

PROJECT SUMMARY

A large provider of consumer health care products and services was interested in making the transition to a lean culture. Management availed itself of the lean expertise of PMC to facilitate this evolution.

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

The cultural change was expected to occur at all levels and divisions of the corporation. All individuals from top-level executives to hourly employees were expected to understand fundamental concepts of lean and ultimately be willing and eager to apply the tools to optimize their daily operations.

OPPORTUNITY

A lean culture oftentimes differentiates between the average company and the successful one. This is because immediate financial benefits and other intangible benefits such as improved employee morale are the direct result of the lean mindset.

APPROACH

PMC provided support in all phases of the lean transition. The phases are defined as:

Phase I: Leadership development, strategizing direction, vision-setting, metric development and definition, lean metric assessments, cultural transformation guidance, organizational structure design
Phase II: Facilitating Kaizen (process improvement) events, training, coaching
Phase III: Data collection, database design, productivity analyses, simulation development

Material was presented in classroom setting and supported with hands-on exercises. PMC’s custom-built bottleneck buster software was used to illustrate the impact a constraint has on the entire system.

SOLUTION

Through classroom sessions, supported with hands-on reinforcement of materials, personnel were able to identify savings through the identification of waste from all areas of the organization. Kaizen events were being performed regularly in all divisions of the corporation and these were championed with minimal assistance from PMC.

BENEFIT

Staff members were very excited and optimistic with regard to the future of the corporation operating under basic principles of lean. During initial rollout of the program costs were being cut very rapidly and long-term financial gains were realized almost immediately.