RJE Engineering, Over the first hurdle

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, Source : The Manufacturer
Zone : Leadership and Lean
Published :

RJE Engineering achieves an initial 33 per cent productivity increase through adopting continuous improvement philosophies

Gloucester-based RJE Engineering is a market leader in the design and manufacture of a broad range of dry waste collection equipment. Rapid growth and product diversification have presented some interesting operational challenges, and to resolve them the company decided to adopt a philosophy of continuous improvement.

“It is important to take your team with you on your journey and allow them to see the bigger picture,” said RJE’s managing director Linda Adams. To help with this RJE called in the ser-vices of the government sponsored South West Manufacturing Advisory Services (SWMAS), and John Phillipart came to work with the company, bringing experience of continuous improvement at companies such as ArvinMeritor, Champion Spark Plug and Castrol UK.

“For the initial programme we chose a specific area where demand was in danger of exceeding supply,” said Adams, “and in a very short space of time we have seen phenomenal results. We began with a series of workshops and diagnostic sessions and then a part-icular cell was selected which became far more involved in the lean philos-ophy, along with initiatives such as kanban. John was then joined by SWMAS’ Dorset specialist, Gail Freeman-Bell for the 5S programme, which centred around the workplace organisation and general housekeeping of a significant shopfloor area.”

A key tactic in motivating the shop-floor at RJE was the ‘plug simulation’ game, which involved assembling stan-dard domestic electric plugs in a simu-lation of a factory production process, helping to illustrate the impact on lead times and profitability.

Adams commented: “I was astounded by the immediate impact of the game. Very rarely do you have the opportunity to see a production process from beginning to end, with the opportunity to participate in the management and planning process.” Those involved in the game still use the lessons learned to evaluate issues within their own cells. “The game was so successful that we have now trained our own plug game champion and plan to spin the process our across the entire organisation.”

To date RJE has seen a 33 per cent increase in productivity from the cell involved in this programme and similar improvements are beginning to occur in many other production areas.

There have been a number of related benefits such as improved relationships and radical changes in working practices with suppliers.

“Inevitably change has become a way of life for all manufacturing companies and we have to become much smarter in what we do and the way we do it,” said Adams. “The thing to remember is that change is never welcomed, so it is important to ensure that there is a compensating balance, which in our view is ensuring there is a fun factor within the organisation.”

“What has been really heartening at RJE,” Phillipart commented, “has been the determination and drive to see the process through, as too many businesses back off as soon as they meet resistance to this kind of change. This was exemplified by Linda and fellow senior managers, who put their overalls on and got involved right from the start, which was important in terms of credibility.”

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