k3 mapa advises on the quality improvement measures at an automotive supply company in Leipzig
Wiesbaden, Madrid, March 7th 2015. Since October 2014 k3 mapa advises on the quality improvement measures at a German automotive supply company in Leipzig. This project will be completed in the first quarter of 2015. Goals are the significant improvement of the delivery quality and the reduction of internal errors.
As the assembly of the parts is mainly done manually, an important factor is the high employee turnover. “The supply of qualified personnel with industry experience in Leipzig is scarce. Porsche as well as BMW expand their capacities in Leipzig. With every hiring round by Porsche or BMW we experience an increase in personnel turnover. This is good for the region but not for us”, states the personnel manager of the supply company.
„Demographics are an important factor in Leipzig. We would like to hire more, but either we do not find qualified personnel or the applicants do not have sufficient levels of language skills or motivation”, according to the site manager. He adds with worry: “Politics has not yet found answers to the demographic change or ignores the problem. Who is supposed to work in this plant in 20 or 30 years?”
By focusing on the logic of the assembly processes, the company currently attempts to counter the high turnover and the resulting unsteady level of qualification of the employees. “We attempt to design the processes so that even an unskilled and little motivated employee in assembly does not make mistakes. In Japan this is called POKA YOKE and the process has been employed since decades”, explains Thorsten Schuppenhauer, managing director of k3 mapa. “Of course POKA YOKE is not new in Germany, however the urgency to employ the system has never been more obvious than in the case of this supplier”, Thorsten Schuppenhauer explains further.
The project aims to remedy fundamental production errors via POKA YOKE. As the parts are relevant for the safety, an intensive, technical final assembly control assures zero error delivery rates.
„Not all is new, but our employees are convinced of the project. We have learnt a lot to date and are happy with the advise to date and the status of the project”, summarizes the site manager.
k3 mapa is a top management consulting company which is focused on implementation. All our consultants have at least 10 years international experience, and come from industry champions or the best companies in the consulting world. k3 provides expertise in the core functions of the value chain. It is through this expertise that k3 can help its clients tackle complex cross-functional improvement endeavours (business excellence), function specific interventions (functional excellence) as well as project and interim management (project excellence). For more information: info@k3-mapa.com