The Challenge
Willenhall based SME, Raybloc (X-ray Protection) Ltd is a major manufacturer and installer of high quality radiation protection products.
As the Raybloc order book grew, their lead-times lengthened which in-turn inhibited the growth of the business - £500k of potential sales were lost, last year alone, due to uncompetititve lead times. The management identified that if they could become more responsive the company could double or treble its turnover. They identified areas that needed to change but were unsure how.
- Common goals, but no common strategy.
- Experienced in what they do, but reliant on traditional/ad-hoc and informal methods of control and communications.
- Silo'd team members and operations.
- Lack of ownership.
- An opportunity to grow and appreciation of the need for outside support knowledge and experience to help.
MTC's Solution
'Culture eats strategy for breakfast.'
The MTC created and supported Raybloc through a development journey to achieve the goals of the business that began with coaching and mentoring the workforce and helping the business to understand the priorities, issues, culture and opportunities of the current-state. To address the immediate needs of their customers, Raybloc were supported in improving planning and scheduling and better leveraging business-data. With the aide of digital tools and up-skilling the team, key performance indicators and targets were visualised on the shop floor and in the offices to encourage behaviours that aligned with the overall goals of the business. Productivity was increased and overtime reduced by improving visibility and developing accountability in operations with the introduction of workplace organisation standards. The MTC provided guidance on suitable technology options and the best timing and method of adoption. MTC helped clarify roles and responsibilities to ensure clear ownership of KPI's. To celebrate the success Raybloc were encouraged to bring forward their plans for ISO accreditation.
The Outcome
- Increased revenue - sales are up by 10%
- Over-time eliminated, all staff working to standard 40 hour week and achieving the new lead time length with increased demand
- Defined roles and responsibilities for the leadership team
- Daily production meetings are now being held with clear build requirements for everyone to follow
- Controlled stores areas resulting in more efficient stock control
- Workshop team have a clear guidance on the build priority
Benefits to the Client
- 50% reduction in lead time going from 16 weeks to 8 weeks
- Achieved ISO9001 and ISO14001 accreditation 9 months ahead of schedule
- Reduced production costs by 10%
- Sample supply-chain assessment have led to a 50% cost reduction for a key/critical part, reduction in lead-time, reduction in inventory, dual-sourcing and a more resilient supply-chain.
- The culture has developed into a can do attitude.
- In the efforts to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, Raybloc manufactured and supplied doors, lead-lining and X-ray screens for the X-ray theatres at Birmingham's Nightingale hospital. Cutting the manufacturing time from 8 weeks to 16 hours. The full team effort continued X-ray installation, and the team had everything fully fitted in less than 5 hours.
