The company had set itself a
three-year growth target rising 10% p.a.,
and was aiming for unit cost reductions.
Backing this was an £8.5 million investment
programme.
Ambitious, certainly, though
the background looked anything but
promising.
Dogged by restrictive
practices, the traditional labour structure
was further handicapped by a severe overtime
culture: nearly a fifth of working hours
were overtime. Management was prepared to
bite the bullet on major change.
Process
A rigorous examination of
work practices revealed obvious flaws, and
out of this review new high productivity
standards were developed. These, aimed at
optimising time and skills, made
cross-skilling and job-sharing vital, though
it meant cutting across traditional lines.
But this they did and supported by extensive
training designed new job and team
structures, plus a salary package angled on
skills acquisition and performance
improvement. The four-crew system changed to
five-crew and shifts - by shop floor choice
- were lengthened to twelve hours.
Benefits for the Company
All the objectives were met;
unit costs tumbled, productivity rose and so
did output. Customer complaints fell 25% and
service standards improved substantially.
Accidents were also down.
Overtime, targeted at a
maximum of 5%, was eliminated altogether.
The culture changed totally. Without doubt
this new get-ahead attitude played a key
part in the upswing. The plant is now
regarded as an example of best practice by
its sister companies and external
organisations too.
Benefits for the Employee
Staff welcomed the improved
job security and the new, more rewarding,
ways of working: job flexibility/skill
acquisition is the norm, and a healthy team
spirit pervades. They also enjoyed the
improved training opportunities- with 90% of
the workforce working towards NVQs and one
day every 5 weeks given over to training.
After initial employee reservations, the new
flexible working regime is now extremely
popular. Staff work a less stressful 40-hour
week, with changing shift patterns
planned-out well in advance and one week in
eight given as leisure time or holiday.
The consultancy work referred to in this case
study was carried out by Philip Lynch Associates in
1995-96
