Relocation of Operations and Delivering a New Automotive Parts Facility While Implementing a Lean Management Culture

RPM consultants provided leadership support across Production, Logistics, Quality, Engineering, and Human Resources — and assisted the supplier in interviewing prospective candidates to populate their functional departments.

A senior RPM consultant was brought on as launch manager to coordinate the separate teams handling facilities, equipment, and tooling. Before RPM's involvement, each team had been managed in isolation without the coordination required for a successful launch.

The launch manager created a credible plan — a production ramp plan — to orchestrate the confluence of facility, equipment, staff, materials, training, and tools, setting expectations for equipment installation, tool moves, production, OEE improvement, crew startup, and training. The project required 7 months to complete.

Because the facility would open while regular production was already underway and tools would be required from a sister facility, a "spaghetti diagram" became the credible plan to move tools without interrupting production. Banks of parts were produced to supply regular OEM production while tools were moved for validation; very large tools had to be temporarily moved, trialled, then returned until test results were satisfactory, before a final coordinated move to the new facility.

Each tool had to be validated in four different presses, commissioned one after the other — requiring bank build, tool move, trial run, return, validation testing, and re-PPAP for each press/tool combination. The launch manager developed customized execution tracking and accountability tools to ensure actual progress kept pace with the plan.

Lean Management Implementation: While the relocation project came together, RPM staff implemented Managing Daily Improvement (MDI) tools to create a lean management culture. The client's team was trained on three core MDI tools:

• Visual management

• Daily accountability meetings

• Leader standard work

With these tools in place, anyone on the shop floor can immediately see whether performance is on track or falling behind.