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Once bitten, twice shy: An analysis of the lean manufacturing implementation attempt of Nijhuis Pompen B.V. in 2007 as basis for a new change program

Korten, M. (2010) Once bitten, twice shy: An analysis of the lean manufacturing implementation attempt of Nijhuis Pompen B.V. in 2007 as basis for a new change program.

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Abstract:Nijhuis Pompen B.V. wants to become and remain one of the top players in the pump industry through the implementation of lean manufacturing. Lean manufacturing continuously improves the production process by the elimination of muda (i.e. waste) through creation of customer pull and production flow. However, in 2007 Nijhuis already tried to implement lean manufacturing, but this process failed. Before a new implementation can be developed the earlier attempt of 2007 has to be analyzed. This reason has led to the following central research question: In what way and to what extent does Nijhuis Pompen B.V. best implement Lean manufacturing, taking the first implementation attempt as starting point? From the analysis of the attempt in 2007 it became clear that the basis for the implementation of lean manufacturing was not well established: • Nijhuis' production characteristics were not taken into account during the implementation, resulting in friction between the production process and lean building blocks. • The leadership of the project was not appropriate. The consultancy firm determined direction instead of the change agent. Moreover, communication with the consultancy firm was difficult, which invoked resistance to change. • Employees' lack of knowledge and their negative attitude were the wrong pillars to build on. Instead of a decrease in the resistant forces to change, they were enlarged, which negatively influenced company performance. When a sense of urgency is created, employees feel the need to change and are thus motivated. During the new implementation attempt Nijhuis' employees have to be put in the middle, since they possess more than anyone else knowledge about product and production characteristics. The process has to be managed by a change agent, who has the time, will and effort the change Nijhuis. Two important pillars for Nijhuis' performance are throughput time and product quality, which determine the choice for specific lean building blocks. Nijhuis should start with the development of a VSM to show product flow and areas for improvement. The visibility of the production process and its bottlenecks is furthermore established through organized and clean workspaces: "5s". Along the way Quality at the Source, TPM and Kanban are options for performance improvement. A product is never perfect, nor is the implementation of lean manufacturing. Nijhuis should continuously search for waste elimination opportunities through use of her employees' knowledge.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Clients:
Nijhuis Pompen B.V.
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:85 business administration, organizational science
Programme:Business Administration MSc (60644)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/60185
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