Chapmans Ltd Case study

“We recognised the need to evolve quickly if we were going to retain our position as market leaders. Our stockist customers were beginning to embrace Just In Time (JIT) which required a complete transformation of our production process to become a quick, slick and profitable Lean operation. MAS has played a vital role in helping us address these issues, resulting in a 58% improvement in stock turns; as well as modernising our approach so we could embed ‘Lean’ into the culture of the business.”
David Byers,Managing Director

COMPANY PROFILE

100 employees, £8m turnover, based in Sheffield

Sheffield based Chapmans Ltd is a family owned manufacturer specialising in wear resistant pressings and fabrications, mainly for agricultural machinery.

The industry has always been highly competitive and has undergone dramatic change in recent years. To gain a competitive edge the company has begun to apply expertise into developing products for a wider range of industries including grass-care, mining, road-laying and recycling.

Background

Recent changes to the dynamics of the market meant that the company’s customers began changing their orderplacing patterns. Rather than ordering regular bulk amounts that could be reasonably predicted, customers were working Just In Time (JIT) in response to their own customers’ demands.

The management team therefore took the decision to drive forward with a Lean approach to improve the efficiency of production processes. They were put in touch with MAS specialist Paul Brown who helped them identify a number of specific actions for improvement:

• Reassessment of the shop floor and factory layout to increase efficiency
• Training and development of the workforce in Lean principles.
• Optimising planning and logistic systems to support changes

Making it Happen

To begin the programme of work, MAS specialist Paul Brown helped the company to identify areas of improvement. But after making a strong start, Chapmans was hit severely by the floods of June 2007 which halted production for nearly 8 weeks. The clean-up operation that followed gave the workforce the added motivation to ‘wipe the slate clean’ and accelerate their process.

Instead of using flood insurance money to pay an external company, they took the opportunity to refurbish and clean machines themselves. The company took advantage of the shared experience of the transformation to get the entire workforce behind improvements.

Paul assisted the management team in replacing damaged machinery, as well as optimising the shop floor layout to maximise efficiency.

He then delivered a series of grant subsidised training workshops to Chapman’s shop floor staff, which taught them the core principles of Lean manufacturing.

Along with implementing Lean techniques to increase productivity, Paul Brown enlisted the help of another MAS specialist, Neale Cooke of MCCR & Associates, to help implement a new capacity planning system.

Neale produced a detailed specification, which involved mapping out the existing routings in the company’s Sage Line 500 system, and adding additional information such as set up and run times.

Neale then began to develop and produce software to facilitate the company’s requirements. He also helped the team to set up a number of new capacity planning reports, and provided training and support on how to use the system so they could take ownership of its functions.

Key information regarding production planning, scheduling and due dates has now been integrated onto a central database which is accessible from terminals throughout the factory.

An added bar coding system also allows the database to be updated in real-time providing users with valuable information on current production processes.

Chapmans is now able to quote realistic dates to customers and plan future machine loading and resource with absolute confidence.

As a result of MAS support, the company has increased productivity by 21% and is on course to achieve a record annual turnover of £8m. They continue to work with MAS to help standardise and improve their back office operations.

Key Achievements

Following a 30 day MAS manufacturing improvement project, the company has achieved the following:

• The working environment has improved following a thorough clean-up after the flood damage.
• An additional £500k has been invested in new machinery.
• 15 people have been trained in Lean techniques enabling them to underpin the improvements taking place around them.
• A Lean ‘champion’ is now working full time to drive further changes.
• Overall productivity has improved by 21%.
• New capacity planning and bar code scanning systems have made tracking production processes much easier.