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Case FHG Phoenix pallets

Every year, UC performs Lean Six Sigma projects for many different clients. At Pooling Partners, Europe’s largest pallet pooling and production group, we showed how Lean Six Sigma can produce direct results by identifying pain points both in processes and culture.

Customer challenge

With falling margins on its products, the company’s request was clear:

To improve two production lines’ OEE (Overall Equipment Efficiency) by increasing productivity and reducing changeover times.

 

Results

Our Lean Six Sigma approach produced pleasing results, most importantly:

  • Annual turnover increase of around 2.5%, with a payback time of less than a year
  • 35% performance improvement on the first production line
  • Significant reduction in variation, resulting in more reliable output
  • Reduction of 35-40% in changeover times
  • Greater employee commitment within and outside this project
  • Substantial improvement in Lean Awareness and behaviour

Our Solution

UC defined the problem by simultaneously performing two different Lean Six Sigma projects and performing and assessing a wide range of measurements. The projects were initiated in dialogue with management and employees.

Using the outcomes of the measurements we worked with the company’s employees to define and implement improvements, most of which involved relatively small investments.

Examples of the services we provided:

  • Lean Awareness & training
  • Kaizen training events
  • Lean Game
  • Lean Six Sigma project management
  • 5S implementation
  • TPM implementation
  • Implementing OEE tooling

 

UC is a perfect partner for achieving results quickly. They’re hands-on and have both feet on the ground!

Plantmanager FHG Phoenix Pallets Marc van den Berg