An ingredient manufacturer in a high-demand market had a plant that was having difficulties. Unplanned stops kept interrupting production. The losses were concentrated in one bottleneck area that dragged the whole operation with it.
Their other issue was even harder: turnover. Operators and leaders left, and because processes had never been standardized, their knowledge left with them. How a machine got set up or how a deviation got handled all depended on who happened to be working that day. How could they stabilize results with a management system that doesn't have so much key person risk?
Falconi built the system across four dimensions at once.
Measurement came first: We used an OEE methodology to set targets, helped digitize performance tracking, and used an application that captured downtime causes in real time.
Standards came next. We helped them revise process standards and trained operators on the new way of working. We helped stand up daily and weekly meetings to provide a routine for treating deviations with structured problem-solving tools. We also helped the leaders create a toolkit for better management, including their own set of routines, inspection routes, and 5S on the floor.
Some of the highest-leverage projects were pretty mundane. We redesigned how they approached shift handovers. Lunch rotations got planned so lines didn't sag at midday. Equipment setups got centerlined so every operator started from the same settings. Incremental improvements, but they add up.
Last, we prioritized change management. We gave them a clear communication plan, named change agents, provided leadership coaching, and stood up recognition programs to celebrate the behaviors we wanted to make sure stick.
Average daily production rose and was more consistent, with deviation from control limits cut by nearly three quarters.
The tools, training, and routines were installed as one system vs. three different initiatives. Giving the operators and leaders clear roles and standards helped mitigate the dependence on individual memory, while also improving job satisfaction for those still in the roles. And performance was visible constantly, so they could more proactively solve problems. While it didn't fully solve the turnover problem immediately, it did make the system robust enough to handle it.