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Team Business Development

A unique approach to rapid business transformation

Concrete batching plant 
manufacturer improves
production capacity by 50%
in six-week programme.

A TBD turnaround programme was carried out at a concrete batching plant manufacturer that was losing £200,000 per year.

Sales in recent years had dropped significantly under second-generation management from £6 million p.a. to £2.9 million per year.

The initial company wide feedback process revealed a large number of “Planning Issues” relating to production quality, planning and control. The quantity and significance of the issues provoked a thorough group review of the work order processing and production control system.

Apart from the obvious extra costs incurred, the resultant delays and bottlenecks to the system restricted production capacity by an estimated 50%. The plant was barely able to operate at break-even point.

The team based business process analysis identified 24 areas of concern. These included a range of major problems with

• stock control,
• inaccurate historic data for estimating,
• inadequate briefing from the sales department,
• inconsistencies in training and skills,
• poor quality control including erratic goods inward inspection,
• disruption to the planning system,
• inadequate customer guarantees and after sales support,
• passive sales effort, weak sales management

and several more problems elsewhere.

All of these problems collectively led to serious and quantifiable costs. These costs included: rework and modifications,

• a high degree of labour inefficiency,
• cost of replacement parts,
• customer retentions, and
• delayed customer payments.

Far more serious however were the hidden costs revealed by the process. The company became aware that they were losing repeat business from dissatisfied customers. Much management time was wasted fire-fighting. Delays in production led to disruptions to cash flow. Low morale and resultant low productivity were rampant throughout the plant.

Out of thirty or so improvement projects instigated by the TBD planning process, the five or six projects concerned with production quality, planning and control developed a ten-point improvement plan. This plan put together changes to the work order processing system and production control valued at £352,773 in savings and benefits annually.

As important as the savings, the improvements increased the production capacity by 50%, enabling the company to produce at a profitable level.

“We’ve achieved more changes in six weeks with these team planning workshops than I’ve seen in twenty years of my time here.” Dave Medhurst Project manager.

For more information on how TBD can transform your company’s performance or about the possibility of 50% funding from MAS-SW for TBD's transformational programme please contact us on 0845 0945 819 or email.