case studies

	CASE STUDIES

Richardsons Healthcare	AGILE IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY
Richardsons Healthcare	Richardsons Healthcare supply OEMs with polyeurethane mattresses and other accessories for hospital operating tables, obstetric beds and patient trolleys. The company recognised the need to improve its business performance as a means to compete more effectively in its marketplace. The Agility Centre was called in to carry out an Agility Audit of its operations and was immediately impressed by the results, and by the action plan the Centre supplied. In the words of Richardsons Director Michael Gould: "I had no interest in the usual kind of report which just gathers dust in a cupboard, “I wanted concrete deliverables, and that’s what I got.”
	Richardsons applied for, and won a KTP grant (knowledge transfer programme) which enabled the company to take on an Associate, Mark Hetherington, who recently completed a degree in Manufacturing Engineering and Management at the University. “We set Mark a tough goal”, says Michael Gould. “We wanted him to increase production from our moulding cell by 20% within two years, with no additional human or financial resources. He started work in September 2002. At the beginning of 2003, production levels started to rise significantly. Richardsons are now in the position where they have increased their capacity by 40%. Mark is now working with our team to implement a strategic sales and marketing package to fill this gap. Needless to say, we are delighted, he said.

Nichols Foods	MANUFACTURING SIMULATION
Nichols Foods	Nichols Foods is a supplier to vending and food retail sectors, formulating and manufacturing wet beverages and dry ingredients. Production Line Nine at its Haydock manufacturing plant blends and mixes different types of hot chocolate, cold chocolate and malted drinks and packages them in jars for customers such as J Sainsbury.
	The company needed to demonstrate that it could meet customer deadlines at the required price. It also needed to respond to variations in demand levels without resorting to overtime, shifts or expensive temporary labour unless it could demonstrate that this was essential and profitable. Nichols’ own measurements suggested that Line Nine was already working to 80% capacity. The company was keen to find out if it could increase capacity by changing its approach to scheduling, and minimising change-over time between batches. It wanted an objective means of calculating the impact of production-driven approaches versus customer-driven approaches, factoring in different labour options and timescales.
	The Agility Centre arranged for a simulation model of the production line to be created. Graham Hill, Stock Control Manager at Nichols Foods, describes the resulting model as “mind blowing”, but it needed a user interface so that Nichols’ staff themselves could ‘drive’ simulations. This was created by a Liverpool University undergraduate for her final year project. Monique Tey’s solution was based on Excel spreadsheets. The front-end enabled users to specify ‘what if?’ scenarios through simple data entry, and clicking on buttons which automate the required functions. The back-end of the user interface showed a set of basic measurement parameters, for example, such as cost, machine utilisation and production volumes. Monique was also able to demonstrate that at that time, Line 9 was actually operating at around 40% of its true capacity. “Monique’s input was valuable”, says Graham Hill. “It gave us the confidence to go out and win orders, knowing we could meet the customer’s deadlines"

Daryl Industries	AGILITY STRATEGY AND MASS CUSTOMISATION
Daryl Industries	Daryl Industries manufactures up-market or high-end shower enclosures. Three years ago, it was manufacturing its product ‘families’ in batches determined by the materials it had in stock. Customers often changed their requirements and the company’s response times were slow when operating this type of manufacturing system. Daryl knew it had to move towards ‘mass customisation’, to respond quickly to individual customers’ needs while still benefitting from the efficiencies of mass production. The company lacked the expertise to tackle this itself, and sought assistance from Liverpool University’s Agility Centre. The problems identified by the Centre’s audits were fundamental and the changes recommended more demanding than Daryl had anticipated – but, thanks to substantial inputs from two TCS Associates, the results have been dramatic.
	Guided by the first TCS Associate, the company implemented a cellular layout and had its staff trained to operate the new cells and use spreadsheets to plan and control stock levels for each cell. These changes helped Daryl to increase its turnover by almost 15% per employee, and achieve gearing 20% ahead of budget.
	The next recommendation related to the products themselves. The agility audits highlighted the need to redesign the shower enclosures to minimise the number of components and make them as generic as possible. The solution involved creating a common chassis which could be customised through add-ons such as handles and hinges. Components were redesigned to fit as many models as possible. This was achieved with guidance from the second TCS Associate, who also played a major role in updating the company’s IT system.