to ensure that it could be achieved in South Africa. Although Germany played an integral role in supporting this initiative, and the overall success of this is dependent on their support, they left this to South Africa to plan independently of existing
environments, with a clear mandate for a new level of innovation in a production plant.
One of the greatest benefits that this process has had is that almost 1 000 people are to benefit from new decent jobs. In addition, more than 5 000 employees in local supplier networks are also benefiting from job creation. The benefits are endless and this in turn creates a positive economic benefit for South Africa as most of the additional volume is for the export market. This means more foreign money is coming into the South African economy.
Employees and Unions are excited about the
employment opportunities this presents for the community. Many of these opportunities will also be linked to customised training programmes resulting in accredited manufacturing qualifications. Employees will be recognised for their innovative ideas through various incentive schemes designed to promote and encourage innovation.
Sifting through these ideas and suggestions was the responsibility of my project team – to ensure that it was aligned to the objectives of the task and results in improved quality, elimination of waste and improvements in efficiency, ergonomics and costs reduction. This information is shared with global networks through various manufacturing forums of Group Best Practice. Other plants are able
to adapt their environments by including the benefits derived from the South African environment.
Analysis into the technical and non-technical infrastructure was also critical to the success of the project. A detailed analysis was made into the work organisation. This included reviewing the detailed planning of how people will be affected when introducing a high focus on optimisation, ergonomics, health, fatigue and labour relations. Investigations into understanding the bottlenecks in the environment were understood and the necessary actions taken. Financial capability and impact was explored to its fullest in order to achieve the best possible business case.
The management of facilities and capacity, including warehousing and material flow was factored in as a critical success factor. Manufacturing and production technical analysis were also performed to understand line speeds and maintenance planning. These were identified as the make-or-break of the planning to achieve this enormous target.
The plans are now in place for the achievement of this but it would not have been possible without the following being adopted by the organisation:
• strong leadership, • strong people management, • strong communication, • Lean management and Six Sigma principles.
These focus points are those that motivate
success but more importantly, a sustainable future. Just increasing production and introducing three or four shifts is only the tip of the iceberg. The real success is derived from identifying, and acting on, the right drivers to get us there.
“Employees and Unions are excited about the employment
opportunities this presents for the community.” 24 Management Today | April 2012
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