The problem
Where the time was going
A major imaging company, with around $80.6 billion in sales across consumer, professional, health, and other imaging segments, set out to improve one of its factories. It decided that the goal would only be met if every employee took part, not just a project team at the top.
The target was aggressive: improve cycle time by 50 percent within two years on one major product line. Management knew that hitting it meant changing how people thought about the work, and that people are far more willing to change when they understand the reasoning behind it rather than simply being told.
What we modeled
Mapping the process, then testing the fix
The company chose process simulation as a teaching tool. A set of models was designed to walk employees through different manufacturing scenarios, so the relationship between cycle time and work flow could be seen rather than just described.
The education ran through comprehensive training classes where everyone could see how their own role fit the larger picture, backed by hands-on time with interactive, animated models. Time could be compressed to show a day of production in a minute, or slowed to study a single event, and a set of guiding principles tied the lessons together.
The result
The proof, and the payoff
People who went through the classes came away with a real sense of what works and what does not on the factory floor, because they could watch the consequences of their decisions play out in the animated models. Some grew so absorbed in learning this way that they did not want to stop.
Just as valuable, the training built a shared set of goals from the floor to management, so everyone was working from the same understanding. The company planned to develop more models and to keep running seminars for managers and workers, treating the education itself as central to reaching the goal.
Part of our work in services.