When the announcement came that his site had won the Toyota Material Handling Factory of the Year accolade at the 2015 Best Factory Awards (BFAs), John Laister asked a telling question. “Has anybody ever won it twice?”
The ambition and commitment to improvement implied by these six words is a common thread running through practically everything uttered by the manufacturing director of Eynsham, Oxfordshire-based Siemens Magnet Technology.
“We are number one in our field with an excellent reputation, so we have to be exceptionally good at what we do. It’s hard to maintain that top spot. There’s a lot of competition emerging and we have to stay ahead of the game by innovating and improving everything all the time – it doesn’t stop. As the saying goes, ‘if you stay still, you’ll fall behind’.”
Another saying central to Siemens Magnet’s strategic vision is: “Don’t limit your challenges, challenge your limits.”
It’s a philosophy instilled in everybody at the 400-employee business – not just in manufacturing, but also in R&D, sourcing, quality, strategic procurement, customer service and finance. Siemens Magnet refuses to acknowledge barriers between these different department. Rather, it adopts a holistic view that embraces the team in its widest sense – companywide.
Indeed, its determination to keep the team together prompted one of the company’s greatest accomplishments: a complete redesign of Eynsham’s shopfloor to free up around a quarter of the site. This was achieved first by bringing two product lines into a single line and later removing further waste from already pretty lean processes. This created the space needed to manufacture a spectacular new product developed at Eynsham – the cutting-edge 7 Tesla magnet used in hospital MRI scanners.
Laister explains: “We could have gone to another site; we did think of getting a new small building to develop the product. But as soon as you start moving into separate facilities you break the place up and develop sub-cultures, and people start to retreat into enclaves. So we deliberately pushed ourselves to make the best of the space we already had here in Eynsham to preserve the team and banish any prospect of a silo mentality.”
For Laister, however, teamwork is not enough on its own: “Instilling local ownership has also been critical to our success. In the factory and down to cell level, each individual is responsible for his or her performance in all regards – output, quality, cost and safety.”
The company does offer support, guidance and direction to help its people on the journey, but what they do and how they do it is largely down to them. Laister again: “They are self-managed teams. So, for example, we don’t have continuous improvement department; the team own improvements. We expect everybody to be involved in CI – it’s not somebody else’s problem. That was one of the reasons I was so proud that we won the awards [Best Engineering Plant and People & Skills as well as Factory of the Year], because it is all of their work as a team.”
Critical ingrediants of success
Teamworking and empowerment are critical ingredients of success, but they are not the only ones. For Frazer Mackay, Siemens Magnet Technology’s SCM operations manager, engagement is also critical to getting the most out of people. One of the ways the company has encouraged this is through its structure.
Indeed, a defining moment for the company came when the management team took the decision back in 2007 to change the way it worked. Mackay explains: “At that time we moved the nine cells from an overtime culture to a new system based on efficiencies. So they now manage their own time and the more efficiently the cell performs, the greater their monthly bonus. They have to work together across the three shifts to receive the bonus and the more value they are adding while they’re there, the better their earning potential.”
So overtime is a thing of the past. Mackay again: “We use a bank account of hours now. The guys flex up and down as necessary to meet the needs of the business; it’s part of their contract.”
Encouraging strong teamwork, a dedication to empowerment, and a flexible workforce have worked wonders for the company over the last eight years. In 2007, for example, it produced around 900 systems with 500 people on the shopfloor, equating to 1.8 systems per person. This year it will close the books on 1,168 systems with 215 people, a staggering increase in output to 5.1 systems per person. On top of this, around £6 million in savings, has come from people’s ideas since 2007.
Laister has two more tips from the top that helped his company win the ultimate prize at this year’s BFAs: “First, get the basics right – focusing on output, quality and cost before you even start to think about CI. So, for example, we incentivise the right behaviour so that people get rewarded for getting it right first time every time in terms of quality and delivery on time to the customer.
Not strangers on the shopfloor
“Secondly, standardise – we have standard times and processes for everything we do so it’s all measurable, visible and transparent. That applies to the management team as well. We are all visible through our Gemba walks. We are not strangers on the shopfloor.”
This approachability has stood Laister in good stead. But it’s not the ony element in his management style, which also involves challenging, driving and analysing: “I believe there is no limit for improvement in everything we do. That is fundamental. Being driven helps me keep the business momentum going, but there are issues in that; for example, it’s very easy to become autocratic when you are in that driving mode so I have to be conscious that I need to listen.”
So, he believes, as well as a strong drive success in manufacturing also depends on a willingness to be challenged: “My door is always open. Whenever there’s an issue we have very open debate and discussion. Sometimes I have to make hard decisions, but I would say that, more often than not, we come to an agreed collaborative view about what we are going to do.”
And this agreed view also depends on analysing the challenge. Laister again “We analyse problems, whether a performance issue or a quality problem, or whatever – analysis always. It’s the only way to overcome obstacles and move forward.”
We end where we began, with a demonstration by Laister of his bone-deep commitment to the highest possible standards. Asked what he has left to achieve, his response is instant: “Everything. Our world is changing daily and there’s nothing that can’t be improved; there are no limits.”
Why Siemens Magnet Technology won
Siemens Magnet Technology, Eynsham attracted the ultimate Factory of the Year prize (as well People & Skills Development and Best Engineering Plant) for being bold enough to go after the seismic improvements as well as the incremental ones. The judges praised the site’s record in delivering “radical” performance gains.
Big ticket ambitions are on show in products, processes and people management at Eynsham, which won the Best Engineering Plant award at the Best Factory Awards four years ago.
First up: product innovation. Eynsham’s design and manufacturing nous created the ultra-light magnet at the heart of a revolutionary 7 Tesla MRI scanner launched by Siemens this May. The magnet is 50% lighter than its predecessors, significantly cutting MRI running costs.
The groundbreaking design was all made possible by sweeping process overhaul. Sacred cows have been hunted to extinction in this corner of rural Oxfordshire.
A major redevelopment of the plant’s entire manufacturing area released 20% of the total factory space and enabled all products to run on one production line. The extra space was repurposed for the in-house development of new products and processes that culminated in the record-breaking 7 Tesla magnet. Efforts were spearheaded by employees who see improvement as second nature rather than extra-curricular activity.
CI is embedded in everyone’s day job. Eynsham’s aversion to standing still becomes most apparent when it comes to stepping forward to the suggestion box. Enthusiastic employees generated 268 implemented ideas in 2014, which yielded more than £1.3m in operational savings. A further 11,963 production hours have been saved through kaizen activity.
Creative juices are cultivated at team-based exercises with a strong emphasis on delegated autonomy. Team members sharpen their skill sets through extensive training opportunities with nearly 30% of employees attaining an NVQ Level 3.
And the top topic around Eynsham’s every corner is how to ensure the site’s future as the number one preferred global supplier of MRI systems worldwide. Getting there means overcoming the twin perils of eroding market price and rising component costs. Fearsome foes that won’t be slain by a single kaizen event.
Or as BFA judge Marek puts it: “The CI at the site is important but it won’t be enough on its own to ensure the site is competitive going forward. The plant has had to make step changes in performance. Not just in process technology but introducing new products, having a clear strategy and attracting the right people.”
