Introduction of the FESSMANN production system included training of colleagues from various areas on the subjects of Kaizen and lean production by an external consultant. The focus was on subjects such as One-Piece-Flow, waste and Kanban, but also on the execution of workshops.
Implementation workshops that were conducted step by step for nearly every workplace put the focus on finding pragmatic solutions and on quick implementation of concepts from the beginning. The 80/20 rule was applied for them, which states that 20% of the effort can achieve 80% of the result. We still apply this method for putting improvements in the production processes into practice, since it usually leads to quick success for low effort. If a solution turns out to be less than perfect, it also permits quick revision, since the initial effort was not too high.
During the first months, the top subject specifically was demand-oriented supply of the workplaces with material. This was ensured by, among other things, completely separating logistics activities from the production processes. For this, a Kanban system adjusted to FESSMANN was developed and introduced. Its target is that the employees in the individual workplaces can focus on manufacturing our products exclusively. Logistics activities such as material procurement are performed by our logistics team, which is only responsible for smooth supply of the individual workplaces with material. As a result of these measures, throughput times have clearly reduced and the quality within our production has increased. The effective of production processes could also be increased considerably, e.g. by placement of the tools and materials according to the "best-point" principle at the workplace and production in flow.
The FESSMANN production system is still applied and subject to continuous further development. We find it to be the optimal system to permit flexible reaction to continually changing market and customer requirements in spite of a broad product range.