The Missing Component in Manufacturing Performance Improvement

To the casual observer, aircraft manufacturer Airbus UK and pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline wouldn't appear to share a lot of common ground. Some would say that the worlds of building airplanes and producing the next blockbuster wonder-drug are light years apart. A closer look shows that these two organisations are more similar than one might initially think. Both companies shared a common goal of driving out costs while not sacrificing quality. As a means to achieve that goal, they initially implemented lean-manufacturing processes. However, they became increasingly frustrated when sustainable results were slow to develop. The inescapable conclusion was that a component was missing - one that addressed the human element of the equation. Ultimately, leaders at both companies engaged Senn Delaney to guide them in ensuring that their employees were fully engaged and aligned with the organisational goals and objectives. Both companies discovered that by combining lean manufacturing with creating a high-performance culture, they were able to create a sustainable competitive advantage. As Phil Swash, Vice President of Operations at Airbus, observed: "This year we will achieve about a 14-percent productivity improvement, which is about three times what we have achieved before with lean manufacturing and Six Sigma alone. It greatly exceeds the industry norm of between one and five percent per annum. Absenteeism rates have fallen from about seven percent to about three percent, which, in a plant of the size of ours (with 7,000 employees), has a significant impact on productivity and performance."