CASE STUDY

Eliminating a Trucking Company's Order Backlog in Under 5 Months

Situation

One large manufacturer of heavy-duty commercial trucks reached out to us with an urgent request: they had a plant in Mexico experiencing late deliveries, shortages on machine parts and other challenges, all contributing to business-threatening performance on overall delivery requirements. 

Approach

Upon engagement, CCO quickly mobilized and worked closely with the company's management and plant floor staff. Together, we implemented CCO's Operational Excellence (OpEx) methodology to drive improvement, stabilize production, and standardize operational performance. Our efforts aimed to restore balance and profitability for the company by:

  • Established the CCO OpEx Accountability Room, which serves as a communications hub for all leadership and staff members. Managers and workers began daily meetings there, where capacity plans, throughput goals and standards, and actual performance data on safety and production are posted.
  • Data can reflect hour-by-hour operations outcomes.
  • Created pace boards – in a very visual spot – for the company’s kitting operation, to help solve problems in that process.
  • Other team boards were created to provide visual evidence of conformity and process improvement tracking.

 

Results

Altogether, the OpEx process began working almost immediately to eliminate chaos and restore order in the operation. Additionally, our team launched a 5S solution to help stabilize production and increase throughput velocity.
 
Key results are as follows:
  • 90-day recovery process, full engagement with OpEx.
  • With a consistent cadence of floor-level accountability, operations were restored to balance.
  • After  five months, order backlog was eliminated.
A conventional consultant might have done some analysis and then left this manufacturer with a PowerPoint presentation, and the business scrambling to do all the work. When companies call CCO for help, we dive right in and shoulder up with their staff on the plant floor. Businesses often see results in less than 60 days, and we won’t leave until operations are fully returned to balance and profitability.

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