Case Study - SMT Laboratories: A Lean Success Outside of Manufacturing
Client
SMT Laboratories -- a materials testing company with 850 employees working in 27 labs in the US, UK, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Belgium.
Challenge
Streamline operations in an effort to improve quality, reduce lead times and increase productivity — by taking an approach typically meant for manufacturing organizations.
Solution
An ongoing series of kaizen events proved to be a good match for the company’s culture and geographic spread. To date, they have conducted over 80 kaizen events across all 27 lab locations.
Results
Improved quality means that instead of taking three days to get a job done, for example, the lab can now get it done in a day-and-a-half, making it possible to get the same amount of work done with fewer people, increasing productivity. What’s more, quality (as measured by getting the work done right the first time) in one lab has improved from 95 percent in mid-2008 to 98.5 percent today.
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