Background

A leading motor manufacturer was experiencing problems on a regular basis with managing the process for the preparation and delivery of its vehicles to the various motor shows it exhibited at during the year.

We were therefore invited to review this process and identify and implement improvements to make it more cost effective and efficient.

Our Approach

Our review examined the impact of the process on costs and company image and included detailed interviews with staff involved in the process and all interfacing areas including the Sales Companies. In addition the project evaluated the industry ‘best practice’ through questionnaires and examining competitors at exhibitions.

The project then progressed to examine the process design and to propose solutions, both in terms of organisation and systems, and show the potential savings and costs of change.

Challenges

From our review, it was clear that the process used was neither robust nor cost effective. Issues identified included:

Vehicles being delivered to shows to specifications not available in that particular country
Vehicles being “lost” in the logistics process, resulting in the need for express transit, at huge cost, of replacement vehicles to meet show deadlines

We estimated that in excess of £2million was being wasted unnecessarily, which was therefore absorbing too much management time and causing internal conflict. The reasons for this included:

Poor discipline in all areas of marketing involved with the process
Lack of clear preparation guidelines in line with current manufacturing practice, build quality and marketing needs
Late changes to specified requirements
Lack of responsibility for inventory and timing programme
No single ordering responsibility
Excessive non-value added operations
Overlap of roles and poor co-ordination in Sales and Marketing

Outcome and Benefits

Having reviewed the process and identified the above problems, we were asked to re-engineer and manage the process as the change was implemented. In order to do this we:

Established process rules with ownership/sign-off
Established and managed a timing & resource plan with key milestones
Improved communication and circulated consistent data
Measured and reported performance

The result was a far more effective process with the right cars being produced and delivered to the right place, vastly improved communication between departments and significant cost reductions.

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	Home > Case Studies > Process Improvement > Automotive Logistics Review Background A leading motor manufacturer was experiencing problems on a regular basis with managing the process for the preparation and delivery of its vehicles to the various motor shows it exhibited at during the year. We were therefore invited to review this process and identify and implement improvements to make it more cost effective and efficient. Our Approach Our review examined the impact of the process on costs and company image and included detailed interviews with staff involved in the process and all interfacing areas including the Sales Companies. In addition the project evaluated the industry ‘best practice’ through questionnaires and examining competitors at exhibitions. The project then progressed to examine the process design and to propose solutions, both in terms of organisation and systems, and show the potential savings and costs of change. Challenges From our review, it was clear that the process used was neither robust nor cost effective. Issues identified included: Vehicles being delivered to shows to specifications not available in that particular country Vehicles being “lost” in the logistics process, resulting in the need for express transit, at huge cost, of replacement vehicles to meet show deadlines We estimated that in excess of £2million was being wasted unnecessarily, which was therefore absorbing too much management time and causing internal conflict. The reasons for this included: Poor discipline in all areas of marketing involved with the process Lack of clear preparation guidelines in line with current manufacturing practice, build quality and marketing needs Late changes to specified requirements Lack of responsibility for inventory and timing programme No single ordering responsibility Excessive non-value added operations Overlap of roles and poor co-ordination in Sales and Marketing Outcome and Benefits Having reviewed the process and identified the above problems, we were asked to re-engineer and manage the process as the change was implemented. In order to do this we: Established process rules with ownership/sign-off Established and managed a timing & resource plan with key milestones Improved communication and circulated consistent data Measured and reported performance The result was a far more effective process with the right cars being produced and delivered to the right place, vastly improved communication between departments and significant cost reductions.