“How can we compete with low-wage countries?”

When compared to competitors in Eastern Europe and Asia, the wages in Western Europe are high. But are these high wages the problem? They are only a problem if they are not compensated by the added value for the customer.

The relatively low added value for the customer is therefore the problem. How can we increase the added value for the customer? Must it be achieved by delivering more high-quality products/ services? This is of course possible, but another way is to examine your current processes for opportunities to increase the added value at a lower cost.

“How do you put this into practice?”

Is it possible to eliminate those problems that you have probably known about for a long time? Difficulties dealing with fluctuating demand, down time despite high-quality raw material, high stock levels, high levels of overtime, delivery dates not met, high-quality personnel are difficult to find: aren't these the normal problems associated with our industrial sector?

Nothing could be further from the truth. Applying improvement programs such as Lean Manufacturing or Six Sigma will change the way you view improvement potential within your company. Both programs provide this by:

• Researching what determines the real added value for your customer;
• Starting by making improvement potential visible;
• Using improvement techniques in multidisciplinary teams;
• Working towards a process-oriented organization;
• Emphasising the standardisation of improved working methods;
• Allowing skilled employees to grow by stimulating personal development.

Lean Manufacturing in metal, electrics and plastics

The objective of Lean Manufacturing is to decrease the time between the customer order and order delivery by eliminating all losses from this chain. The whole supply chain is taken into account. The following methods support this improvement program:

• Minimal setup time (SMED)
• One piece flow implementation (Flow Management)
• Pull production planning
• Small Group Activity (SGA) improvement teams
• Customer/ Supplier partnerships (Supply Chain Management)

Customer cases

Topical

KvK chairman van de Vall

ASML and the LCD industry

Business contacts