Upholstery Frame Manufacturing

By undertaking the renowned ukfirst Process Improvement Workshop in its frame assembly operation, DFS has achieved the following improvements:

- Productivity up by 15%
- Frame kitting 'right first time' up 96%
- Schedule adherence up by 64% 

This has led to an increase in turnover of £300,000 within the same facility and the same number of people.

Objectives
- To increase productivity and turnover
- To remove 'waste' from the process
- To reduce kitting errors
- To improve delivery on time to the upholstery factory
- To start a culture change on shop floor to own and drive improvements 

Approach
An operations team was selected to undertake a process improvement workshop, which was facilitated by ukfirst engineer Bruce Lovell. Baseline measures were identified for delivery on time, downtime, people productivity, floor space utilisation and kits delivered.

Results

• By creating kitting checklists and reducing batch sizes, delivery and right first time were dramatically improved.
• An action plan was developed to quantify and eliminate waste
• A trolley was trialled which proved set up time could be reduced by 62%.
• The layout of the shop floor was improved

Client Feedback

"ukfirst's Lean Programme has shown measurable savings. We are delighted at the impact it has had and are very pleased that we took the decision to bring ukfirst's expertise to bear upon our manufacturing organisation."

Jon Massey, Chief Operating Officer

Engineer Feedback

" Even though productivity is up, the whole facility is better organised and everyone seems calmer, due to the reduction in fire-fighting."

Bruce Lovell, ukfirst Master Engineer