The client is a global manufacturer of plastic compounding products, color concentrates, and additives. The project was to increase the efficiency and raise the production output at lower cost per KG across plants in Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Germany, and the US. The project time for each plant was 4 months. Will use China and Indonesia as case studies.

The improvement target for the China plant was at first a 20% increase in production output per hour worked, but was later raised to 35%. By week number 5, we had surpassed the target. By the end of 4 months and my involvement in the project, we had reached a 63% increase.

Most importantly, I implemented an improved production process and transformed the factory culture to a dynamic aggressive driver of improvement across all factory operations. This can be seen by what they achieved after I left. Eight weeks after I left they hit a 101% increase. They averaged a 51% increase in productivity over 10 weeks AFTER I left the project. I consider a project a success when the client takes what I implemented and runs with it to achieve even greater results.

While I was still in China, the client’s VP Asia/Pacific asked me where I was going next. I told him to their Indonesia plant. He spent 10 minutes bemoaning the complete waste of money and effort that went into that plant and had wished they never built it. He thought that my efforts there would be a waste and that the management there was useless. One can see the results below. Though not as impressive as the China plant (I am bilingual in Mandarin both written and spoken and immensely helped the project), the “useless” Indonesians were still able to finish the project at a 55% increase in productivity and an average increase of 32% for the duration of the project. I do not have data for after I left the project but was later told by the amazed client VP that 6 months later they settled into an average 42% increase in productivity.

How did I do it? First, I treated the plant managers the same as I would anywhere, that is with respect. I sold them on the benefits of the project and how their lives would be better as we eliminated wasted efforts and bottlenecks. Daily production meetings discussed the previous day’s output versus the plan. If we fell short, we discussed the reasons why and brainstormed solutions, which we immediately implemented. So, every problem that occurred would not happen again. Every decision was backed by data and not by opinion. We converted the Maintenance Department’s management into world class (predictive maintenance, daily maintenance schedules and checklists, etc.), enabling much increased up time for the machinery. Above all, I listened to their ideas and together were able to accomplish great results far above what the client expected (the baseline was the goal).