How simple changes resulted in a 20% increase in sales year over year

CASE STUDY - MEDICAL DEVICES

The Situation

  • PPL Biomechanics has been a trusted resource for Healthcare Professionals seeking Preventative and Therapeutic Solutions to maintain and improve people’s mobility and daily lives for the last 25 years.

  • The business operates from a small factory (c. 6000 sq. ft.) which means optimisation is important for overall business performance. The introduction of COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 made this a critical issue.

  • Pembroke Alliance was commissioned to introduce Lean Principles and bring attention to key performance indicators such as Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).

The Objectives & Challenges

The main objectives of the programme were to concentrate on:-

  • Implementing a Change Management Culture

  • Overcoming staff skepticism

  • Creating meaningful KPIs

  • Gaining consistency across all 5 production areas

  • Covid-19 impact on day-to-day operations

To achieve these objectives we took the following approach:-

  • 5S - using improved training of 5S principles

  • Standardisation work practices

  • Staff engagement – improved communication and training

  • Accountability – better understanding of metrics and owning results

  • Clear objectives e.g. additional 40 units per week = €200k per annum opportunity in sales

“We were very impressed at how quickly we started to see results. We weren’t sure if Lean was for us but now its an integral part of how we operate our business”

Customer Feedback

The Outcomes

The following outcomes were achieved:-

  • Significant improvement of 20% in OEE (based on the available run time)

  • Sales Growth (based on Q4 2020 rolling 12 mths) = +20%

  • Reduced lead times, improved capacity, reduced waste.

  • Improved visual metrics so everyone at every level is working off the same KPIs

  • The business now thinking more strategically as well as operationally on how to continue to improve

  • New business opportunities Post Brexit – both in Traded and Custom products for export

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