Lean working method at Inteco
For several years, Inteco has been training and developing itself in the field of Lean, improvement processes and change processes. On this page we tell you more about the tools we use to improve as a team.
The team takes the lead with Lean
Working lean is a team effort. All employees of Inteco are challenged to improve, from high to low in the organization. Due to the broad involvement, improvement initiatives are taken up integrally and changes are supported throughout the organization. The improvements lead to more effective or more efficient work processes that ultimately benefit everyone: Inteco, its employees but especially Inteco's customers.
What is Lean?
Lean working is a strategic way of doing business where all employees focus on creating value for our customers. We do this by removing waste and putting our customers at the center of all business processes; from production to administration and from logistics to assembly. In other words: through awareness and focus on our client we create maximum added value at the lowest possible effort. In addition, we structurally improve our working method and quality, the lead times for supplying the climate ceiling are shortened and we reduce costs. The result is a positive effect on the customer satisfaction, employee involvement and financial health of Inteco.
Strategy & Team Building days
Every year we organize a Strategy and Team Buidling day at Inteco. In a team, we brainstorm, consult and work on a solution to a problem that concerns us. Of course always with the Lean philosophy in mind and with the aim of improving.
Obeya Room - view on improvements
In the obeya room there are overviews of all improvement processes that run within the organization. Progress is monitored on the overviews. The improvement teams keep track of the state of affairs at regular intervals and discuss the next step in the improvement process.
Weekly stand, improvement and planning boards
Every Monday morning at 9 o'clock sharp we are all present at the weekly stand. In this short session we inform each other about the most important issues that await us this week. We have an improvement board for each department where we identify constructive improvements and discuss the state of affairs per week. We have planning boards for each team so that it is clear at a glance who is working on which project or task.
Training new employees
For the new employees, we organize training courses to familiarize them with the Lean methodology and to ensure that the adoption of a new method runs smoothly. Here too the team comes around again, because from whom can you learn this better than from your new colleagues?
Lean methodologies - practical examples
One piece flow experiment
Producing per climate ceiling panel
The industry is used to thinking in large batches. After all, the machines must remain running. Inteco, started an experiment with Lean institute Arpa. The results: a much shorter lead time, lower process costs and significantly lower inventory costs.
This experiment was visualized with a video and article in which we tell more about the design of this Lean activity in which we involved all employees.
Annual statement in one day
Get rid of the unnecessary steps
We have implemented an improvement with our financial adviser with regard to the preparation of our financial statements. With the required time from our employees and from ABAB, we have mapped out every step in this process. Was every step really necessary? We constantly challenged each other and worked out improvements together. The results surprised. We both won a lot of time. At Inteco we now save 30% on man-hours.
Restructuring Factory
Carried by the team
One of our SWAT afternoons was all about a new factory layout. With small groups we brainstormed about a possible new layout of the factory. What is the best route? How can you work most efficiently? Together we have come up with a thorough new design for our factory. And the advantage of this working method is that we are all aware of the advantages and disadvantages of the various options and are therefore all in favor of the new layout.
You can also see the Lean working method in our project management
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