The Challenge

Problem
• Technical difficulty: develop a new, cheaper, smaller and more efficient water heater
• Extremely long lead time (28 months)
• Reduction in time-to-market essential to increase sales
Root Causes
• Planning lacking any specific details and includes only the major milestones
• Plan not visible and not known by all stakeholders
• Tasks planned with a lot of safety (buffer)
• Poor integration of functions and suppliers
The solution

• Optimized pull planning with buffers
• Obeya Room (Visual Project Management)
• Daily KAIZEN™ for engineering and testing teams
• Last Planner with supplier integration
The Results
The project resulted in a saving of 84 man-months, vertical production and market start-up.

Time-to-market
The time-to-market for the product decreased by 25%
#assembly manufacturing #process manufacturing #research and development
See more on Assembly Manufacturing
Find out more about transformation in this sector
See more on Research & Development
Find out more about improving this business area