New Balance steps up lean manufacturing
New Balance Athletic Shoes has announced ambitious plans to step up production in Europe, Middle East and African (EMEA) region through a partnership with the UK’s Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) North West.
The company, which has its EMEA headquarters in Warrington, UK, intends doubling turnover across the region by 2012, with the annual output at its UK facility in Flimby, Cumbria set to triple to three million pairs of shoes.
According to the company, New Balance had initially developed a five-year strategic business plan to increase turnover at the Cumbria plant from £70 million to £250 million and had acquired land adjacent to its current unit to build another factory. However, following talks with MAS North West and a series of workshops to introduce basic principles of lean manufacturing, current processes were re-evaluated.
As a result, after working with MAS practitioners, the company refined its existing factory layout to make it run more efficiently, with four operatives handling the work previously done by five — and the surplus staff working on additional cells. The result has been a staggering 35% increase in productivity, a 35% reduction in space, and an increase in output from 10 to 14 pairs of shoes per person per hour, without the need to construct a new facility.
Factory manager Andy Okolowicz commented: “I’m amazed at the fantastic improvements in productivity and space saving achieved after training. The MAS team has also given us the skills to sustain the improvements in the future. I don’t think of them as consultants but as an extension of our factory team with a diverse knowledge of our industry and skills.”
