Customised Training Achieves Higher Quality and Greater Efficiency
Kangan Batman Institute of TAFE and Amalgamated Casket Company
A major investment in year-long competitive manufacturing training for staff has paid dividends for the Amalgamated Casket Company, one of Australia's leading coffin and casket manufacturers.
Working with Kangan Batman, the company mapped and identified existing manufacturing processes before implementing training which resulted in improved manufacturing layouts and workflows.
Forty key personnel were trained, with Certificate III in Competitive Manufacturing for staff and Certificate IV for team leaders and production management, according to Joseph Patuto of Kangan Batman's Centre for Competitive Operations.
"One full day per week was spent on site, training, coaching and mentoring," Mr Patuto says. "Prior to training, value stream mapping was carried out, a spaghetti map developed to identify existing product routing and current lead times identified. We established KPIs and business imperatives for 12 months, then aligned training to business outcomes."
"The goal was a more flexible and agile business, with a just in time system that still met market demands."
Achievements include a reduction in lead time from 36 days to 18 days, says the company's Managing Director, Peter MacLeod.
"I'm very happy with the quality improvements, which we are still working on. Staff are also clearer on what their roles are and what is expected of them," Mr MacLeod says.