Company Background
Established in 1975 in Pietermartizburg, Webroy is a family owned business producing wire manufactured products for the automotive and other industries. The company employs 82 people and primarily operates as a Tier 2 automotive producer. Webroy has capability in CNC wire forming, robotic welding, plastic injection moulding, metal pressing, rilsan coating, and epoxy coating. The company is IATF 16949 certified.
Project Scope
- Dizanis project focused on the implementation of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) to address a range of inter-related operational improvement opportunities, including reducing breakdowns, improving reliability, reduce scrap, and improving preventative maintenance standards. Baseline measurements were undertaken, improvement opportunities identified, and TPM systems and procedures implemented. In support of sustainable improvement, the project also focused on shop floor training to entrench the new systems and processes.
Project Outcomes
- Webroys management team and staff drove significant improvements with the support of a LEAN specialist. The business implemented performance measurement, maintenance planning, visual management, and 5S systems that allowed for improved monitoring, tracking, and root cause analysis. The results of these implementations were significant:
- Time lost to machine breakdowns improved by 33%
- Internal reject rate improved by 57%
- Productivity (value add per Rand employee cost) improved by 15%
- These positive initial results also motivated Webroy to continue its improvement journey beyond the Dizani project. The firm extended support from the lean specialist to provide more extensive training to its team members to drive greater depth and sustainability of improvements
Impacts
Six months on from the implementation, Webroy continues to identify opportunities to improve its breakdown performance and scrap rates thanks to the tracking systems the business implemented through the Dizani project.
Comments from Company Representatives
Gary Royston, Webroys General Manager, noted
The Dizani programme helped us to initiate a process of huge improvements, which we have sustained following the project. We have engaged the lean specialist support beyond the initial Dizani project to train all 80 of our staff on LEAN principles. This investment in training and understanding LEAN has helped us to increase the pace at which we are able to implement the changes required to remain competitive.
