Test cells overloaded, deadlines missed, parts absent.
On time
test carriers launched, test cells better used
The challenge
Chasing full utilisation, losing the schedule.
The R&D department of a global truck manufacturer - around a thousand people, building some 70,000 trucks a year - kept missing deadlines in its durability testing. Test equipment was a bottleneck, projects were overloaded, and long checklists slowed everything down.
Test-cell use was uneven, parts were missing from tests that had been scheduled because design teams held unaligned deadlines, and teams were chasing project goals that had become largely fictional.
What we did
A visual board on a two-week tact.
SAM ran interviews and a demand-driven flow analysis, and found the cause where it was least expected: over-scheduling the test cells in pursuit of full utilisation was itself creating the planning problem.
In its place came a visual planning board on a two-week tact, with test carriers moving through it as cards advancing toward the cells - so the real state of the work was visible to everyone at once.
The outcome
Siloed work became shared objectives.
The design department became more productive - a competitive advantage in itself - with better use of the test cells and test carriers launched on time. Work that had been siloed turned into shared objectives, and a sense of calm and control replaced the overload.
The way of planning was taken up more widely across the R&D department, beyond the group it started with.
On time test carriers launched, test cells better used
Adopted R&D-wide the planning tact spread beyond the pilot group
“[client quote - to be supplied]”
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