As we all know, the days when manufacturers won supply contracts on price alone have long gone. The industry has learned a lot from the public sector policies of Partnering and Best Value and there is now a much more welcome focus on other aspects of the business relationship.
But never before have cable trunking manufacturers been put under such scrutiny as they are currently with buyers examining every aspect of their performance from manufacturing efficiency and staff turnover to waste policies and health and safety track records.
It’s no longer enough to be able to offer innovative products, excellent quality, in house design support and reliable deliveries, customers are increasingly challenging other aspects of their suppliers’ credentials alongside these.
From REHAU’s point of view, this is actually really positive news because we want to see standards raised still further across the electrical industry and we believe we are closest to being able to offer a complete supply package to customers, but it perhaps represents an uncomfortable shift for some other manufacturers who might not have made the same ongoing investments in modern manufacturing techniques and green policies.
Customers essentially want manufacturers to be able to demonstrate a lean, green and mean operation and what has been particularly gratifying for REHAU over recent years has been the growing refusal amongst customers to accept the idea that a supplier can simply pay lip service to modern manufacturing techniques whilst not really integrating them into their operation.
Value Stream Mapping, continuous improvement through Kaizan and 5 Whys might sound like simply buzz words but, borrowed from the best practice principles long employed in the automotive sector, they are in fact the strategies which underpin REHAU’s factory performance and which customers are increasingly demanding to see in practice.
It’s no longer enough just to talk about these concepts – more and more customers want to see evidence and want to visit the factories to see the principles being applied.
We’ve recently been part of an exercise carried out by one of the UK’s largest electrical contractors to choose its preferred supplier of cable management systems and during their visit to our UK manufacturing facility in Amlwch on Anglesey, there was intense focus on how our Value Stream Mapping policy was actually taking costs out of the business and of course how these could be passed on to customers.
Similarly, our 5 Whys quality process, which tracks any errors in the factory from identification to resolution was scrutinised to establish exactly how it was benefiting customers.
And Kaizan continuous improvement strategies were examined to see how they have actually impacted on the product we manufacture and on specific benefits such as the ability to deliver shorter runs more quickly and cost effectively.
In terms of green policies, customers are also demanding to see that not only are manufacturers delivering a greener product than ever before with greater proportions of regrind material incorporated but also that the entire operation is based upon green principles.
At REHAU’s factory in Amlwch, for example, we set out in 2010 to reduce the amount of waste we sent to landfill and, through a complete company-wide strategy of reducing waste, increasing recycling and reusing material wherever possible, we have successfully turned a £40,000 annual cost into a £7,000 annual profit.
We have also developed an Eco-pledge which has been signed by all of our staff making their own commitment to go green and which we have given practical support to. It’s not acceptable just to say you have a made a commitment to car sharing, for example, unless you take action to ensure that those people who can and want to car share have their shifts coordinated, or to say that you encourage cycling if you don’t provide interest free loans to enable staff to buy the bikes in the first place.
And, in terms of a lean operation, the focus is also on improvements made to efficiency with innovations at REHAU such as full 24 hour on site maintenance support and investments in automated PVC compound mixing to eliminate time consuming delays or interruptions to service.
These are the kinds of tangible improvements which customers want to be able to measure – vague promises are just not enough anymore.
Having invested more than £4m in the Amlwch plant since 2008, REHAU is in an excellent position to demonstrate how it has made improvements in efficiency and indeed how these are being passed on to customers, but manufacturers who haven’t kept pace with the market in the same way risk being overlooked.
Now seen as a beacon of Best Practice both within the REHAU international group and within the cable management sector, REHAU’s Amlwch factory has hosted more than 100 visitors over the past year, all keen to see the continuous improvement programme in action.
With customers focusing ever more intently on their suppliers, we expect to see that number increase still further in the year ahead.
