Increasing manufacturing process efficiency is mandatory for enterprises with growth aspirations.
 
This is a concept that Industrie Saleri Italo understands very well. This well-established market leader, with 77 years of service to its customers - in designing, developing and manufacturing water pumps and cooling systems for the automotive industry – looks at change not as an obstacle, but as an essential step along a path focused on growth.
The key stages along this path are: research and development, flexible technical solutions and on-going quality standards upgrading.
Precisely in order to meet such quality standards, Saleri has decided to expand its already highly-structured assembly process, incorporating an even greater number of machines and resources.
To meet this goal, Saleri’s Continuous Improvement Team took the decision to entrust ErgonGroup with the task of identifying the most effective way for optimising the manufacturing process in question, particularly as regards business and manufacturing aspects.
 
 
From theory to practice with ErgonGroup as a partner.
 
“To attain this complex and ambitious goal, we offered Saleri a customised service, built on integrating training, consulting activities and technology transfer.
Following an in-depth study of the process - the focus of which was to identify strengths, weaknesses and skill-sets within the company - we were able to establish the foundations for a customised training path.
Through the sharing of skills, know-how and specific methods, employees became self-reliant in adopting a tangible scientific approach to Time&Methods, an essential tool for analysing and organising the relationship existing between individuals, machines and the occupational environment.
Following this step, via an advisory support stage, during which the actual assembly process was analysed, our goal was to maximise process output while minimizing costs.
Saleri, from its side, provided a 14 people-strong team, sourced from six different business functions: Quality, Process Engineering, Controlling, Logistics, Continuous Improvement and Production. They dedicated all or part of their time to learning Time&Methods theory, to establishing the practical objectives to be obtained in the case study, to a time&methods study and, last but not least, to analysing possible manufacturing line configurations and preparing a final report on the implemented actions.
The project involved various field activities, at the Provaglio d’Iseo assembly department. This provided staff the chance for experiencing and testing out factory floor day-to-day life, even for staff whose jobs were not strictly linked to manufacturing.”
 
 
Goals reached and new business ones
 
What were the tangible benefits attained, as a result of enhanced internal manufacturing processes?
The ErgonGroup method - featuring synergy between a theoretical and teaching approach, combined with a strong advisory focus on practical work - together with the Saleri Team led to study and analysis and the recommendation of application solutions which were able to contribute to 10% reduction in unit costs and to increasing manufacturing output by over 40%.
The financial and organisational benefit was not the only positive outcome: in-company benefit to staff was also significant. The Continuous Improvement Team was very keen to involve the various company departments and arranged for this to happen. Indeed, their involvement in a shared Project consolidated understanding among Saleri Team members. They adopted an enhanced pro-active approach, where they were promoters of an approach focusing on achieving continuous improvement.
In the long term, this approach may be applied to other assembly processes within the company: this would allow the excellent results attained to be replicated, leading to further improvements from the standpoint of productivity and cost-savings.