Case studies

Relevant service: Business Transformation, Operational Excellence

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Roadmapping & Capability Building at Inalfa Roof Systems

About the Company

Inalfa is one of the world's largest providers of vehicle roof systems. Inalfa designs, develops and manufactures sunroofs and open-roof systems for automotive companies such as BMW Group, Daimler, Chrysler Group, Ford, General Motors, Volkswagan, Audi, Volvo, Citroen, and many others. It is the largest supplier of roof systems in the roof market and the second largest in the passenger car market with 20% market share. Headquartered in Venray, the Netherlands, Inalfa employs 5,500 people and has facilities worldwide.

The Challenge

Contracting in the automotive sector mean the company faced an urgent need to reduce their cost base and increase the capability of their team. The focus was placed on building Continuous Improvement and Lean Skills across the organisation.

Company

Inalfa Roof Systems

Industry

Manufacturing

Size

5500 Employees

Revenue

EUR 1.4 Billion

What We Did

Working with Inalfa across their global locations (USA, Holland, Poland, Korea, Mexico, China and Korea) we supported the development of site level roadmaps for each of their manufacturing facilities - enabling sustainable Enterprise Excellence; and the development of expert coaches at each site (now over 175 in total)
We also provided expert consulting support to each site on a wide range of complex manufacturing challenges.
A tiered strategy deployment system was introduced to ensure effective communication between group, site, team and individuals.
We supported the restructuring of the organisation to reflect value streams with a focus on achieving operational excellence.
End to end processes were mapped, and a focus on pull systems was introduced. Value stream thinking was deployed across the organisation.
Ownership and accountability for continuous improvement was deployed across the organisation.
A culture of coaching and people lifecycle management was introduced.
Supply Chains were analysed and improved both up and down stream.
An extended enterprise program was elevated to become a key strategic asset of the organization.
A sustainable improvement system was introduced throughout the organisation.

Results

Output doubled in 3 years
Revenue increased by 300%
The creation of 'in-line' competence to develop and sustain improvements across the organization
5 Master Coaches, 20 Lean Coaches and 100 subject matter experts were trained.
Improvement systems were developed across the entire operation including Sales; Product Development; Production, Distribution and after sales.
A culture and common language of CI was shared across all sites via the Inalfa Operating System.
Embedding coaching as a key organizational capability ensured both engagement and long term sustainability of the improvement program across all regions.
Inalfa have learned that sustainable improvement is achieved when excellent people work in excellent processes. They know that you can not use consultants to change their business, only the team can do that - 'Consultants can only start the fire - your people need to fuel the growth.'

Framework

Operational Excellence

Business Transformation

Academy - Improvement Coach Program

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