Project Background

• A large multinational company in Germany, mainly engaged in the production of shoes and sportswear. The vast majority of its sports shoe manufacturers are in China. Due to the increase in labor costs in mainland China, the group company has begun to seek ways to reduce costs and improve competitiveness
• Starting from the end of 2010, the group invited a consulting company to design a lean manufacturing method tailored to the characteristics of the footwear industry, and began to vigorously promote it in manufacturing factories in Asia; Lean consultant Tim Zhang led lean training and on-site improvement activities for two factories in Dongguan and Hunan, and participated in improvement activities for a factory in Vietnam.

Challenge

• These Taiwan owned factories follow the traditional batch production mode. The on-site personnel lack training about lean production.
• Due to the increase in labor costs in China, the group urgently needs to seek ways to improve product quality, reduce costs, and enhance its competitive advantage.