Driving down our Delivered Cost Per Car (the price it costs to produce one of our cars) is key in delivering Refocus here at Halewood and our people are playing a huge “part” in this.
By the time next year’s new car model launches, ideas which have come directly from the Halewood workforce, will allow our factory to realise £30 million in savings and reduce its average Cost Per Car by £225.69.
What’s it all about? Team Talk caught up with Project Ignite Analyists, Kevin Moran, Antony Cole and Thomas Cotterill to tell us more. Ignite is an existing cost-saving project which sits under Pillar three of our Refocus transformation programme.
Kevin said: “These are ideas that have come from our people- from the shopfloor, product coaches, all the way up to engineering-which is resulting in significant cost savings for the business.
“Our role as analysts is to take these ideas and work cross functionally with all departments to progress them through the various GEARS stages, so they can be actioned. GEARS is an acronym we use to evaluate these phases and stands for Generated, Evaluated, Approved, Realised and Set in stone- which is the final piece in the puzzle.
“At this point, we have around 600 ideas in the hopper- which is phenomenal. Not all of these ideas will go through to completion, but the sheer amount shows the level of engagement which is coming from our teammates.
“They highlight everything from purchasing to the design of parts and will ensure we learn from any previous mistakes so we can put the most cost effective, quality processes in place. This is essential with the prospect of future Electrical Modular Architecture (EMA) coming to Halewood.”
The team talked us through some of the ideas that will directly contribute to Halewood’s £30 million cost per unit saving.
Noise Vibration Pads
Antony: “This was an idea put forward by colleague, Phil Briscoe, to remove the noise vibration harness pads from our cars. We currently use two pads- one sits on the top of the diesel engine and the other goes on the side of the engine.
“We carried out an investigation and both pads are ineffective as they don’t suppress the noise from the engine, so the plan is to remove them entirely. As well as the cash saving from not having to buy the parts from the supplier, removing the pads from the current workstream process will also free up line side space for our associates.
Delivered Cost Per Car saving: £2.10
Total Saving: £1.2 million
GEAR STATUS: A
Charger Cable suitcase
Tom said: “We used to place charger cables for our PHEV cars in branded black suitcases. Each case cost £45 so one of our associates Jack Gardener suggested we used a canvas drawstring bag instead which at £6 a unit is a fraction of the price.”
Delivered Cost Per Car saving: £11
Total Saving: £1.59M
GEAR STATUS: S
Commenting on these successful savings, Mike Chadwick, Halewood Plant Launch Manager, said: “Refocus is our day job and Delivered Cost Per Car is a key pillar in the programme that will transform our business and manufacturing has a big part to play in this. The real positive from this project from me, however, is that it’s not coming from the top down- it’s being driven by our people who are all contributing to significant savings for our business.
“Quite simply- we couldn’t do this without them- they know their processes better than anyone. Now more than ever, we need to sustain our Refocus and responsible spend mindset so please continue to challenge everything and raise your ideas with your group leaders.”
