His work is therefore best says Arnaud Blanchard

When a team of consultants arrives in a company to "increase productivity", we think spontaneously to the famous "cost killers" track every expense and that reorganization usually rhymes with offshoring. For the Pro consulting firm, the approach is markedly different. "We define as constructors." "There is always to reduce costs, but the biggest margin of progress in terms of productivity is generally obtained with a stronger involvement of the teams," observes Gilbert Lippmann, Director of Pro. Beautiful speech or real method of optimization of production

Essilor, leader of the glasses, tried experience to Dijon, in one of its plants. If the figures at the global level (195 million products each year spectacle, 26.500 employees and a turnover that has tripled in 15 years to 2,424 billion euros) have something left speechless, Dijon website is put on the spot in 2002. Since 1999, the plant is in part directed towards the manufacture of lenses in polycarbonate, lighter and less fragile than conventional organic glasses. Despite encouraging results on this new line of products (6.5 million lenses in polycarbonate products per year), the plant of 350 people was ranked far behind that of the United States in a "benchmark" at the level group in 2002. "We were 30 more expensive for reasons of time to work and hourly cost of labour." "It must be said that American employees working 40 hours per week, with two weeks of leave per year," said Eric Javellaud, Director of the factory in Dijon. To fill the gap, the direction has a solution: lower costs by 30 in five years by concentrating its efforts on the improvement of productivity. With the help of Pro Board, contacted in February 2004, the management team sets a roadmap with 2 main goals: the flow optimization and implementation of autonomous teams.

Accountability of the teams

"Before changing a process, it should be noted at length operators at work." "It is like that that realized us that there was a bottleneck in the level of control and audit unit glasses," said Arnaud Blanchard, associate Pro Board. Each glass produced is in effect controlled by an operator (the position is held mainly by women). A work that can be automated and requires professional look. To optimize the task, a control station was established upstream to remove poor quality lenses very early. Then, just before the audit, a position of pre-sorting allows to send to the position of audit than questionable glasses. "Previously, the operator should check all the glasses on a basis of 7 seconds by glass." Today, it has 20 seconds on a number of glasses greatly reduced. "His work is therefore best," says Arnaud Blanchard.

Second axis of progress: the accountability of the teams to improve the quality and the volume of production. To begin, a questionnaire was sent to all employees to identify strengths and weaknesses of the plant, and test the commitment of employees. 80 response. A good start, but the survey also revealed that operators Pack infringed the performance of their line and did feel not involved by improving the quality or the expectations of customers. Employee remedy Some 120 people were thus formed so that operators can set their own performance measurement indicators which are specific to them. "It is a way to take possession of a territory in the plant, to have the space to itself, which can identify, with its own indicators." "Often, executive dashboards are pure gibberish for operators", j. Gilbert Lippmann.

Specific missions are also assigned to the operators, all volunteers, to hold accountable them: each team now has its quality, its head maintenance or security manager. As team leaders, a large work was done to "move from the status of superman, just repair the machine when it is down to that of facilitator, which made short instead". A true role of mentoring in short, not necessarily easy to take for these workers, often from promoting internal for their technical qualities, not their talent Manager. "6 Factory team leaders meet now one day a month with their chiefs of line." A day full it is long, but it is through it that we can perpetuate our performance improvement action. "The animation part is perceived here as a real step in the process of production", says Maurice Kohler, Director of production of the site of Dijon.

Rise in skills

Exchanges of ideas, discussions on potential changes in indicators, proposals for innovations to generalize across the production line. These meetings are also an opportunity to follow the rise in skills of the teams: what are the potentials to follow The necessary training "The autonomous teams assume a real accountability of operators at the time, they necessarily need to be more versatile and climbing skills", explains Gilbert Lippmann.

Encrypted operation is a success: the productivity has increased by 60 in three years. Semi-finished lenses produced by time is thus increased from 450 in 2003 to 750 today. Finally, 44 of employees are satisfied with the establishment of autonomous teams. The danger of the method, according to the Director of production: "Talk only of pure performance and profitability." It is also necessary to work on the conditions of employment for example. "On this point, the site still has progress to make if judged by its rate of absenteeism, verging on 10. Improve the performance remains indeed a construction site in perpetual restart.