Streamlining processes contributed to an efficiency saving of £250,000 at Merson Signs.

The challenge

As the business continues to expand, new clients and designs are constantly being added to the portfolio.

Almost every sign manufactured by the company is bespoke, requiring input from design, technical, sales, projects and installation. Although production lead times were cut from nine to three weeks after extensive lean activity in production and a major investment in planning software, further lead time reduction was still required. This needed to come from the delivery process outside production.

The company

Established over 60 years ago, Merson Signs design, manufacture, install and maintain a wide range of signs for some of Britain's biggest businesses, including automotive retailers, food retailers, and airport buildings. They currently employ 120 people with a turnover of £8 million.

How SMAS helped

SMAS helped to facilitate a mapping activity of the sales order process, which enabled each department to take an overview of the full process and identify how and where issues arise. The map identified avoidable delays in the process and gaps in communications.

SMAS also helped to create a series of Key performance Indicators (KPIs) across the process, so the business could measure its performance through each stage. These KPIs were then rolled up into a balanced business scorecard.

Outcomes

By reducing waste and improving flow, Merson Signs have the opportunity to increase the throughput of orders within their process. The company now has a tangible set of performance measures for each department, which will be utilised to generate action logs to improve the process further. These activities contributed to a Gross Value Added efficiency saving of £250,000.

Andy Henderson, Operations Director, Merson Signs said:

We‘ve been experiencing problems with the front end planning on jobs for a few years and this has become more apparent since we’ve been improving our manufacturing and installation schedule.

With the help of SMAS we’ve now streamlined how our 'project planning' is executed at the front end. We now schedule all project activities and this lets us see the knock on effect 'not attending a meeting' can have on a projects delivery date for example. This will save us thousands of pounds in down time.

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