It's always a step into the unknown when you need some external resource. Many questions arise as you look for the best company to support your improvement program. Who will help you get to where you need to be?
See what previous clients have told us what they think of our services...
"Family Fund is a charity which helps families raising disabled and severely ill children across the UK. Last year it supported over 72,000 families.
We looked for a suitable consultant to support our plans for a review and redesign of our IT System. Through our selection process we chose Zentec Limited as they offered us an approach that would help us achieve our goal and help to build a new skill set within Family Fund. We saw this skill uplift as a recurring benefit for our people and, more importantly, the families that we help.
We embarked on a review of all our processes as the first phase of a project to implement a new IT system. Zentec’s Lean training and support enabled us to redesign our processes in ways which will improve the speed at which we can help families. The transparent approach that Zentec coached meant we were able to approach potential IT system providers with a clear set of requirements for our future system.
Throughout the review and redesign process we also identified thousands of hours of potential efficiency improvements by preventing errors or delays and reducing variation in our processes. Some of these efficiency gains were of a relatively low cost as part of our existing working practices and through their quick implementation by our teams we are enjoying the benefits of some of those improvements already.
These changes that we have been able to access, with the support that Zentec provided, will mean we can achieve our goal of improving the quality of our services and increase our capacity to help more families
"
Steve Thorlby-Coy
IT Services Director
www.familyfund.org.uk
"We are Magnet Kitchens ltd, a large scale Manufacturing set up within the Kitchen Furniture supply sector, with our base located in the north of the UK.
We decided to launch a Lean program in order to improve site health and safety, reduce operating costs and increase our capacity without major investment. We chose Zentec through recommendation, and have enjoyed considerable success.
To date, we have increased financial labour efficiency by 10 to 15% as a result of Lean and we have also removed over 40% of inventory.
This is the second time we have attempted Lean - the first time was via a different route, and was not sustained. This time, we used Zentec, and are confident that the Zentec material, if applied by involving colleagues will deliver benefits for any company in any environment.
The Five S training aids are very robust, in that they are pitched at first line supervision level and contain a main training presentation which is supported with a comprehensive trainer guide. During our 5S phase the training was very inclusive and was clearly understood by participants. Practices were quickly migrated to the shop floor, as the "sort" and "shine" activities were carried out as part of the training day. We also chose pilot areas, in order that good practices were developed in a focused area first, which were subsequently used as examples for following Lean rollout areas.
We have also commenced Zentec's Quick Changeover module, as reduction in inventory is now making this a necessity. "
Adrian Fawlk
Manufacturing Director, Magnet
www.magnet.co.uk
"Please allow me to thank you for the work you've been doing with my team. They seem invigorated to find all inefficiency and put it out of its misery. They've already made changes to some wasteful processes. Job well done!"
Leonardo Martinez
Director, Customer Service UK and Spain
"I really enjoyed the training, I think the way in which Zentec present is engaging. I've been on training where by the afternoon your fighting to stay awake but in this training I felt alert and engaged all the way through."
Louise Cornwell
Pearson Shared Services
"Personally I was impressed. I think it gave a good mix of practical and theory and liked the fact it covered service and production as most of the theories apply to both. Making teams release how quickly the 7 weeks go and making sure you and pushing along at a good rate is essential. "
Adam Miles
Contact Centre Manager, Pearson Shared Services
"What a great seminar. Although I have worked on Lean Six Sigma projects in the past, this was a great refresher to the techniques and thought processes of lean improvement. Mick really makes the subject come alive, and although much of Lean is manufacturing-based he has the knowledge and experience to make the various topics very relevant to the service sector. I came away feeling energised, and full of ideas that I will apply to a forthcoming improvement project. It was also a great opportunity to talk through problems and potential solutions with others from completely different industries. Many seminars gloss over subjects but this was a really comprehensive run-through many of the aspects of lean, and was full of practical and 'real world' examples. Mick's experience and knowledge brings everything together in a very usable format"
Richard Jones
Group Customer & Sales Service Director, Bovis Homes
www.bovishomes.co.uk
"Our employees have always been dedicated to delivering excellent service, however often problems were resolved for short term gain only, resulting in a "plaster mentality" and a lot of re-occurring problems. Additionally, we were running short of ideas to realise more capacity from our existing manufacturing facilities. Once we had decided to try something different we looked at several major brand name consultancies who all claimed that they could make a difference if we followed their programs. We heard about TQM, WCM, 6 sigma but decided to go with Lean as it appeared to offer a total solution, had been proven in several different industries and would also support the cultural transformation that we knew we would need to make to be able to sustain the changes in the future.
Although not the largest consultancy, we selected Zentec based on their Lean experience, our access to the lead consultant - Mick Tolliday, his ability to communicate easily and naturally with all levels of the organisation and the significant emphasis placed by Zentec on training so that we could fly solo after they had gone. Success criteria were set at the start of our pilot and due to the success of this project we went on to use Zentec in other parts of our business with similar effect. Since commencing our lean transformation at the start of 2002 we have achieved significant double digit improvement in our available capacity, productivity, lead time reduction and WIP reduction. The bottom line is that our business now sustains its own year on year improvements and we have paid back the initial investment many times over. I am pleased to recommend Zentec to other business leaders that are serious about making change."
Richard Randall
Manufacturing Director, Gower Furniture Ltd.
www.gower-furniture.co.uk
"As Joint CEO of our company, I personally followed Zentec's course on Lean Management together with some of our plant managers.
The course itself was well structured and gave us the opportunity to exercise on practical cases. When our customers talk about lean manufacturing, we better understand what exactly they are talking about.
Although we are working in an industry where people think that it is not possible to achieve an increase in productivity, we all were really impressed by the positive effects reached due to the implementation of some aspects learned during the course. In our Belgian and Canadian facilities, productivity increased by 10%.
Results tell their own tale!"
Joop Raeven
Joint CEO, Thona Group
"When you are working within an operations environment, it's very common to be inward-looking. It is not unusual to find every single operation's section just worried about its manageable operating range, its little cubicle.
Zentec's superb 'Lean Processes' training helped us to identify and deal with the internal barriers that complicate our day-to-day jobs.
The facilitators focussed on how to overcome obstacles in business life and how to pave the way through business challenges."
Georg Reichert
General Manager LLP Development - Automotive, at Exel
www.exel.com
"Excellent presentation which covered a number of tools that will move the Continuous Improvement team forwards."
Andy Thompson
Manufacturing Manager - Geka Brush
"Excellent two days with good aids / handouts"
Sean Dowling
Production Coordinator - Geka Brush
www.geka-brush.com
