Personal Leadership Perspective Mini Case Study: Vanderlande
Alec Gilbert, Strategic Service Development, Vanderlande, describes his lean strategy for delivering sustainable growth in UK logistics automation.
This case study looks at the deployment of a Lean strategy at the UK subsidiary of a global world leader in automation technology. The global organisation has over 4000 staff and a turnover of around £1.5bn, whilst the UK subsidiary is a Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) of around 200 staff, turning over around £50m.
The company designs, builds, operates and maintains automation systems across a number of sectors. It operates business‐to‐business. It has established world leadership through excellence in product quality and, more recently, through innovation that has moved the company from a supplier of equipment to an integrated control systems partner.
- Why did you start it – what prompted you to get going?
In 2012 the company suffered some shocks to its UK business – some positive, some negative.
It had just lost some mechanical system service business that it had held for five years, but it had also won some new IT controls service business that was unexpected. We could also see that nearly all the business in the previous ten years had been with one customer, and that this customer was entering a period of reduced investment. It was clear that a fresh appraisal of the business direction was needed.
- Before you started what did you think/what previous experience had you ...
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