NTFII's efforts to boost South Africa's vehicle-components suppliers abilities to export have already paid off for Ramsay Production Engineers. The Pietermaritzburg based maker of metal, plastic and leatherette automotive parts is one of 40 companies selected to participate in the NTFII-Durban Automotive Cluster project that is designed to reduce the sector's vulnerability by creating jobs and diversifying export markets.
Improvements are already visible at Ramsay after just three training sessions with NTFII Trainer Peter Handlinger, says Managing Director Andrew Turner. Coaching has covered basic housekeeping that helped the company's press shop remove clutter and reinforce team spirit as well as identify and resolve impediments to the facility's optimal performance. With a more streamlined process in place, Ramsay is using available tools to focus on problem solving and quantifying improvements so as to judge the full impact of the programme.
`Many of the improvements that have been made seem very simple. However, in the day-to-day rush of business, they are often neglected as we struggle to get products out the door each day,' Turner said. `What Peter has brought to the table is the ability to focus on addressing one problem at a time in a systematic way, and it is really paying dividends. I am convinced that this programme is very different from other programmes and it will yield a very different result, and that result will be a sustainable system that will truly drive continuous improvements.'