Sears Seating, Ebbw Vale: Case Study
Lean techniques pare costs and retain key client
“MAS Wales helped us improve our competitive edge in the marketplace by creating greater efficiency through eliminating the waste from our production processes.”
Daryl Davies, general manager, Sears Seating
Introduction
Sears Seating is based on Rassau Industrial Estate in Ebbw Vale, and makes seating for off-road vehicles such as tractors and forklift trucks.
The parent company is based in the USA - Davenport, Iowa. Sears is a family-run business - the fifth generation of the Sears family is now at the helm. The company started out 150 years ago, making saddles for the US cavalry.
As the company is based in the USA’s agricultural heartland, the business evolved to create seating for farm vehicles and machinery.
Three key sectors now make up Sears’ business: agriculture, construction and industrial vehicles (including fork lift trucks). The company has markets internationally, supplying major companies such as Caterpillar, CNH, and John Deere.
Last year’s turnover for the European aspect of Sears Seating’s business was £18m - the company has seen a 15 per cent year on year increase in turnover for the past six years.New contracts from Komatsu and Kubota this year will add an additional £2m to the European turnover.
“As the company has a 14 per cent market share in Europe, there is still tremendous potential for growth,” says Daryl Davies, Sears Seating’s general manager. “And our projected turnover for 2012 is £30m.”
The company is also looking to bring its South Wales activities under one roof, and is searching for a site to develop a purpose-built unit.
The Ebbw Vale plant employs 110 people.
Working with Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) Wales
Sears Seating was faced with providing a key customer with price reductions for two consecutive years in order to retain the contract - worth £5m per annum.
“We called in MAS Wales expertise to help us look at our manufacturing processes, to see where we could become leaner, and reduce production costs,” explains Mr.Davies.
“MAS Wales looked at line balancing in order to create greater efficiency, and re-evaluated the time taken to produce aspects of the client’s seating,”
“As a consequence we were able to cut out waste processes that in turn reduced our costs, helping us to achieve essential price reductions, in line with the client’s demands.
Having met these pricing targets, we kept the contract, and retained the jobs associated with it.”
“MAS Wales input was invaluable as we do not have the skills in-house to carry out detailed time studies,” confirms Mr. Davies.
Outcome of working with MAS & FDM-UK
“The work carried out by MAS had a positive knock-on effect on the rest of the business, making us leaner, and therefore more competitive. This has resulted in our winning further business, enabling us to take on 15 extra employees,” says Mr. Davies.
“Our MAS advisor FDM-UK also developed an excellent rapport with staff members, who were keen to put his recommendations into practice.”
“Business growth means a broad range of new posts have been created - not just on the shop floor, but in quality and sales too,” he adds.
Paul Byard, MAS Wales chief executive, says:
“Our advisors' FDM-UK were hand-picked because of their calibre, and the outstanding quality of their hands-on experience in industry. They are then carefully matched with individual companies so that their input will have maximum impact.
“Because of his experience in an industrial environment, our advisor was able to help Sears Seating become leaner and more efficient, which had a positive impact on the business as a whole.”
