Harrington Generators

Introduction

As one of few Railtrack Approved generator manufacturers in the UK, HGI is in a unique position to meet the demand for safe, solid and reliable equipment. HGI is also the leading Telecommunications generator manufacturer in Europe, having supplied sets to a multitude of companies for vastly different project requirements. For the Commercial market, HGI manufacture generators from 2kW to 150kW, petrol, diesel, or gas powered, AC and/or DC, single voltage, dual voltage, or multi voltage, to be used at home, on a building site, at an office block, retail and commercial premises. Furthermore, HGI is the leading military generator supplier to the British MoD, and the largest UK generator manufacturer in the military field.

Huge Success in Business Improvement

Qualitrain has worked in close partnership with this already successful business to review its processes and design and deliver a wide-ranging package of Lean Manufacturing training and advice throughout the Sales, Production and Accounts departments.

Following initial analysis it was possible to identify areas which could benefit from further streamlining, non-value added activities were eliminated, and bespoke Lean training packages were used to ensure that process of improvement could be made continuous. Especially because HGI 'bought into' the process of positive change so enthusiastically, the results have been very positive, with a visible and measurable return its training investment.

Synopsis of the Programme
 
The project used a team top down / bottom up approach, with every member of the work force throughly involved.
  • The focus was on Workplace Organisation, flow processes and problem solving techniques to remove waste from the business.
  •  Employees were awarded an NVQ level 2 for their contribution to the improvements.
  •  5s was implemented in all areas on the shop floor with significant before and after values recorded.
  •  KPI’s were generated for NRFT and DSA with improvement trends recorded.
  •  Many SOP’s were implemented and are now used as a base line for further improvements.
  •  Over 85% of the workforce were certified at NVQ level 2 in BIT.
  •  Floor space utilisation in stores went from 17.8% to 100%, vastly improving kitting time.
Comment from the Managing Director

"Qualitrain has worked in close partnership with us to review our processes and design and deliver a wide-ranging package of Lean Manufacturing training and projects throughout our Sales, Production, Warehousing and Accounts departments.
 
Qualitrain has been extremely thorough in identifying areas in our operation which could benefit from further streamlining, and where non-value added activities could be eliminated. Lean training packages have seen large numbers of our staff obtain valuable business improvement qualifications, and this has helped us to maintain the improvements over time.
 
The results of our work with Qualitrain have been very positive, with visible and measurable returns on our investment. A particularly notable example of this came in the Warehouse, where an agreed KPI allowed us to move from 17% to 100% efficiency, bringing very worthwhile benefits."