Gazelle - Customer Experience
Read the experience with 5S Company from Bouke, production manager at Gazelle.
LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF
My name is Bouke Imenkamp and I work for Koninklijke Gazelle as production manager, technical service and manufacturing engineering. A company that highly values the pleasure and safety of its employees when making bicycles.
In my daily work I am responsible for about 240 employees and I make sure that people can focus on adding value to the production of the bicycle. Together with the management, we make sure that all preconditions are in place. It is important to give the employees a feeling of both trust and responsibility. Dealing with people and the fact that you see the bicycle being "born" within Gazelle, is a really nice experience.
5S COMPANY AT GAZELLE
We have been collaborating with 5S company for about 8 years now. Together we have started and successfully completed several improvement projects. The basis for this has been an integral and extensive 5S procedure. Parallel to this we have created a logical flow. In the meantime, we are using kaizens to focus on the improvement of the major bottlenecks. We have also set up and equipped an obeya space where employees have all the tools to shape these kaizens.
Employees are trained by the Lean Learning Company at different levels by means of pragmatic lean training focused on practice. In addition, by appointing a continuous improvement manager we have also bundled, connected and secured all improvement initiatives in a clear roadmap. Strategy deployment is tackled and translates the most important objectives back into actions that need to be carried out on the work floor. A part of the final assembly job has been reconstructed where we will apply TWI (training within industry) and work on optimization.
EXPERIENCE WITH 5S COMPANY
5S Company is a pragmatic party that fulfills agreements. They create support among the employees and win their trust. Together with the employees this delivers clear results in efficiency, quality and culture.
It is a party that does not produce a report with solutions for tomorrow, but puts actions on effects for today. They also roll up their sleeves and, by actively helping on the floor, make a clear statement to the employees.
5S Company is for me a sparring partner who knows how to turn ideas into reality and delivers a result that fits our practice.
WHAT DOES GAZELLE DO?
Royal Gazelle in the Veluwse Dieren employs approximately 450 people. At Gazelle they make 250,000 bicycles per year. This makes Gazelle the market leader in the Netherlands and is working hard to expand the organization beyond its own national borders. Since its foundation in 1892, quality has been paramount. In 1996 the Gazelle quality system was certified according to the ISO-9001 standards.
See the whitepaper 5S rollout and Lean improvement processes within Koninklijke Gazelle
AVR Duiven takes its productivity to a higher level with 5S
Bouke Imenkamp
Manager production, t.d. and m.e.
Royal Gazelle Dieren
