CASE STUDY: WALKERS ENGINEERING LTD

Company profile
Name of company: Walkers Engineering Ltd
Based / situated: United Kingdom
Type / Nature of Business: manufacture plastic mouldings and have recently expanded their range of ‘wheelie bins’ due to the increase in recycling.
SME stands for Society of Manufacturing Engineers
No. of employees : 225
Facing tough Competition from new market entrants at both home and abroad.
Weekly production of production is over two hundred wheelie bins
Manufacturing Department Structure

Production manager

Two Section

Plastic Injection Moulding Final Packing and Despatch

Departmental Manager Departmental Manager

Supervisor Supervisor Assistant Supervisor Assistant Supervisor

§ Enviornment of Manufacturing Department

1. Quite Hot,
2. Humid and Smelly
3. As the process involves machinery that gets quite hot.
4. No of employees in manufacturing department are 42.
5. Skilled and trained workers.
6. Duties:-

§ Converting plastic pellets into the moulded products which are usually made-to-order, although a small buffer stock and some ‘end of run’ stock is stored in a small warehouse on site.
§ Interdependent with packing Department.

7. Method of working

§ Pressure to perform is transmitted directly onto the supervisors.
§ Output levels are the number of consignments dispatched.
§ Efficiency is the ratio of the number of consignments to the hours used of direct labour. This is irrespective of the complexity of the order, and size and quantity of the items which can vary significantly.
§ Competent employees are usually deputed to maximize the efficiency.
§ They have little control over demand from customers or the number of bins produced however, and no warning of what is coming.
§

§ Enviornment of Final Packing Department

1. Quite Airy and Pleasant.
2. No of employees in packing department are 42.
3. Unskilled worker
4. In contrast, the packers are mainly involved in more menial tasks such as checking off orders for despatch, heavy lifting and vehicle loading, and have a much lower skill level.

5. Duties:-
§ Produces documentation and delivery notes on a computer, which is then passed to the final section where the order consignment is made up.
§ Checked Order
§ Packed Order and despatched.

6. Problems faced by the Packing Department

§ No Control over what arrives for packing.
§ Often surprised by the variations in the production volumes.
§ Limited storage space.
§ High labour turnover problem.
§ Over staffing
§ Mishandling of total volume product.
§ Inaccuracy in order.
§ Unsatisfaction of customer due to inaccuracy.
§ Bad atmosphare
§ Worst climate.

7. Problems faced by the employees of packing Department. § Few opportunities for making any meaningful decisions.
§ Low job satisfaction.
§ Poor motivation and little communication about their performance.
§ Dispute between packing and manufacturing section with supervisors and packers blaming each other when there are problems or mistakes.

8. Method of working.

§ Departmental managers are judged primarily in terms of their production levels (against targets) and the efficiency in terms of labour.
§ Raw material and other costs against which they perform.

§ Enviornment of Building

1. Old old and in some places somewhat dilapidated

§ Method of working.

1. Departmental managers are judged primarily in terms of their production levels (against targets) and the efficiency in terms of labour.
2. Raw material and other costs against which they perform.