Summary
The “Koninklijke Hollestelle Groep” has its seat at Goes in the south western part of the Netherlands. The company is composed of four partnerships. Two of them are concerned with the production of metal products such as machine-parts and (hall) cranes. This research project focused on these parts of the company.
The board of the “Koninklijke Hollestelle Groep” suspected that corporate performance could be improved substantially. The entire logistical process comprises acquisition, offering, project preparation, production and final assembly. This study was concerned with the identification of opportunities for improvement.
Function models were developed to gain insight into corporate processes. The organizational structure of the present situation was then mapped. Interviews with employees were conducted to add detail. All functions were then analyzed to identify underperforming links. Two problems seem to most strongly affect corporate performance:
• Insufficient steering
Proper steering is lacking at essential places within the company.
• Exceeding of the labour time
Lump sum contracts require an advance estimate of labour time. When the time required to finish an order exceed the number of billable hours, the company suffers a loss. Data analysis revealed that time estimates were consistently
exceeded by an average of 23% to 29% in the largest partnership of the company (2004-2006).
The causes of these two problems were identified and four solutions were then proposed:
• The formulation of KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) with matching standards;
• The improvement of communication processes;
• The standardization of working methods;
• A change of the organizational structure.
The company could raise its revenues by an estimated € 110.000,- per annum by
