One of our clients, a Tier 1 supplier in the aerospace industry, was informed by one of its OEM customers that its development times were significantly longer than those of its competitors. The OEM customer made a significant reduction in time-to-market a condition for further orders. We were tasked with making this reduction possible.
In a specially assembled team comprising employees from all departments involved in product development, we first mapped the development value stream and analyzed it for processing times, waiting times, loops, and other events that consumed time in any way. We mapped out the actual circumstances and documented all interfaces, both between internal departments and with external entities such as regulatory agencies. Detailed investigations of real-world processes were conducted at various points, with additional colleagues involved in our analysis. Our work was transparent and open to suggestions and ideas, even from outside the team. After several months, we had a clear picture: all hypotheses had been tested, the root cause had been identified and quantified, and the entire team stood behind the result—including those whose areas of responsibility encompassed the cause. Once the cause was clear, the solution was quickly found and accepted and implemented without debate.
Ultimately, the development time from order placement to delivery was reduced by >30% without requiring additional resources and without compromising on content or quality. This is a truly remarkable achievement. Instead of terminating the long-term business relationship, the OEM awarded its supplier a commendation and strengthened the business relationship. The loss of future orders from the OEM was averted. Additionally, our client was now able to avoid continuing to generate a >30% loss in revenue, which had resulted from the organization’s existing potential not being fully utilized. In fact, from that point on, our client was able to implement 30% more projects in the same amount of time, virtually from a standstill. This was achieved with negligible effort: approximately six internal person-months and about 25 consultant days.
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