Volvo - POMS

Netland, T. H., & Ferdows, K. (2014) How company-specific production systems affect plant performance: The S-curve theory.
Working paper. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim / Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
POMS Applied Research Challenge, POMS Atlanta, May 9. 2014
How Company-Specific Production
Systems Affect Plant Performance:
The S-Curve Theory
Torbjørn H.Netland
Ph.D.,Postdoc
NorwegianUniversityofScienceandTechnology(NTNU),Trondheim,Norway
[email protected]
KasraFerdows
HeisleyFamilyChairofGlobalManufacturing
McDonoughSchoolofBusiness,GeorgetownUniversity,WashingtonD.C.
Ebly Sanchez
VPSDirectorAmericas
VolvoTrucksNorthAmerica,Greensboro,NC
Company-specific Production Systems are essentially
Corporate Lean Programs
aiming to improve the operational performance
of all plants in the company’s global network
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Netland, T. H., & Ferdows, K. (2014) How company-specific production systems affect plant performance: The S-curve theory.
Working paper. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim / Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Does implementing an XPS improve plant
performance?
1. Theempiricalliteraturesaysitdoes
 TQM(e.g.Sila,2007,JOM;Kaynak,2003,JOM;Black&Porter,1996,DS)
 Lean/JIT(e.g.Shah&Ward,2003,JOM;FullertonandMcwatters,2001,JOM)
 Sixsigma (e.g.Swink&Jacobs,2012,JOM;Shafer&Möller,2012,JOM)
 TPM(e.g.McKone,Schröder &Cua.,2001,JOM)
2. Practicesaysitdoes
 CompaniescontinuedevelopingXPSs
 Companypresentationsreportingmillionsofdollarssaved
 Popularliterature(TheEconomist;theLeanManagementJournal;etc.)
3. Ourownresearchsaysitdoes
 ResearchinVolvoABandJotunAS(Netland &Aspelund,2013,IJOPM;
Netland&Sanchez,2013,TheTQMJournal)
 OursecondpaperatPOMS:"Incentivesforimplementingcorporate
leanprograms" (Netland,Schloetzter &Ferdows,2014)
Plant performance
Plant performance
f(x)
Plant performance
Exactly how does the implementation
of an XPS affect plant performance?
The relationship between XPS implementation and plant performance
Rate of improveme
Rate of improveme
f '(x)
Rate of improveme
The pattern suggests what rate of improvement we should expect
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Netland, T. H., & Ferdows, K. (2014) How company-specific production systems affect plant performance: The S-curve theory.
Working paper. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim / Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Why should we care about the pattern?
Misplaced expectations of how quickly these programs can
improve performance can make their implementation
difficult and reduce their benefits.
From: "How to Implement a Corporate lean Program"
MIT Sloan Management Review, forthcoming Summer 2014
What do existing theories predict?
Fourtheoriespredictthetotaleffectofdepth andspread
1. Thelearningcurve
Effect of depth of
XPS implementation
2. Thetheoryofperformancefrontier
3. Organizationalinertia
Pattern of spread of XPS
implementation in a plant
4. Epidemiologytheory
We hypothesize that the combined effect of these theories
is likely to result in an S-shaped performance curve
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Netland, T. H., & Ferdows, K. (2014) How company-specific production systems affect plant performance: The S-curve theory.
Working paper. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim / Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Our Research Method
In-depth case study research
(Barratt, M., Choi, T.Y., Li, M., 2011, JOM; Yin, 1994; Eisenhardt, 1989, AMR)
The Volvo Group





StillSwedish…but global!
HQGothenburg,Sweden
Founded 1927
About 115.000employees
Salesin180+markets
Truck brands:
Largest truck manufacturer in the world
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Netland, T. H., & Ferdows, K. (2014) How company-specific production systems affect plant performance: The S-curve theory.
Working paper. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim / Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
VTC Umeå
VCE Arvika
Volvo's network
VPT Köping
VCE Eskilstuna
VPT Reman Flen
VCE Hallsberg
VPT Skövde
VAC Trollhättan
VPC Vara
VTC Tuve
VPC Gothenburg
VBC Borås
VCE Braås
VAC Kongsberg
VCE Wroclav
VBC Wroclav
VCE Hameln
VCE Konz
VTC Gent
RTC Blainville
RTC Limoges
RTC BeBresse
VPT Madrid
VBC Quebec
VBC Montreal
VBC Plattsburg
VAC Newington
VCE Shippensburg
VPT Reman Middletown
VTC Macunige
VPT Hagerstown
VTC New River Valley,
VPT Reman Charlotte
VPC Lexington
VTC Kaluga
VCE Changwon
RTC Vénissieux
VPT Vénissieux
VCE Belley
VPT Konouso
VPT Hanyu
VPC Ageo
VCE Linyi
VTC Ageo
VPT Pithampur*
VBC Mexico City
VTC Bangkok
(VCE Mexico City)
VTC Banagalore
VCE Banagalore
VTC Las Tejerias
VBC Xian
VBC Banagalore
VCE Pederneiras
VTC Curitiba
VPT Curitiba
(VBC Curitiba)
VCE Shanghai
VPC Shanghai
VBC SAIC Shanghai*
VTC Brisbane
VTC Durban
VTC Umeå
VCE Arvika
Volvo's network
VPT Köping
VCE Eskilstuna
VPT Reman Flen
VCE Hallsberg
VPT Skövde
VAC Trollhättan
VPC Vara
VTC Tuve
VPC Gothenburg
VBC Borås
VCE Braås
VAC Kongsberg
VCE Wroclav
VBC Wroclav
VCE Hameln
VCE Konz
VTC Gent
RTC Blainville
RTC Limoges
RTC BeBresse
VPT Madrid
VBC Quebec
VBC Montreal
VBC Plattsburg
VAC Newington
VCE Shippensburg
VPT Reman Middletown
VTC Macunige
VPT Hagerstown
VTC New River Valley,
VPT Reman Charlotte
VPC Lexington
VTC Kaluga
VCE Changwon
RTC Vénissieux
VPT Vénissieux
VCE Belley
VPT Konouso
VPT Hanyu
VPC Ageo
VCE Linyi
VTC Ageo
VPT Pithampur*
VBC Mexico City
VTC Bangkok
(VCE Mexico City)
VTC Banagalore
VCE Banagalore
VTC Las Tejerias
VCE Pederneiras
VTC Curitiba
VPT Curitiba
(VBC Curitiba)
VCE Shanghai
VPC Shanghai
VBC SAIC Shanghai*
VBC Xian
VBC Banagalore
VTC Brisbane
VTC Durban
Volvo Production System
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Netland, T. H., & Ferdows, K. (2014) How company-specific production systems affect plant performance: The S-curve theory.
Working paper. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim / Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Our Data
VCE Arvika
VTC Umeå
VPT Köping
VCE Eskilstuna
VPT Reman Flen
VCE Hallsberg
VPT Skövde
VAC Trollhättan
VPC Vara
VTC Tuve
VPC Gothenburg
VBC Borås
VCE Braås
VAC Kongsberg
VCE Wroclav
VBC Wroclav
VCE Hameln
VCE Konz
VTC Gent
40 factory visits
200 interviews
Survey 312 responses
VPS assessment database
RTC Blainville
RTC Limoges
RTC BeBresse
VPT Madrid
VBC Quebec
VBC Montreal
VBC Plattsburg
VAC Newington
VCE Shippensburg
VPT Reman Middletown
VTC Macunige
VPT Hagerstown
VTC New River Valley,
VPT Reman Charlotte
VPC Lexington
RTC Vénissieux
VPT Vénissieux
VCE Belley
VPT Konouso
VPT Hanyu
VPC Ageo
VCE Linyi
VTC Ageo
VPT Pithampur*
VBC Mexico City
(All original data)
(VCE Mexico City)
VTC Bangkok
VTC Bangalore
VCE Bangalore
VTC Las Tejerias
VCE Shanghai
VPC Shanghai
VBC SAIC Shanghai*
VBC Xian
VBC Bangalore
VCE Pederneiras
VTC Curitiba
VPT Curitiba
(VBC Curitiba)
VTC Kaluga
VCE Changwon
VTC Brisbane
VTC Durban
Explaining the analyses
Performance
Independentvariableismeasuredby
the VPSassessmentscores
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High
Low
Limited
Assessmentlasts4days,5‐6trainedassessors
Standardizedauditofabout130items
ImplementationlevelofVPSon0‐5LikertScale
>100plantassessmentsfor49plants
XPS impementation
z-scores
Extensive
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Netland, T. H., & Ferdows, K. (2014) How company-specific production systems affect plant performance: The S-curve theory.
Working paper. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim / Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Explaining the analyses
Safety|Quality|Delivery|Cost
Performance
Dependentvariableismeasured
infourdifferentways
High
1. Plantperformancelevel:fromassessment data
(latestversionofassessment,N=25)
2. Rate ofimprovementinplantVPSscore:
fromassessment data
(plantswith2ormoreassessments,N=35)
3. Rate ofimprovementinplantperformance:
fromsurvey (7items,N=32)
4. Rate ofimprovementinplantperformance:
fromvisits,observations,andinterviews(N=40)
Low
XPS impementation
Limited
Extensive
Statistical technique used for pattern recognition
Locally weighted regression (LOESS)
 LOESSisatechniqueforfittingthebestcurvedepictingtheshapeofthe
relationshipbetweentwovariables(ClevelandandDevlin,1988).
 Amajoradvantageisthatitdoesnotneedapriorispecificationofafit
function:Itdiscoverstheformfromthedataitself.
Using a kernel function as a smoothing algorithm, LOESS computes a center for each
neighborhood of data points (decided by the smoothing parameter alpha) that minimizes the
weighed distances between the center and the points in that neighborhood.
It then draws a curve through these local neighborhood centers.
 Parametersinouranalyses
 Epanechnikovkernelfunctionhasrobustproperties (Gasseretal.,1985)
 Areasonablevalueforalphais0.40<α <0.80(Jacoby,2000)
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Plant performance
f(x)
Plant performance
Test 1 of 4
Plant performance
Netland, T. H., & Ferdows, K. (2014) How company-specific production systems affect plant performance: The S-curve theory.
Working paper. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim / Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Plant performance level
(Score 1-5 from latest assessment)
Safety|Quality|Delivery|Cost
LOESS curve
fitted to scatter plot
( α=0.40)
Leanimplementation
VPS implementation
Rate of improveme
f '(x)
Rate of improveme
Tests 2, 3 and 4
Rate of improveme
Plants (N=25)
(z-scores from Assessments)
Rate of performance improvement
 All four tests independently suggest the S-curve
(bell-curved rate of improvement)
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Netland, T. H., & Ferdows, K. (2014) How company-specific production systems affect plant performance: The S-curve theory.
Working paper. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim / Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Conclusions
XPS implementation affects performance
non-linearly like an S-Curve
Performance
Rate of performance improvement
Stage I
Beginner
Stage II
In-transition
Stage III
Advanced
Stage IV
Cutting-edge
Level of XPS implementation
Performance improves slowly in initial stages of XPS implementation,
then improves rapidly and eventually improves slowly again
Managerial implications
Plants in each stage should be managed differently
Don’t apply the same action plan in all plants in the global network
Plant performance
• Continue to allocate budget for the program
even though rate of improvement slows down
• Allow and encourage these plants to establish
more direct linkages outside the firm
• Leverage plant’s distinct capabilities
strategically
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Increase allocated budget for continuous improvement projects
Give local managers more autonomy in choice of projects
Use these plants as benchmarks for other plants
Set stretch targets but expect declining rate of improvement
Set stretch targets and expect accelerated rate of improvement
Publicize improvement successes
Watch for creeping complacency
Hold extensive training sessions in pilot areas of the plant
Establish dedicated implementation teams to drive and coach the program
Allocate budgets, but set small targets for improvement
Follow progress closely (e.g., show up in the plant frequently), but be patient
Stage 1
Beginner
Stage 2
In‐transition
Stage 3
Advanced
Stage 4
Cutting‐edge
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Netland, T. H., & Ferdows, K. (2014) How company-specific production systems affect plant performance: The S-curve theory.
Working paper. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim / Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Be prepared for critical transitions!
There are danger zones at each stage
Plant performance
Why spend more for
little additional
improvement?
We are not getting the
4
needed resources
We are doing
enough
3
We are
different
1
Stage 1
Beginner
Stage 2
In‐transition
Stage 3
Advanced
Stage 4
Cutting‐edge
Thank you!
&
Torbjørn H. Netland, NTNU
Kasra Ferdows, Georgetown U.
Ebly Sanchez, Volvo
More about this research at:
www.better-operations.com
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