26 Sep Committed to continuous improvement

• Rieusset and continuous improvement
• Philosophy of continuous improvement
• Itinerary of continuous improvement

Rieusset and continuous improvement

Daily effort and continuous improvement have been part of Rieusset’s heart and soul since its very beginnings.

During the last few years, different measures have been applied to improve aspects in all departments of the company – concepts such as 5S or SMED. Improvement proposals have been part of our conversations, but, until now, they have always been specific improvement actions, implemented in specific departments, usually due to the needs of the moment or the initiative of the department itself. That is to say, they have not been carried out with a vision of global improvement as a strategic objective of the company.

Therefore, this year we wanted to go further, committed to continuous improvement as an essential part of the company’s philosophy and with the objective of integrating it into the DNA of the entire workforce. The idea is to develop a global project for the entire company, in which all the company’s departments participate, with the aim of establishing continuous improvement as a way of working in the day-to-day work of all of our employees.

Philosophy of continuous improvement

At Rieusset we have long believed that continuous improvement is one of the keys to success in order for a company to evolve positively and ensure its future stability. With this project, we intend to generate a change in Rieusset’s employees, so that we all focus on this company strategy and maximize the value by providing an even better service to our customers.

The external consultancy provider Gestlean is supporting us in the development of the process, which has helped us in the first stage in which we have set ourselves the following objectives:

• Reducing the lead time (the time between the moment the customer places an order and the time we deliver the finished product)
• Being more competitive
• Reducing the stock of material that we have at Rieusset

And how did we do it?

1. 1. Training in lean concepts
   2. Diagnosis of our current situation
   3. Creation of the road map

We started with a training session for the entire Rieusset management team and the middle management team to introduce the basic notions of the Lean philosophy: general concepts, tools, etc. Then we held a second workshop whose content was the “construction of the continuous improvement itinerary.” In this workshop we chose and analyzed one of our processes where we could achieve the objectives we had set for ourselves: beer label manufacturing. Subsequently, we carried out an evaluation of where we are in order to have a projection of where we want to be in the next 12-18 months, and finally, we defined all the activities that we would have to do to achieve it, this being what is part of our continuous improvement itinerary.

Improvement itinerary

As we have said, the improvement itinerary is a roadmap that marks the different points of improvement that we are going to carry out in the process we have chosen. 

In order to reach it, we have used the Gestlean standard where, in its work matrix, it establishes the following points to be analyzed:

• Management
• Improvement (management of daily improvements)
• Work standards
• Visual management

• Management standards
• Health at work
• Quality
• Production teams
• Workstation organization
• Supply chain
• Progress teams

This matrix, where we have evaluated each point according to the level at which we are today and with a view to where we want to be in the near future, is the one that has given us the improvement itinerary that, in addition to giving us the opportunity to reduce lead time and stock levels, will allow us to deploy lean concepts throughout the organization so that we can all act in our daily tasks while looking through continuous improvement glasses.

At Rieusset we will work every day to meet our objectives and above all to incorporate and maintain the philosophy of continuous improvement within the essence of the company and the people who form it. Do you want to know more about how we work? Contact us.