casestudy

> Business application of customer focus and continuous improvement:

Continuous improvement within an organisation

A Leyland Trucks case study

Page 1: Introduction

Some business improvements involve a giant leap forward. An example of this would be
the development of a revolutionary new product such as the bicycle or, more recently, the
iPod or modern wind turbines to create green energy. However, of more importance to
most businesses is ongoing small step improvement. This case study shows how Leyland
Trucks continually makes improvements to everything it does based on the Japanese
principle of Kaizen.

Background to Leyland Trucks

Leyland Trucks manufactures trucks under the DAF brand in Leyland near Preston,
Lancashire. As well as production in the UK, DAF manufactures in Eindhoven in Netherlands
and Westerlo in Belgium. Leyland and DAF are both part of the North American company,
PACCAR Inc.

In 2006 DAF's three manufacturing plants in Europe, including that at Leyland, produced
a record 56,700 trucks of between 7.5 and 44 tonnes (the heaviest vehicles on the road).
One in every four trucks sold in the UK is by DAF. New truck registrations in Europe were
almost 268,000 in 2006 and DAF currently has a 15% share of this European market.

Business strategy

The current business objective is to increase the market share to 20%. When a company
wants to achieve its objective, it needs to have a plan to get there this is termed the
strategy.

DAF's strategy for Leyland to achieve this objective has two main elements:

1. continuous improvement
2. increasing production capacity from 18,000 to 25,000 units.
> Business application of Employee Empowerment:

AS PART OF ITS 2016 QUALITY OF WORKING LIFE RESEARCH, CMI SPOKE TO FLAMINGO HR
DIRECTOR DIANE FOSTER TO SEE HOW THE CONSULTANCY IS PUTTING EMPLOYEE WELLBEING
AND AN INCLUSIVE WORK CULTURE AT THE HEART OF ITS OPERATIONS

CMI Team

Flamingo is a multiple award-winning global insight and strategy consultancy. It was

founded in 1997 and now has around 300 employees spread over seven offices around
the world.

The company is growing consistently both financially and in people terms.

The reason Flamingo keeps growing and winning awards is not only down to the work
that they do – but also the caring and nurturing culture that they do it in.

EMPOWERMENT

From the very beginning, when founders Maggie Collier and Kirsty Fuller (now co-CEOs)
started the company, Flamingo has been a non-political, non-prescriptive and collaborative
company.

The power is not in one place; the culture is very inclusive.

As HR director Diane Foster says: “Our annual Expo event brings everyone together from
all levels in the company to an overseas location to develop team spirit, share ideas and
provide a common sense of purpose, community and inspiration.”

The culture and environment are also very flexible. There are many flexible working
arrangements in place, and Flamingo won a Mumsnet Gold Award in 2014 after the
company culture was rated by an external survey as 97% supportive of those with families.

As an example of how this policy operates in practice, one of the directors recently enjoyed
seven months extended paternity leave. The result is a culture of empowerment where
people enjoy the autonomy and ownership of work and are being given free rein to share
ideas and use their creativity to its full potential.
“Our commitment has always been to empower talent and to keep our employees inspired,
engaged and challenged,” says Foster. “This attitude has everything to do with ensuring
employees are healthy and happy. One of our main strategies is to give employees a rich
and rewarding work life, and we firmly believe that both personal and professional
development are the way to do that.”

The focus is very much on sharing and connecting with colleagues around the world – and
with the world itself.

“Culture is part of our DNA. I’m very proud of our company spirit, progressiveness and
entrepreneurialism,” says Foster. She believes that Flamingo’s culture has a very positive
impact on how its employees feel and behave – and how productive, happy and satisfied
they are in their jobs.

It is seen as one of the most important factors contributing to employee health and
wellbeing.