Exception goes ‘lean and mean’ to improve competitiveness

As a result of the new manufacturing methodology at Exception, the level of customer returns have been reduced by 25 per cent, work in progress (WIP) has been reduced by £250,000 in some instances and zero defect quality delivery has now reached between 97 and 100 per cent. This dramatic improvement in business performance has been achieved with fewer staff – enabling Exception to dispense with expensive temporary staff, as well as halving the factory space needed to manufacture finished goods. Richard Brighton, managing director of Exception EMS, said: “While the principles of lean manufacturing are not new, their adoption into UK electronics engineering is still in its infancy. Understanding the theory of best practice is one thing, but introducing it into a UK facility is an altogether different challenge. We have worked closely with specialist manufacturing consultancy Spitfire, which has helped us implement some powerful visual management systems at our Calne plant.”