LARGE ELECTRICAL MACHINES - POWERING A BUSINESS RENAISSANCE FOR THE 21ST-CENTURY

GEC ALSTHOM Large Machines Limited is a traditional heavy engineering company specializing in electrical machines (Fig. 1), and has successf ully evolved over 90 years of operation. This historical success, howe ver, led to a very functionalized layout of workshops and facilities t otally unsuited to the present dynamic world market. Through a company -wide improvement programme the company has been restructured within t he existing buildings and site to take advantage of the latest cellula r technology, using numerous innovative concepts in manufacture and ad option of just in time (JIT), total quality management (TQM) and desig n for manufacture (DFM) concepts in a low volume manufacturing environ ment. The project involved the complete redesign of the factory layout , introduction of new products and equipment and concepts, resulting i n dramatically improved leadtimes, inventories and sales per employee. The case study is probably unique in that the programme was executed while increasing full production and involved the adoption of techniqu es often only associated with volume manufacture.