To Whom It May Concern:

Concerning: Evaluation of the Vocum project

 

Bekaert Textiles, is a leading specialist in the manufacturing of jacquard and dobby fabrics.

Our annual sales exceed 150 million Euro and we employ 1.700 people worldwide.

 

We called upon Vocum in view to improve the productivity. I am pleased to ascertain, that the project was successful and its results are fully in line with our initial expectations.

Prior to our partnership with Vocum, the activities were scattered over several facilities. One would expect that bringing together workload from several plants should increase productivity. However, against all odds, productivity dropped 15% below budget. On of the main reasons for this unexpected development was that the former management never had to deal with such large scale operations before. Another influential factor was the increased demand for flexibility from our clients.

Vocum’s approach to work directly on operational level, rather than exclusively on managerial level, as well as the savings orientation, convinced us to embark in a collaboration with Vocum.

The analysis carried out showed a significant opportunity to improve productivitiy with 20 %. Vocum also identified the main obstacles for our production which prevented optimal functioning of our facility. Based upon these findings, we decided to engage in a project.

Today, the anticipated savings have been exceeded. Before this project our personnel cost for production people was as mentioned earlier exceeded our budget with 15%. We have achieved a productivity increase resulting in a personnel cost of no less than 10% below budget.

These financial results were the positive consequence of a behavioral change “at the point of execution” – as Vocum calls it. A combination of coaching and a management system, locked the missing management behaviors in place.

Based on agreed norms, we now have a planning tool, which allows us to adapt our work force to upcoming workloads and not the other way around. This means we now can operate productively even when the workload is low.

Vocum taught us the importance of supervisors personally outlining clear expectations to their people at the beginning of the shift and to follow up the work during the shift. Obstacles not tackled during the follow up are showing in measurable variances in transparent reports. Through short operational meetings with the right people at the appropriate frequency, lead to corrective actions, which are followed up by means of action plans. Interdepartmental communication has substantially improved and people take more initiative when it comes to improving operations at all levels.

We would like thank Vocum, for their effort and considerable time investment in our project to ensure its lasting success. I can recommend their approach to all future prospects and clients who aim to improve productivity and who want to achieve results bottom line.

Yours sincerely,

 

Milo Pieters

General Manager Decoration Textiles