In 2022, VHZ started a collaboration with Vocum. The aim of this collaboration: to organize the production lines of various VHZ companies more efficiently.

Transcarbo is the first company where Vocum started working. The project started in 2022. Projects at Kumij and Europrovyl followed in 2023. An analysis phase of 2 to 3 weeks was sufficient to collect the necessary figures and insights. The results were presented to management and converted into an action plan.

Why was it useful to look at the return on your production?

Kay Verkoulen, Production Manager of Transcarbo:

“We are facing all kinds of challenges. We have grown as a company over the years, while the workplace has remained just as large. Customer demand has also become more complicated, making the production process more complicated. So it seemed like a good step to see how we could get more return from our production line.”

How have these proposals been developed?

FLOOR TOURS were set up at Transcarbo, Europrovyl and Kumij. Vocum designed checklists with different targets. This gave the team leaders more insight into production. Through the floor tours, crucial input reaches the production manager more efficiently.

Kay Verkoulen, Production Manager of Transcarbo:

“Vocum employees took the team leaders on a floor tour to show what they should pay attention to to ensure good flow in the production line.”

Johan Laanstra, Production Manager of Europrovyl:

“Part of these floor tours involves managing numbers and quality. What has a department done? What is the buffer filling? And do I have to make adjustments by moving someone to another department? This gives us more insight and allows us to switch more quickly.”

Henk Bleeker, Production Manager of Kumij:

“Thanks to the floor tours, we received more specific input from our team leaders. This allows us, for example, to intervene more quickly if we see that production is lagging behind in a certain department and determine what the cause is.”

“It’s not about staff having to work harder. The point is that we can work more efficiently by managing better.”

Furthermore, Vocum has introduced a DAY START at the 3 companies.

Kay Verkoulen, Production Manager of Transcarbo:

“We now have a day start, which is a consultation with various departments: the warehouse, the technical service, planning and the production manager to see what was done the previous day and where we want to go this day. As a result, we agree on realistic targets with the team leaders.”

Henk Bleeker, Production Manager of Kumij:

“Our day starts at 9 am. We then discuss with the team leader and head of work preparation whether everything is going well.”

“Training allows us to deploy our employees more flexibly in different departments.”

What results have you achieved?

Kay Verkoulen, Production Manager of Transcarbo:

“We see that output has ultimately increased and we are of course very happy with that. This is because we now have better management. This is good for the working atmosphere because employees now know more clearly what is expected, especially now that they have clear targets. In addition, there is also more structure in our work processes.”

“We are now better able to manage hours. We now have a better idea of how much time is needed to perform a certain action. If something goes wrong, we can now see more quickly what exactly is causing it. We have more control over our production process.”

Johan Laanstra, Production Manager of Europrovyl:

“Our collaboration with Vocum gives us better insight into our figures during the production process. Together with the team leaders, we keep track of a department’s figures, so that we are in control all day long and can switch quickly if necessary. This is a real addition to the communication between the teams and management.”

“The collaboration with Vocum was an intensive but very educational process. We have gained more focus on our process improvements. And last but not least: we are very satisfied with the results.”