Cruising to increased capacity
Oyster Marine is an international market leader in the design and manufacture of luxury cruising yachts and the winner of two Queens Awards. Oyster pride themselves with the craftsmanship, care, skill, experience and heritage that goes with every yacht. This recipe for success has seen an increase in orders, so much so, there is a need to create more capacity…
“ Specialists with relevant experience who are able to communicate at all levels and gain respect in
limited time – very effective.”
“ They used an innovative approach whilst involving
all the people in the production process.”
Mike Taylor,
Oyster Production
Manager
Oyster currently build 25 yachts per year at one of their three fit-out yards…but this number is increasing as customer demand rises.
There is a requirement to increase capacity whilst controlling quality and costs and retaining the high standards set by the dedicated Oyster team.
To achieve this increase in capacity, Oyster worked with the MAS-East team to carry out a Lean Office project that would streamline the communications and working practices between the fit-out yards, project managers, suppliers and of course customers.
The MAS East Specialist worked with Oysters Project Management team to undertake Value Stream Mapping of the current process and to understand the key information flows and communication channels and the impact each of these had on the business.
The team then developed proposals for the future state map. With agreement from key suppliers, the team implemented a number of changes to the way that design specifications and design changes are communicated.
The team also developed a presentation package for use at initial client meetings to support the decision making processes.
As a result the company is expecting a 12% productivity improvement from the project management team with an associated improvement in the fit-out yards.
The percentage of specification and option decisions made prior to the hulls being delivered to the yard is expected to dramatically increase, therefore the delays to production resulting from late decisions or specification changes will be minimised and help increase the yards capacity.
