Capacity Increase: Wind Turbines
"He was extremely skilled at adapting to different cultures, equally comfortable in dialogue at a high level as on the shop floor." - Peter Hovgaard
Industry
Industrial products – LM, wind turbines
Support Level
1 consultant, 3 months
Objective
To improve process understanding and control in the serial manufacture of large composite wind turbine blades
Results
- Reduced scrap blades from 1 in 20 to zero
- Reduced rework from 20 % to zero, thereby increasing moulded blades by 25 % in three months
- Improved resin yield from 72 % to 92 %
Why was chartwell brought on board?
As the largest supplier of wind turbine blades in the world, LM was going through a period of very rapid global expansion and required an uplift in both quality and operational performance. There was a need to increase output massively at the same time as making progressively longer wind turbine blades.
Results of the 3 month project
- Output increased by 25 % in 3 months
- Resin yield loss reduced by 72 %
- Value of recovered lost sales margin and waste was valued at over €3 million per annum
- The team went on to roll out process globally through a wider change programme
"I've used several consulting firms in the past with mixed results. I'm often presented with many short term actions and few sustainable results. With these guys, it was different: the approach quickly identified significant improvement potential, involved the teams and drive for immediate changes, and then let the teams themselves create long-lasting and sustainable results". - Roland Sundén, CEO
