ZF is one of the world's leading automotive industry suppliers specializing in driveline and chassis technologies.  In May 2009 they opened their factory doors to a group of West Midlands companies as part of the Inside Manufacturing Enterprise (IME) Best Practice visit programme.

The ZF Lemforder group are currently ranked as one of the top 15 automotive industry suppliers worldwide with sales of over £50m at their Darlaston plant alone. In November 2006, the Darlaston plant conducted a Diagnostic workshop which resulted in changes to plant layout, the organisational structure and ERP systems. During the IME visit in May 09, ZF shared their difficulties and successes in this journey with other regional companies through the use of presentations, a full site tour and in depth question and answer sessions with key personnel.

In particular delegates were given the opportunity to learn more about ZF's ranges of approaches to Continuous Improvement as well as the ZF strategy to improve material flow with the introduction of Kanban trains.  The visiting companies found the ½ day visit to be a very useful and helpful process which allowed them to not only witness firsthand how successful business operates but also enabled them to question the workforce and managers who have implemented the changes. The visit gave all 12 delegates ideas that could be implemented in their own business and also offered an ideal opportunity to build a network of useful contacts.

ZF saw this visit as a way of assisting the regional manufacturing business base, while adding to their own network of like-minded individuals who by sharing best practice can assist each other.

Terry Somerfield, Managing Director at ZF Lemforder UK Ltd comments,

"Sharing knowledge and experience is a key part of the continuous improvement process. We are fortunate to have Toyota as a customer and a best practice partner to learn from and these IME visits are excellent opportunities for Companies to learn best practice from each other – its R&D for free or Rip off & Duplicate as we call it! "

Delegate comments from the day include:

• The topics were excellently presented,
• Very honest in where they are in the journey,
• Very good tour and Q&A session,
• Excellent!

Future visits to ZF Lemforder UK Ltd.

ZF Lemforder will be opening their doors to Inside Manufacturing Enterprise again next year for a Best Practice visit. For more information or to register your interest in attending please contact Michelle Connors at mconnors@cad.coventry.ac.uk

For more information on the IME Business to Business visit or the benefits of becoming a host company please contact the IME team on 024 7623 6861 or email Michelle at m.connors@cad.coventry.ac.uk or visit the MAS-WM website.