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Autocast

One of the 10 finalists for the 27th annual National Productivity Awards 2006

Extract from: The Star, Business Report
28 November 2006

Owned by Murray and Roberts, Autocast manufactures ductile iron castings for the automotive industry. It launched a world class manufacturing initiative in 2004, with the adoption of “Mission Directed Work Teams” (MDWT). This is based on the premise that in order to be world class, a company needs world-class teams and team leaders that function as mini-businesses and the company received assistance from the NPI’s Workplace Challenge programme in this regard.

Despite major problems that included an aggressive company culture, frequent work stoppages, the use of outdated equipment and retrenchments, the MDWT has brought about significant change within the company. Quality has improved, with the rework rate down from 8.7 percent to 5.5 percent and the plant was been awarded Ford Q1 status in March. The company credits its productivity initiative for having made it possible to change to a 3-shift sstem in January without experiencing any loss in production. Customer satisfaction improved with 100 percent delivery records during peak periods. There were no missed deliveries and customer returns are less than one percent. Additional jobs are being created.

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