The case study was a longitudinal study, which started in 2010 and is not finished yet, since projects are distributed among the entire organization. The first solution found was to recall the production of standard parts to Assen, to reduce the overall lead time. However, the managers decided to stick to the original production division. They argued good inventory management was enough to realize short lead times for the customer.

The organization started to focus on the administrative processes first. Several MCT maps showed long and varying waiting times in these processes. They started to concentrate on type A and B, to get successful results more easily, to create enthusiasm and support among the employees.

The processes contained four steps, performed in different departments:

1.      Sales and customer service

2.      Finance

3.      Planning

4.      Purchasing

The process (1-2-3-4-1) took at least three days, due to several waiting times between the process steps. According to Quick Response Manufacturing, a common solution for this is to organize a Quick Response Office Cell (QROC) for a specific market segment. A QROC is a dedicated, multifunctional team, in which members are closely located to each other. However, the capacity requirements were too low to create a separate QROC for these Type A and B pumps. Therefore they found their own new solution: the QROC light.

A QROC light is similar to a lean production line, in which a small batch of quotes moves between the different departments with a takt time of one hour. The next morning, there is a team meeting, consisting of two people from each department. They discuss divergent topics, such as the priority of orders, a change within the safety stocks or the need for an increase in production capacity. Directly after this meeting, all quotes could be send to the customers.