In the plant of a car manufacturer they decided to create productive cells that integrated the production, logistics and maintenance functions. At the head of each cell, of about 100 workers, was a person who had been formerly a manufacturing supervisor. After a year they were not getting the expected results and Improva was hired to conduct an analysis of the situation.
After Improva analysed the director they realised that, among other things, the factory supervisors were not used to managing maintenance personnel. Maintenance processes are characterised,- unlike production processes-, by a low level of standardisation. Supervisors knew perfectly how many units their cell was able to produce in a shift, but they did not really know what they could demand from their maintenance teams or how to act to obtain a greater performance from them and improve the operation of the facilities.
The result, maintenance teams integrated in the cells lacking motivation and negatively affecting the performance of the facilities. Training and development of new management habits regarding the maintenance teams became a key line of work later.