Commercial Vehicle Manufacturer Uses Command Center Approach to Drive Rapid Recovery

Client Context

A major manufacturer of commercial vehicles faced a significant international supply chain breakdown during the launch of a new vehicle model at its North American assembly plants in early 2018.

By March 2018, 20 key suppliers were missing critical deliveries, causing severe disruptions in production. As a result:

• POA (Point of Application) performance dropped, and red-tagging increased across assembly lines.
• On-time delivery rates declined, with daily first pass yield falling to 30%.
• Storage constraints emerged as incompletely assembled vehicles were moved off production lines.
• Customer satisfaction and sales were impacted due to delayed vehicle deliveries.

The company lacked the internal bandwidth and expertise to simultaneously manage breakdowns at supplier plants, optimize production, and coordinate large-scale vehicle repairs.

Key Challenges

• Severe supplier delivery failures, leading to component shortages.
• Disruptions in vehicle assembly, causing 3,500 vehicles to be taken offline in Q2 2018.
• Inefficient logistics and inventory management, affecting Point of Use efficiency and material handling.
• Conflicting priorities between purchasing, supplier development, and production, worsening operational inefficiencies.

Approach & Key Success Factors

EFESO implemented a Crisis Response Command Center to restore supply chain stability and streamline vehicle repair operations.

1. Establishing Crisis Management Infrastructure

• Created a central command center at the company’s U.S. headquarters, with satellite command centers at Mexico and U.S. assembly plants.
• Deployed “boots-on-the-ground” teams to work directly with seven key suppliers.

2. Implementing Rapid Recovery Solutions

• Introduced Dynamic Work Design visual management boards to track supplier performance and cue intervention in real-time.
• Created cross-functional virtual teams to coordinate problem-solving across purchasing, logistics, and manufacturing.
• Led root cause analysis sessions to fix quality issues at the source.
• Oversaw supplier production scheduling to align resources with demand.
• Intervened in transportation operations to prevent component shortages and delivery delays.
• Established a dedicated rapid response repair line to standardize vehicle rework after final assembly.

3. Optimizing Production & Logistics for Long-Term Stability

• Designed standard work processes for suppliers, repair operations, and logistics.
• Redesigned work cells and job methods to increase flow efficiency and production capacity.
• Identified and eliminated bottlenecks in shipping and logistics, increasing overall capacity.
• Implemented a structured production cadence to ensure the right components were produced in the right time and quantity.

Results

9,000+ vehicles repaired

In six months, minimizing customer impact.

Increased POA performance

Reducing red-tagging at assembly plants.

Standardized work processes

Streamlining end-to-end operations.

55% increase

In total production output at key suppliers.

Cleared backlog of vehicles

Restoring on-time customer deliveries.