Companies are striving for changes that drive further development by means of a suitable strategy. TQM (total quality management) is one of the first precursors to the lean management strategy on which the F.A.S.T. strategy developed by WFL is based. It was developed as a quality management strategy in the 1940s by the American William Edwards Deming, before being adopted and further developed by the Japanese automotive industry. In the1950s, Toyota unveiled the TPS (Toyota Production System) concept that prevents all types of waste and is based on two fundamental pillars: the just-intime principle (= only produce what is required to fulfil customer orders) and the Jidoka principle (= quality must be built in to every process). Yet it was ultimately Volvo in the 1970s who were the first to introduce teamwork with the aim of boosting employee motivation. The next milestone in the development of the lean management strategy widely used today was in the 1980s with the introduction of CIP (Continual Improvement Process), which is still being used in many companies to this day. The „logical“ further development of these improvement efforts led to the introduction of lean management in many companies in the 1990s – a corporate philosophy that is eliminating all redundant activities in production and management. WFL has harnessed these strategic approaches in the development of F.A.S.T, the focus of which is not only to further hone and refine the WFL production system and the rendering of services, but also the attitude and behaviour of employees and managers.
These crucial factors in the future success of the company have been all brought together under the F.A.S.T. production system (see figure).
F.A.S.T. stands for Factory – Agile – Synchronous – Time-Based and is the driving force behind our optimisation efforts. It positively influences the behaviour of employees and managers, both on and off the shop floor.
„WFL is therefore increasing the efficiency of its value-added processes and improving its competitive position in times of change – times in which we must respond to changes increasingly quickly and more flexibly.“
The goal of F.A.S.T. is to achieve continuous improvement in all areas, in order to achieve World Class Performance (WCP). Our integrated production system (see figure) is a holistic approach that is guaranteed to permeate into all production structures and processes. F.A.S.T. is our way of working: design principles, methods and tools for planning, operation and permanent improvement – so that we will continue to be successful in the future.
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