Case Study
Major Privately Held Bus and Coach Manufacturer Achieves 100% Engineering Definition and Increases Capacity Utilization
100%
Pre-Production Build Requirements Achieved
Strategic Imperative
To achieve 100% definition of specified vehicles, capture associated annual benefits in equivalent Engineering Department time, and deliver a step-change improvement in profitability
Client Background
- Belgian, family-run, unionized bus and coach manufacturer established in 1947, serving international transportation markets
- Approximately 4,000 employees globally, with facilities in Belgium, North Macedonia, and the United States
- Complete vehicle range supported public transportation customers across international bus and coach markets
- Belgian operation insourced all global engineering resources, making engineering performance central to competitiveness and operating profit
- Labor-intensive operating model and backlog pressure increased the need for stronger engineering productivity and capacity utilization
- Legacy governance dynamics and outdated practices created urgency to modernize engineering definition, design discipline, and profitabilityÂ
Key Issues & Barriers
- Strained family relations and misaligned board strategies limited alignment around engineering and profitability priorities
- Legacy practices slowed adoption of disciplined engineering design and manufacturing readiness processes
- Labor-intensive Belgian operations and insourced global engineering resources weakened competitiveness and operating profit
- Engineering inefficiencies constrained production throughput and required additional capacity to manage backlog
- Engineering department operated reactively, with unplanned work, scattered functions, and low productivity
- Engineering definition gaps created pre-production build issues, reducing value-added engineering time and capacity utilizationÂ
Key Implementation Components
- Aligned the organization and management team around targets, supported by expert models and best practices
- Developed improved engineering processes with integrated planning and scheduling to strengthen design definition and work sequencing
- Implemented an input triage methodology to prioritize engineering requests and reduce reactive, unplanned work
- Introduced an Engineering Design stage-gate management system to improve pre-production readiness and vehicle definition discipline
- Installed a new performance management system linking engineering capacity, value-added hours, and target accountability
- Developed training modules, skills training, and new roles and responsibilities to sustain standardized engineering practicesÂ
Benefits & Results
100%
Pre-Production Build Requirements Achieved
80%
Value-Added Hours Improvement
40%
Engineering Capacity Improvement vs. Base