Briggs & Stratton Achieves 20% Productivity Improvement With RedPrairie's Productivity Management Solution
RedPrairie Corporation, a global leader in supply chain technology solutions that enable business process transformation, today announced that its advanced productivity management solution is enabling Briggs & Stratton, the world's largest producer of air-cooled gasoline engines for outdoor power equipment, to achieve 20 percent labor savings in its service parts, kitting and packaging operations. These improvements were experienced within two weeks of the system's implementation in August. The rollout is the latest in the company's worldwide service parts distribution improvement initiative and was Briggs & Stratton's second RedPrairie labor management implementation.
RedPrairie's advanced productivity management solution consists of: labor management software; the development of preferred methods (the best way to complete a task); engineered standards (the goal times for completing each task); and change management and employee training.
Briggs & Stratton first implemented RedPrairie's advanced labor management solution at its worldwide parts distribution center in Menomonee Falls, Wis. in 2002. During this initiative, the solution was rolled out to Briggs & Stratton's pick, pack and ship operations within their distribution environment. Now RedPrairie's labor productivity solution is achieving the same levels of productivity for Briggs & Stratton's service parts, kitting and packaging operations.
Dave Zuern, Director of Distribution Operations at Briggs & Stratton, says, "Service parts kitting and packaging are work-intensive areas within our operations. By extending RedPrairie's productivity management solution from our warehouse environment to our packaging environment, we were able to find new ways to increase efficiencies in these areas and to optimize our workforce. We started to see savings in the 20 percent range within two weeks of implementation, which exceeded our expectations."
RedPrairie's productivity management system provides immediate performance feedback to employees and management. Briggs & Stratton supervisors use this information to identify additional training requirements and remove other barriers to performance.
Zuern comments, "In a union environment, we need a common standard to accurately and fairly measure employee performance. RedPrairie's expertise in preferred methods is critical to the project's success, since we can track productivity against accurate standards that have been developed over the course of 40 years."
RedPrairie Company Leader John Jazwiec comments, "RedPrairie has developed standards around machine timings and team based activities for kitting and packaging. This enables customers to track and improve labor productivity in new areas and expand their labor savings and productivity improvements throughout the plant."
About Briggs & Stratton
Briggs & Stratton is the world's largest producer of air-cooled gasoline engines for outdoor power equipment. They design, manufacture, market and service these engines for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) worldwide. Their engines are incorporated into products for both the consumer market and industrial/commercial applications. For more information visit www.briggsandstratton.com.
About RedPrairie Corporation
For more than 30 years RedPrairie has enabled leading global companies to create competitive advantage through supply chain excellence. RedPrairie's comprehensive technology solutions provide rapid and sustainable return on investment by optimizing the performance of people, places and processes.
RedPrairie provides industry-tailored solutions for diverse markets, including consumer goods, direct to consumer and traditional retail, food and beverage, high tech/electronics, third party logistics, industrial/wholesale, automotive and service parts, and pharmaceuticals.
For additional information, call 1.877.733.7724, or access www.RedPrairie.com.