5
Operating facilities
WCOM Implementation Increases Production Capacity by 20% and Reduces Accidents by 75%
One of the organization’s sawmills was experiencing rising demand but was also recording the highest accident rates among the company’s five sites. Working alongside the in-house team, EFESO implemented world class operations management (WCOM) methodologies across the facility. This partnership transformed both production capabilities and workplace safety, establishing systematic performance management throughout the mill.
Packaging
Manufacturing
Operational Excellence
Operations Strategy and Transformation
People and Organization
Our Client
The company operates a network of sawmills supplying sawn goods to the European market. Its largest facility combines traditional sawmill expertise with modern production systems, enabling high-volume processing while maintaining strict quality standards across all product lines.
700K
Cubic meters, per year capacity
+€100M
Annual turnover
“For the first time ever I could actually relax during my vacation because I knew that all urgent problems would be handled by the daily control
“
The Challenge
A demand surge for sawmill goods placed immediate pressure on production volumes at the company’s facility, which held permits for 700,000 cubic metres but was only operating at 500,000 cubic metres annually.
- Poor working climate and engagement: Employee surveys revealed dissatisfaction with the general atmosphere and management engagement, with no clear targets existing for employees at all levels of the organization.
- Highest accident rates in the company: The plant recorded the most accidents among the company’s five sawmills, creating significant safety concerns that demanded immediate intervention alongside production scaling
- Limited understanding of operational losses: The factory lacked full visibility into losses across processes, particularly in bottleneck areas where availability and speed losses constrained overall throughput potential
Real Results Achieved Together
The WCOM implementation delivered simultaneous breakthroughs in production capacity, operational efficiency and workplace safety. Through systematic loss deployment and performance control systems, the mill achieved its highest production levels while creating the safest working environment in the company.
+20%
Production capacity
-75%
Accidents reduced
-30%
Availability losses in bottleneck
-35%
Speed losses in bottleneck
Transformation Impact
- Achieved lowest accident levels across the company through systematic daily management
- Transformed working environment with all previously negative survey indicators turning positive
- Established clear understanding of losses throughout the entire mill operation
Our Approach
The transformation began with loss deployment across main processes, mapping KPIs to performance outcomes.
Our coaches helped improvement teams to identify concrete improvements while implementing a performance control system (PCS) to stabilize production and consolidate gains.
The approach included:
- WCOM education for the company’s own technicians and operators
- Building internal capabilities for continuous improvement.
Teams harnessed data from across the factory to fuel the continuous improvement process with reliable, high-quality information. The implementation of autonomous maintenance and planned maintenance (AM and PM) pillars, together with AM teams, ensured that maintenance was addressed systematically.
The teams established clear structures for daily management, ensuring alignment from plant managers to operators with daily follow-ups replacing monthly reviews.
The FI-pillar implementation actively engaged site management and technicians in understanding overall losses and gaps, creating ownership at every level.
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Facing Similar Manufacturing Capacity Challenges?
- Struggling to meet demand while maintaining safety standards and employee engagement
- Seeking to unlock hidden capacity through systematic loss reduction and performance management
- Ready to build internal capabilities that sustain improvements beyond the initial transformation
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