21st International Conference of the

TOC Practitioners Alliance - TOCPA

www.tocpractice.com

11 November 2015, UK

The Royal Mint

11th November 2015

21ST TOCPA
CONFERENCE
1

TOCPA CONFERENCE
11TH NOVEMBER 2015

Cash Flow: transforming the UKs oldest

manufacturing company

The Royal Mint

11th November 2015

21ST TOCPA
CONFERENCE

BACKGROUND TO THE ROYAL MINT

1100 years old; the oldest manufacturing operation in the U.K.
and possibly the third oldest in the world.
Move from London to Llantrisant for decimalisation
38 acre site, 760 employees (900 with agency)
Exclusivity on UK coinage
Manufactures coins for 60 other countries
Self-financing Trading Fund status 1975
Vested 2009,Royal Mint Ltd, 100% Treasury-owned
5 billion coins manufactured annually
Prior to vesting, Mint run by Civil Service as a manufacturing
operation
The Royal Mint
11th November 2015

21ST TOCPA
CONFERENCE

THE ROYAL MINT

Three businesses
Circulating Coin
Commemorative Coin
Bullion

Four Production Departments

Melting, Rolling and Blanking

Annealing and Plating (Blank Processing)
Coin Production (Finishing and Processing)
Commemorative Coin

Functional support
Business Services, Finance, Procurement
The Royal Mint
11th November 2015

21ST TOCPA
CONFERENCE

MANUFACTURING SYSTEM
-HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Manufacturing units run as silos
Volume mentality (tons and millions)
Highly variable product quality
Poor inventory management
Little through-business visibility
Overseas delivery performance
No fixed plan- lots of expediting
9 week lead time through the plant!!!

The Royal Mint

11th November 2015

21ST TOCPA
CONFERENCE

MANUFACTURING SYSTEMHISTORICAL CONTEXT

New Senior Management Team
New mind-set, new values
Increased levels of global competition
We had a smouldering platform
We had to win hearts and minds..

The Royal Mint

11th November 2015

21ST TOCPA
CONFERENCE

OUR APPROACH

Chief Executive support

Engage external expertise
Dedicated project team
Cross functional
Senior management included in make up
Wide spread communication
Work shops to engage whole work force..

The Royal Mint

11th November 2015

21ST TOCPA
CONFERENCE
7

LAYOUT OF THE SITE MOVING PLANT DIFFICULT

PLATING

PLATING

ANNEALING &
FINISHING
PLATING
STRIKING
ROLLING &
BLANKING

DESPATCH

MELTING

The Royal Mint

11th November 2015

21ST TOCPA
CONFERENCE

THE OUTCOME
Adopt a virtual pipeline approach
4 pipelines based on material

Essentially TOC / DBR

Plating plants identified as constraints
Expensive resource
Natural constraint

Protected upstream by 3 day buffer after

Melting, Rolling & Blanking
Down stream processes to have 20% head room
Managed by daily review of flow
Striking omitted press requirements change..
The Royal Mint
11th November 2015

21ST TOCPA
CONFERENCE
9

THE SYSTEM & PRINCIPLES

Schedule the constraints
Upstream 3 day buffer governs Melting, Rolling
& Casting. Stop when full
Smaller buffers between down stream processes
to manage variation
Buffers limited in size by defined floor space
When down stream buffers are full, stop.
Manage inventory by limiting the number of
containers in each pipeline
Containers colour coded to prevent cross usage..
The Royal Mint
11th November 2015

21ST TOCPA
CONFERENCE
10

THE PIPELINES
Schedule

RM
MRB
Hot
End
Steel
Inv.
MRB
Cold
End

3
Day
Buffer

Copper
Plating

3
Day
Buffer

Copper
Plating

Zinc
Plating

Annealing

3
Day
Buffer

Nickel
Plating

Annealing

Finishing

3
Day
Buffer

Finishing

Striking
Edge Letter

Annealing

Finishing
Ring Master

Packing

Buffer

Drum

Rope
The Royal Mint
11th November 2015

21ST TOCPA
CONFERENCE

LEAD TIME REDUCTION 9 WEEKS TO 9 DAYS

RM

MRB
Hot
End

RM

MRB
Cold
End

3 day
Buffer

Now very predictable

Delivery performance greatly

Pipelines

Striking

Average Lead Time

= 11.7 Days

improved

Packing

CoPQ reduced ~50%

The Royal Mint
11th November 2015

21ST TOCPA
CONFERENCE

FG

THE CHALLENGES
Mix ratio of coin versus blank changed
Down stream bottle necks created

Plant having 20% head room

Investment in new annealing furnaces and finishers

Synchronizing 2 pipelines
Bi metallic products (e.g. 2)

Sticking to our principles easy when

everything is going well!
Stopping constraints when down stream buffers full..
The Royal Mint
11th November 2015

21ST TOCPA
CONFERENCE

13

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNT?

Tackle the whole system with a cross-functional team: sales, planning, production

Dont just look at part of the flow or one product family

Dedicate resources to an intensive project and give them a coach

Keep everyone informed about findings not just solutions

Take difficult decisions and make policy changes clear (e.g. stock write-off) ..

The Royal Mint

11th November 2015

21ST TOCPA
CONFERENCE

ITS HOW WE WORK, NOT A PROJECT

Daily flow meetings
Standard meetings to understand performance of schedule execution
Review time taken for containers to move onto next process after arrival at current process

Day by hour boards

Measure against the standard throughput
daily meeting to resolve issues and escalate problems

New rules and routines for sales, planning and production.

Sales and operation planning process vital to the success of new way of working..

The Royal Mint

11th November 2015

21ST TOCPA
CONFERENCE

KEEP IT SIMPLE & VISUAL

Flow
Meetings
Day by Hour

Tier
Boards

The Royal Mint

11th November 2015

21ST TOCPA
CONFERENCE

ITS HOW WE THINK (REAL QUOTES)

We used to work in departments with lots of inventory between each one: now
everyone has an end-to-end view and material keeps flowing: we think about
delivery to the customer, not just what our department has produced.

We spent all day expediting material because priorities were always changing:
now the schedule is stable so we can concentrate on team-leading.

We used to be driven by measures of volume (tonnes and millions): now we

aim for delivery performance and prioritise by schedule adherence and flow
rate.

The Royal Mint

11th November 2015

21ST TOCPA
CONFERENCE