For the fishermen out there, Rapala VMC is a well-known brand. But for those of you who aren't, we can tell you that it's one of the most well-known names when it comes to sport fishing. Rapala VMC started as a small fishing lure manufacturer in Finland, but today they have grown into a global group with factories and warehouses, all over the world.
They annually sell for approx. 300 million euros and they manufacture over 20 million hand-tested fishing lures every year. In order to increase its efficiency and raise its production capacity, digitizing the daily management was an obvious step forward. This is how they got Mevisio - the best solution for digital daily management, on the hook.
Challenge
Although Rapala VMC is a brand associated with innovation and quality in the fishing world, the same cannot be said of their daily management before Mevisio. Their previous way of working was based on daily pulse meetings, but they did not have a board for daily management. Instead, they used Excel to visualize the data they needed for their pulse meetings. But this way of working came with a lot of unnecessary obstacles.
— We saw clear problems regarding the structure and clarity of our meetings, for example regarding KPIs. And we also didn't have any clear "to do lists", so our floor employees often experienced confusion when it came to prioritizing tasks, says Mikko Muikku, Head of Supply Chain Development at Rapala VMC.
Rapala VMC also wanted to improve the communication and the engagement of the staff by moving to a bottom-up governance. But as mentioned earlier, Rapala has grown explosively and today they have factories and warehouses that are spread all over the world, for example in Finland, Estonia, France, UK, USA and Canada - with all the cultural differences and local conditions that come with that. So the variation was large between different units and there wasn’t a clear standardization of the daily management.
Solution
Here the management at Rapala VMC saw an opportunity for improvement and the goal was clear: they wanted to increase the commitment and productivity of their employees. So the aim was therefore to find a platform that would help them both organize the work and visualize and disseminate information within the business. This is where Mevisio comes into play.
Rapala VMC uses a SQCDP structure on the boards (Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery and People). The structure is one of our most popular as it provides a quick overview of everything from safety to productivity. It also makes it easy for both management and floor employees to report deviations and coordinate and prioritize their tasks.
Result
In short, we can say that Rapala VMC's investment has paid off. The structure of their meetings has improved and the engagement and productivity of the staff have reached new heights. The factories are also able to work in a more standardized way, with a bottom-up governance, not the other way around like before. The employees understand that the boards are their way to make an impact.
— Now that we have clearly visualized KPIs, we immediately see where there are problems and areas for improvement, which makes it easy to act on them. The SQCDP board is a superb tool. Both our efficiency and the commitment of our employees have improved thanks to Mevisio, says Mikko.
