Management Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Morvern Group Ltd

Description

Morvern Group manufacture investment casting (moulds) for turbine blades for the aerospace and integrated gas turbine sectors.

Precision and quality are critical, linking also to issues of sustainability and cost savings. Morvern Group comprises three organisations involved in the design and manufacture of the investment castings. However, greater synergy between the three could improve new product development lead times, which Morvern Group are keen to explore.

They also intend to grow the business, but need to better understand where and how to increase capacity.

Research overview

The mKTP will explore two key things. Firstly, it will look at ways to optimise information and product flow between the three organisations in Morvern Group. This will involve a social network analysis of expected versus actual reporting of information, a review of the management information systems and any associated bottlenecks.

Secondly, it will complete value stream mapping of core processes to identify areas of waste and capacity constraints.

Key findings

So far, the social network analysis of expected information reporting flows (based upon the organisation chart) have been completed. This has identified key individuals who appear to bear the majority of information reporting, highlighting potential weaknesses in the organisation's structure if those individuals were to leave the organisation, for example.

This initial analysis will be compared with 'actual' information reporting flows over the next few months.

Impact

We anticipate that the reporting structures will be re-evaluated following the social network analysis and that certain processes will be streamlined following the value stream mapping.

Contact

Dr Nicky Shaw

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This project is funded by Innovate UK and Morvern Group Ltd.