Raychem RPG

Raychem RPG (P) Ltd., incorporated in 1989, is a 50:50 Joint Venture between TE Connectivity, U.S.A. and RPG Enterprises, India. The company offers a wide range electrical equipment to utilities and industrial customers. The company is organised as different strategic businesses, providing solutions for various business segments and fulfilling demands of customers from domestic as well as global markets. The major business units, EPD and EBU were earlier facing significant issues in their operations including high inventory, high lead time for order completion, low reliability, huge backlog of orders and high expediting costs. This led to a declining trend in the company’s profits, and overall Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) dipped significantly.
 
The company partnered with Vector with an objective of releasing capacity in operations to reduce lead times by improving output and reliability of operations, without any additional investment. 
 
By implementing “pull” processes in the supply chain to align RM availability and the kitting function, EPD (Energy Domestic) division could reduce lead-time and improve OTIF of orders while simultaneously bringing down inventory levels. Similarly, in EBU (Engineering Business Unit) division, actions like implementing “pull” manufacturing methods on the shop floor and in planning, undertaking capacity exploitation steps with critical vendors and initiating VMI Program for key vendors resulted in a quantum jump in output and enhanced reliability to customers at reduced lead times.
 
Significant benefits from implementation were realized in just first 4 months of the implementation - these results were realized although the company like everyone else in the industry was facing challenges posed by COVID-19 lockdown and its aftermath. Some of the salient results are presented in the following table.