Volvo do Brasil helped pioneer VBS

In  2000, Volvo do Brasil planned to launch a medium-heavy truck. Breaking into the profitable medium-heavy segment would not only mean increased sales and employment at the plant, it would also strengthen the Volvo Group’s position in the South American market. However, there was a problem: the company lacked funds to expand its facility in
Curitiba.

“Instead, we evaluated the feasibility of freeing up space in our existing plant,” says Juarez Goss, who managed the project from the outset. The plant already produced heavy trucks and buses, while Volvo Powertrain produced the engines in another building.

The company drew inspiration from the Japanese automotive industry and its Lean Production model – a working method that has now become a lodestar for most automotive manufacturers.

“Basically, it’s a question of eliminating all unnecessary work and procedures,” explains Goss. In practice, this meant cleaning up the company’s production lines, stepping up all parts flows and making sure no surfaces or machines were left idle unnecessarily. In addition, employees’ movements around the factory floor were minimised to increase efficiency. The end result was even better than expected.

“We succeeded in freeing up more than 4,000 square metres, simply by working and thinking differently,” says Goss proudly. However, he stresses that a lot of work went into the achievement.

“In order to succeed with such extensive changes, we had to involve everyone in the initiative. Even if a project starts off at management level, there always comes a point
when all the employees need to be involved.”
For this reason, all the employees were trained in Lean Production.
“The method is based on learning by doing. Only then do you understand how what you do can be done even better.”
The Brazilians called the working method SIV (Sistema Industrial Volvo do Brasil). When the production overhaul had been completed after three years, the results were deemed so positive that the company wanted to pass
the method on.

“SIV not only enabled us to add a new truck model to our production. It also made everything we did much more efficient. For example, after a year we’d cut back our order to delivery time by more than 25% – thanks to SIV principles applied to administrative processes,” says Goss.

By working and thinking in a different
way, Volvo do Brasil succeeded in freeing
up more than 4,000 square metres of
space at its plant in Curitiba. The space was
needed to start producing a medium-heavy
truck which has since increased turnover
and employment at the plant. Most of the
work that was done has formed the basis of
the way the Volvo Group currently
implements the Volvo Production System.

Since 2005, the Volvo Group has been actively working to introduce Lean Production, known within the Group as the VPS (Volvo Production System). Much of the VPS’ current content originates from Volvo do Brasil.

“Volvo do Brasil is outstanding in introducing and applying the VPS,” says Katarina Lindström, head of the VPS at the Volvo Group. “Its whole organisation is incredibly committed, which is the most important factor
behind the successful introduction of the VPS. We have a lot to learn from our colleagues in Brazil in this respect.”