CASE STUDY

RINNAI

Since Rinnai’s establishment in 1920 as a manufacturer of gas and oil appliances, Rinnai Corporation has steadily expanded its business lines. Today, as the world’s largest gas appliance manufacturer, Rinnai is widely regarded as the industry leader.

www.rinnai.co.nz

Leading global manufacturer focuses on business process improvement Company profileRinnai Corporation is the world’s largest gas appliance manufacturer. Widely regarded as the global industry leader and headquartered in Nagoya, Japan, Rinnai maintains a broad international presence through 15 subsidiaries and affiliates across the world.

Rinnai products are known throughout the world for their superior quality, safety, technology and sophisticated control systems. All factories are ISO 9001 and/or ISO 14001 certified.

Rinnai’s New Zealand subsidiary has been manufacturing and selling primarily gas appliances, with a smaller inventory of electric and solar hot water for some 30 years.

The challengeProcesses throughout the organisation although existing, had grown up somewhat randomly over time. There was no centralisation or standardisation; nor was there a single repository of procedural information. The processes that were in use, although familiar to many employees were, in practice, often out dated and cumbersome.

There was a clear opportunity to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of operations across the business, especially in the first instance on the manufacturing side. Arising from this was the chance to create a system of constant review that would help to achieve a culture of continuous improvement.

smarter processes www.promapp.com

CASE STUDY

RINNAI

“We have also achieved time and cost savings - efficiency gains that came about as using Promapp helped us identify steps that were no longer required.”Helen Worsop, RINNAI NZ LTD

The solutionPromapp was identified early on as a resource that could quickly and easily be applied to the company’s manufacturing process, delivering some fast improvements with minimal disruption.

However, its advantages did not stop there. Its user-friendliness could also be swiftly adapted so it documented all procedures in the business – which would in turn be housed in a central location.

“Now, rather than spending time explaining a process, people are directed to Promapp. Our administrative department has disposed of its hard copy manuals and we are now heading towards being multi skilled across roles, as all the relevant information we need is instantly available in the Promapp library. We have also achieved time and cost savings - efficiency gains that came about as using Promapp helped us identify steps that were no longer required.” says Helen Worsop, Financial Controller, Rinnai NZ Ltd.

Promapp’s central library offered the vital central resource that then enabled its flexible application across a wide range of areas.

The implementationPromapp provided some training and assistance for documenting the initial processes.

The roll out has progressed at different rates in different departments, with some significantly advanced on others. This includes areas such as administration, where the need for standardised processes was greatest and which has been in the maintenance phase.

Development of a consistent coding/naming convention and ensuring it is adhered to was a must, to enable users to easily find what they are looking for.

Equally, successful implementation relied on ensuring there was full buy-in from key people – especially those at the top of the organisation.

In terms of implementation, the company also found that sometimes not over-thinking things or putting in too much detail can add to success. In fact, sometimes adding a process ‘on the fly’ resulted in a much more refined, more effective procedure. 

The benefitsFollowing the implementation of Promapp, Rinnai is now enjoying the benefit of standard procedures, with no loose documents floating around to cause confusion, duplication or mistakes.

There have been considerable time savings in staff training – especially as Promapp is so simple to use.

In terms of the future and its continued roll out, Promapp has great possibilities, especially once more fully taken up by areas across the business which have yet to implement it as fully as they might.

A key benefit that the organisation experiences on a daily basis is that the Promapp system aids in continuing compliance to ISO 9001, ensuring the company’s certification is kept up to date and saving time, effort and disruption at audit time.

smarter processes www.promapp.com

CASE STUDY

RINNAI

This in turn enables a more considered focus on continuous improvement rather than basic compliance.

smarter processes www.promapp.com