Perspective
The background for the ”Rotovator Restructuring” project was that Kongskilde Howards Rotavator® products were being manufactured in and sold from two factories in Spain and Germany. There was substantial overlap in the two product programmes, resulting in competitors making headway on the markets and low profitability. In September 2002 a strategic decision was taken to concentrate production in one factory.
Essential to the success of this strategy was that the products must be optimised and a modular concept adopted with fewer parts and components, yet supporting a complete product range that met the needs of Howards' target segment worldwide.

Proces

Step 1: Strategic analysis and research culminating in a report defining a new, revised product range for Kongskilde Howards Rotavator®.
Step 2: Design and implementation of a new product range for Howards Rotavator® supported by documentation in Solid Works to be ready by 1 January 2003.

People
Inhouse: Project coordinator Ole Madsbøll and Lars Erdmann.
External partners: A team comprising key persons from eight different companies in five countries: Denmark, Germany, France, Poland and Spain.

Product
At the SIMA trade fair in Paris (the biggest trade fair in the world for agricultural machinery) three machines were put on display from the new range, which has been reduced from 28 models to 7. The introduction of the new product range has resulted in cost price reductions per model of 10 per cent.