- Award recognises activities that have improved performance
- Manufacturing and marketing & sales teams excel
ROSSLYN, South Africa – Nissan South Africa has been recognised for outstanding achievements that have led to improved performance in one of the global automaker's key regions.
The local operation's manufacturing and marketing & sales divisions received the Management Committee's Chairman Award for breakthrough activities in the Africa, Middle East and India (AMI) region.
"This is no mean feat in the global Nissan family and is testament to the calibre of our employees," said Nissan SA managing director Mike Whitfield. "Committed teams coupled with innovative thinking are driving our performance at Nissan."
Leaders of the winning manufacturing and marketing & sales teams credited their teams' positive, proactive and determined attitude with winning the coveted Award.
"We established a 'Never Go Backwards' game plan to ensure we improve and deliver against all our key performance areas," said manufacturing director Joan Busquets, of the soccer-themed strategy which was instrumental in safety, quality, cost and time gains – critical to the plant's allocation of new Nissan products.
Supporting the plan is a focus on people and skills development to empower employees, ensuring they are equipped with critical skills in the workplace.
- Standing out is the plant's safety KPI which improved by 77% between 2015 and 2016.
- Quality improved following a reassessment of the plant's Overall Quality Management System and improvement in Plant Build Quality.
- Costs were contained by achieving the total delivered cost for both pickups produced at the plant – the half ton NP200 and one-ton NP300 Hardbody - supported by cross-functional activities, which bring together different departments and disciplines to identify challenges and develop innovative solutions.
Also contributing to the Award, said Busquets, is adherence to the Alliance Production Way – a reference to the Renault-Nissan continuous improvement principles in manufacturing, which are a hallmark of both brands' partnership.
Marketing & sales director Xavier Gobille is especially proud of his team's achievement, especially given the challenging sales environment.
In 2016, the team increased market share and profitability through a paradigm shift in mind-set – that of revenue optimisation as opposed to a traditional cost-cutting and target driven focus. Market share in South Africa increased to 8% and in Sub Saharan Africa to 13.3%, while profitability doubled.
Other factors driving the team's success were reorganising of people and portfolios, and building team spirit.
"As a result of breaking down walls – literally and figuratively - and removing silos, we've improved morale, capability and efficiency," said Gobille.
Encouraging bold, innovative thinking and a 'Yes We Can' approach has led to improvements in customer, staff and dealer satisfaction.
For example, the team's Nissan Assured concept – now considered a global Nissan benchmark – is drawing people to the brand by creating value for customers. In turn, Nissan Assured – a suite of offerings that demonstrate NSA's commitment to customers throughout the sales and aftersales experience – has led to increased profit per unit, the most improved throughout Nissan globally.
By working on customer satisfaction and a motivated dealer network – whose focus is less on driving figures and more on the enabler of profit – Gobille is confident his team has a blueprint for the future.
Summed up Whitfield: "The Award is proof of the effectiveness of our strategies to improve performance. It is also motivation to build on the successes to ensure sustainability of our business."
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