Richbond – Tramextyl factory
Making Accountability and Performance Visible
When I first met Richbond’s management in January 2026, the technical challenges were not what immediately caught my attention. The real difficulty was organizational: managers were struggling to turn commitments into executed actions.
During my first visit to the plant, my sponsor pointed out production-area LED lights that had needed replacement for months despite repeated requests. The technical problem was trivial. The organizational problem was not.
This immediately led me to focus on accountability: making responsibilities, commitments and delays visible and measurable.
The Challenge
The issue went beyond individual tasks. Management lacked a simple system for making commitments visible, tracking execution and identifying recurring delays.
At the same time, the site had significant opportunities for improvement across extrusion, weaving, knitting, warping, quality, maintenance, workplace organization and safety.
The challenge was therefore to create both a stronger management system and a structured portfolio of improvement projects capable of delivering measurable business value.
My Approach:
Making accountability measurable
Working with a young IT developer, I designed a simple digital application to turn management commitments into measurable tasks.
When a manager assigned a task, the commitment was recorded with a responsible person and a due date. The system then made the status of those commitments visible to management.
I introduced an indicator — the Engagement Delay Index — measuring the average delay associated with a person’s commitments. The results could then be visualized and compared across responsibilities using Pareto analysis.
The information was displayed on screens throughout the plant, making performance and accountability visible rather than relying on individual follow-up and memory.
Making operational performance visible
The same principle of visual management was then extended to operational performance.
Production KPIs were displayed on screens throughout the plant including process performance on statistical control charts highlighting abnormalities.
For example, changeover performance was monitored using control charts, allowing teams to see not only the latest result but also the evolution and stability of the process.
The objective was not simply to collect KPIs. It was to make performance visible at the place where the work was being performed and to create a common language for management and operational teams.
Building the improvement portfolio
In parallel, I structured a portfolio of nine improvement projects covering both hard and soft savings.
The projects addressed areas including extrusion waste, OEE in weaving, knitting and warping, fabric quality, 5S, safety, visual management, application development and the transformation of the existing repair function into a genuine preventive-maintenance organization.
What changed
The intervention progressively changed the way performance and responsibility were managed at the site.
Commitments that had previously depended on individual follow-up became visible and measurable. Operational performance was displayed where the work was taking place, while improvement projects were structured around quantified business objectives.
The result was not simply a collection of Lean Six Sigma projects, but a more visible and accountable management system supporting continuous improvement.
The business impact
Within the first few months, the improvement portfolio included nine projects, five of which were classified as hard-savings projects.
The five strategic projects shown in the management report represented a total of 3,667,940 MAD in projected savings.
The remaining projects focused on soft savings and organizational capability, including 5S, safety, visual management, the accountability application and the transformation of maintenance practices.
Company published projected savings identified 3 months after the start of the Lean Six Sigma program.
The financial impact was only one part of the transformation. The more fundamental change was the creation of a management system in which responsibilities, performance and improvement opportunities became visible.