Client Aussie Tiny Houses
Location Coolum Beach, Queensland
Background
Aussie Tiny Houses are based in Queensland, Australia and specialise in designing and building affordable, high-quality tiny homes on wheels. They offer a range of architecturally designed models for various lifestyles and budgets, including both loft and ground-level bedroom options. These homes are built to Australian standards, with options for off-grid solutions and flexibility in customisation.
The Challenge
Aussie Tiny Houses were experiencing rapid growth underpinned by the market’s organic growth around the need for affordable housing. Due to the high demand for their product Aussie Tiny Houses had a backlog of 12 months with demand exceeding their current operational capacity. Aussie Tiny Houses customers were experiencing long lead times. It was identified that Aussie Tiny Houses needed to transition their operations from a construction-oriented operation to a manufacturing-oriented operation.
The Solution
Senior Lean Consultant Thomas Gieloff needed to change the way the teams thought about manufacturing the houses. The shift in mindset from construction to manufacturing was the key to unlocking the potential at Aussie Tiny Houses. A new facility layout was created to help enhance the flow of information across the facility.
Thomas and the team conducted time studies to measure how long it took for the end-to-end build and construction of a house. Once this benchmark was established a build tracker with start and finish dates for each house being completed was implemented.
“There was a massive change needed at Aussie Tiny Houses to change the mindset of the teams from thinking like construction workers to thinking like manufacturers, it was amazing watching Aussie Tiny Houses think about their work in a different way and it showed” said Senior Lean Consultant Thomas Gieloff.
The Result
Aussie Tiny Houses was able to achieve incredible results, they have transformed their business from construction-oriented to a manufacturing-oriented by implementing standardised processes and having visibility across what is moving through production with a build tracker. The team have also been able to:
- Reduced Lead times from 35 days to 22 days
- Greater visibility across all departments
- Better understanding of labour utilisation
- Double the output with the same amount of labour
- The culture change has meant a more motivated team
