When Brand ID started out, our revenue was just 380 Finnish markka. Today, it’s over 30 million euros. The journey hasn’t been without its bumps and slowdowns.
“Our customers – and their ever-growing expectations – are what keep us moving. And that’s a good thing. It keeps us sharp. We’ve chosen the path of continuous improvement. Most recently, we renewed our production operations,” says Elina Marttila, Head of Production.
Customers now want their products faster than ever. But our production flow wasn’t moving as efficiently as it should. Something was clogging the process, and we needed to find out what. The goals of the production reform were to shorten lead times, improve delivery reliability, and increase overall productivity.
We believe in collaboration, not top-down commands – so our employees were involved at every stage. A data-based current state analysis helped us identify bottlenecks together. That’s how we uncovered the real issues and what needed to be improved.
We discovered hidden slowdowns in different stages of the production process – some of which had developed gradually over time. We identified sources of waste in the flow: unnecessary steps, materials waiting too long in certain areas, and outdated layouts. This groundwork gave us a solid basis to reorganize our production space entirely.
We restructured the production process and developed our teams. Daily management became the foundation of everyday operations. We implemented visual management boards that clearly show everyone the day’s goals and expectations. Workspaces were redesigned from the ground up – walkways, machinery layout, workstations, storage – all optimized for smooth flow and efficiency. It was a huge task.
Today, our production cells handle work from start to finish. Teams understand the objectives and timelines, and this clarity builds stronger collaboration. We encourage multi-skilling, and most importantly – orders no longer wait around for the next phase. They keep moving.
We’ve shifted from a task-by-task mindset to a more holistic approach – and that’s something our customers truly notice in our increased flexibility and faster response times.
It was worth it.
Our new article series gives a voice to our brand builders. There are 170 of us – and each one has a story. This is one of them.