CDI Holdings · Case Study Library
Mission-Directed Work Teams® · Survival Plan to World-Class Performance
Hella
From Survival to World Class — When Behaviour Becomes the Strategy
Automotive Component Manufacturer · 35% Worse Than Budget at Start · Closure Threatened · ISO TS 16949 · ISO 14001 Certified · Export Contracts Secured
93%
Horn Line efficiency
peak (from 30%)
peak (from 30%)
ISO
TS 16949 & 14001
certified
certified
19
MDW teams with
10 auditors
10 auditors
Export
First international
contracts secured
contracts secured
Background
When the Alternative to MDW Is Closure
Hella, a leading automotive component manufacturer, faced an existential crisis. The business was 35% worse than budget, scrap was 40% over target, attendance was only 94%, and morale had deteriorated to the point of breakdown. Low trust, poor communication, and no shared sense of purpose had created an operation that was producing below its potential in every measurable dimension. The alternative was not incremental decline; it was closure and job losses for every person in the facility.
The survival plan that emerged placed people and their behaviour at the centre. The belief embedded in the plan was explicit: world-class results follow world-class behaviour, and world-class behaviour can be built intentionally, from any starting point, with the right framework and the right commitment.
The survival plan that emerged placed people and their behaviour at the centre. The belief embedded in the plan was explicit: world-class results follow world-class behaviour, and world-class behaviour can be built intentionally, from any starting point, with the right framework and the right commitment.
The Challenge
Mistrust, Poor Results, and a Team That Had Lost Belief
Deep-rooted mistrust, no shared purpose, high overtime, poor recoveries, and declining quality created a reinforcing cycle of disengagement. Communication had broken down across teams. The operation lacked not just performance discipline but the cultural conditions from which performance discipline grows. Rebuilding both simultaneously, from a position of genuine threat, was the challenge MDW was asked to address.
The Approach
Pride, Trust, Passion, Belief — Behaviour as the Turnaround Strategy
1
The Survival Plan — Urgent, Human, and MeasurableThe mission was framed honestly: business survival. Clear, urgent, and people-focused. Behaviour — pride, trust, passion, and belief in one another — was named as the mechanism, not a cultural aspiration alongside the real plan. It was the real plan.
2
MDW Implementation with Full Leadership CommitmentLeadership committed fully to MDW before asking anyone else to do so — the first and most important signal to a workforce that had learned to distrust management initiatives. Buy-in built by communicating the benefits and aligning MDW explicitly to the survival mission rather than presenting it as a separate programme.
3
Three-Module Phased RolloutModule 1: Goal Alignment — linking team and company goals so that every person understood how their work contributed to survival and eventual success. Module 2: Visual Workplace (5S) — transforming workspaces and promoting ownership through a visible standard. Module 3: Self-Development — embedding a winning culture and personal achievement mindset.
4
Structured Support — 19 Teams, 10 Auditors, Daily Rhythm19 MDW teams deployed across departments, supported by 10 auditors and 11 facilitators. Monthly audits and daily team meetings established the rhythm and discipline that made improvement visible and consistent. Morning meetings became highly effective and were adopted across the operation.
5
Behaviour as the Foundation — The Horn Line Four-Year Evolution22 people at 30% efficiency in 2000; 8 people at 93% efficiency in 2002; stabilising at 13 people and 65% in 2003 as scale was managed alongside capability development. Forty percentage points of efficiency gain in two years were not produced by a Lean event. They were produced by people who had decided to care about what they were doing. MDW gave them the structure for that decision to become operational. Behaviour first. Results follow.
Starting Challenges
35% worse than budget — scrap 40% over target and attendance at just 94%.
Deep-rooted mistrust and communication breakdown across all teams.
High overtime, poor recoveries, and no shared sense of purpose.
Closure threatened if operational and cultural turnaround could not be achieved.
Horn Line — 4-Year Evolution
| Year | People | Units/shift | Efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 22 | 1,800 | 30% |
| 2001 | 16 | 1,600 | 42% |
| 2002 | 8 | 1,200 | 93% |
| 2003 | 13 | 1,430 | 65% |
Results — From Closure Threat to World-Class
Survival Achieved. Excellence Built. Jobs Saved.
93% Peak
Horn Line Efficiency
Horn Line efficiency reached 93% in 2002 — up from 30% in 2000. Eight people delivering what 22 had previously attempted, at three times the efficiency.
ISO
Dual Certification
ISO 14001 and TS 16949 certification achieved — formal external recognition that the turnaround had produced world-class quality and environmental standards.
Export
International Contracts
First and subsequent export contracts secured — the commercial expression of a plant that had moved from survival to competitive standing in its global market.
Scrap
Dramatically Reduced
Scrap reduced dramatically from 40% over target — recoveries improved alongside quality, as teams that owned their process eliminated the waste that disengaged teams had normalised.
Proud
Culture Transformed
Staff became proud of their products, teams, and plant — a passionate world-class behavioural culture created from a starting point of mistrust, low morale, and threatened closure.
Self-Sustaining
Momentum Built
Success became self-sustaining as belief and capability grew together — the ultimate MDW outcome: a culture that generates its own improvement without external pressure.
“
World-class behaviour is the foundation for world-class results — passion and belief are contagious when anchored in clear goals and team routines.
Key Lesson · Hella MDW Turnaround Programme
Key Insight
Hella demonstrates that the path from survival to world-class is entirely human. Thirty percentage points of efficiency gain in two years, dual ISO certification, export contracts — none of it preceded by new equipment or restructuring. Preceded by people given a clear purpose, a structured framework, and leaders who held themselves to the same standard they asked of their teams. Behaviour first. Always.
