CDI Holdings · Case Study Library
Mission-Directed Work Teams® (MBUs) · Nurieux, France
Schoeller Allibert Nurieux, France
Rebuilding Trust Through MBUs After Three Failed Lean Attempts
Returnable Packaging Solutions · 18 Injection Machines · 1,200+ Mould Changes Annually · Five Ownership Changes in 30 Years
3×
Previous Lean programmes
attempted & abandoned
attempted & abandoned
13
Level 1 MBUs live
within 3 months
within 3 months
3 mo
From launch to
full MBU operation
full MBU operation
5 yrs
Best performance
results achieved
results achieved
Context
When History Becomes the Hardest Obstacle
Schoeller Allibert’s Nurieux facility operates 18 injection machines and manages over 1,200 mould changes annually. The site had lived through five ownership changes across three decades — each bringing new management, new restructuring, and new promises. Employees, unions, and even senior group executives had grown deeply sceptical.
Previous Lean implementations had been attempted and abandoned three times over several years. What was left was something more damaging than poor processes: a workforce that had stopped believing change was possible.
Previous Lean implementations had been attempted and abandoned three times over several years. What was left was something more damaging than poor processes: a workforce that had stopped believing change was possible.
The Challenge
Not Performance — Belief
The core challenge was not improving operational metrics. It was overcoming what the team themselves described as: “Apprehensions, tiredness, and a lack of confidence in management and results.”
In a site with this history, any new programme would be treated with the same scepticism as the last three. The only path forward was an approach so different in character — so respectful and genuinely coaching-led — that it earned trust through action, not announcement.
In a site with this history, any new programme would be treated with the same scepticism as the last three. The only path forward was an approach so different in character — so respectful and genuinely coaching-led — that it earned trust through action, not announcement.
The Approach
Earning Trust Through Character, Not Claims
1
Starting With Respect: Individual CoachingRather than launching a programme at the site, the engagement began with one-on-one coaching for the Lean Manager and department heads — building personal commitment and capability before asking teams to change. In a site defined by broken promises, showing up differently from the start was the first and most important act.
2
Rapid MBU Deployment — 13 in 3 MonthsWithin three months, 13 Level 1 MBUs and 1 Level 2 MBU were fully operational, covering production, HR, maintenance, and engineering. The speed of visible results — structure where there had been disorder, clarity where there had been ambiguity — was itself a trust-building act.
3
Standard KPIs Across All MBUsSpeed, Quality, Cost, Safety, and Human engagement KPIs deployed uniformly across all MBUs — with visible dashboards making performance transparent and shared. Standards applied to every team, at every level, made accountability mutual rather than managerial.
4
Gemba Walks as Listening, Not PolicingDaily coaching walks focused on enabling rather than inspecting. In a site where management had historically been the source of top-down pressure, this deliberate reframing — leaders listening, supporting, and coaching rather than checking — changed the relationship between the shop floor and leadership at its root.
5
Inclusive Implementation Across All DepartmentsMBUs deployed across production, HR, maintenance, and engineering — not as a production initiative with support functions observing, but as a whole-site transformation in which every team was equally included, equally responsible, and equally recognised. This inclusivity, in a site where distrust had been fostered by exclusion and top-down change, was the cultural message the implementation needed to send.
Why Previous Attempts Failed
Three Lean implementations over several years — each launched, each abandoned.
Five ownership changes in 30 years — management credibility exhausted.
Repeated restructuring created deep employee scepticism toward all change initiatives.
Union distrust of management commitments; apprehension at all levels including senior group executives.
Disorder and disorganisation across production areas — no visible standards or sustained 5S.
Outcomes — Within Two Years
Performance, Pride, and a Restored Culture
Clean
Factory Transformation
A clean, organised factory where disorder once reigned — a visible daily reminder that the transformation was real and sustained.
Best
5-Year Performance
The site achieved its best performance results in five years — across speed, quality, cost, and safety metrics tracked through MBU dashboards.
Led
Operator Improvement
A surge in operator-led improvement ideas backed by genuine ownership — from teams that had previously disengaged from every change initiative.
5S
Full Site Implementation
Complete 5S across offices, workshops, and production areas. Standards maintained by the teams themselves, not enforced from above.
Daily
Gemba as Culture
Coaching walks became daily cultural norms. Leaders present on the floor — listening, enabling, and developing — rather than auditing.
Rebuilt
Trust and Pride
All levels involved in sustaining improvement. The transformation extended beyond productivity — it restored pride in the work and in the workplace.
“
Respect yourself, for the respect of others.
Cultural Principle · Schoeller Allibert MBU Programme · Nurieux, France
Key Insight
Mission-Directed Work Teams® can succeed even in organisations with long histories of mistrust and fatigue — if implementation is respectful, inclusive, and supported through genuine coaching. MBUs are not just a management structure; they are a philosophy of empowerment delivered through daily action. Improvement usually means doing something we’ve never done before. At Nurieux, that something was trust.
