Business strategies of European companies have evolved through decades to face ever changing market conditions and fast expanding global competition. This found expression in technical research and development strategies during the sixties and seventies, and quality programs in the eighties. Ever increasing customer expectations in the nineties has forced management to add to their business strategies "speed to market" and "rapid response" technologies.
More recently management began to recognise the need for responding to real customer demand rather than unreliable forecasting methods by focusing on shorter manufacturing lead times while improving flexibility. This premise remains true today for any enterprise to remain competitive. Progressively it was also observed that to further enhance competitiveness, it became necessary to enlist the support and co-operation of their key suppliers.
This counter-intuitive strategy is enabling companies to forge partnerships in areas of technology, product development, and long term resource requirements. Such alliances also result in shorter delivery cycles, improved costs and higher quality levels and inventory reduction.
These needs were the basis for the founding of KSM Associates and the development of Integrated Flow Manufacturing as a total manufacturing strategy. IFM® offers a complete business solution to any company.

Leaping into the future

Integrated Flow Manufacturing®. This is the new company organization method on which Uniflair is being redesigned to face the next millennium
Like many of the modern economic and managerial theories, IFM® was spawned in the United States, though its remodelling in a more complete, contemporary key is all-European. The system’s evolution was actually studied by a team of economists from Ksm Associates, a leading firm for this kind of service, based in Sophia Antipolis, near Nice, one of the major European technology parks.
As Andrew Kampouris, the project’s leader, explains, “The experience actually dates back to the nineties when the idea was successfully applied in a large American company, American Standard (annual turnover 8 billion dollars) to streamline manufacturing processes and make them faster”.
The evolution being launched in Uniflair, though, is venturing beyond production processes: “In American Standard - Kampouris points out - the traditional work method of the time was revolutionized thanks to the theories conceived by my father, Emanuel Kampouris and by Michael Hammer. In essence, there was a switch from an organization based on departments - which were practically isolated from each other - to structuring based on linear flows allowed to proceed uninterrupted. IFM®’s application in Uniflair is following in the footsteps of that particular experience, though it crosses strictly company bounds to reach even the outer links of the chain too, namely suppliers and customers”.
The first phase of Uniflair’s transformation has involved production, which is now organized in flows (flow production), and was followed by reorganization of the offices, which are now structured based on processes (process organization). Kampouris goes on to explain that “We are currently working on the third phase, the IFM® supply chain, which involves the relationship between the company, its suppliers and customers”.
The focal point, therefore, becomes the customer, and optimization of all activities is geared towards this end of the chain: from the supply of raw materials to production, from administration to customer support, eliminating any obstacles likely to impede the linear process.
The objective of this substantial revolution is undoubtedly to achieve greater rationality and operating speed, as well as to increase the company’s competitiveness. However, this goal can only be achieved with the increased involvement of the people doing the actual work. As Kampouris points out, “Our improvement inevitably entails creating a more human organization than in traditional models, where repetitiveness is cast out and where employees are allowed a more complete, far-reaching vision of their duties, making their job more interesting and gratifying”.
This is an innovative process and, as such, has its fair share of obvious inconvenience. “For full success - Kampouris explains - the process requires the unbending conviction of the owners or top-level management, and this is where Uniflair has been lucky, as the management was behind it all the way. Moreover, it entails an awful lot of training and information: everyone has to be helped to understand, and motivated. Constant communication regarding objectives, new company strategies, and involvement, allow all employees to play an active role and feel that they are an essential part of the company’s growth”.
The process has now been started and has made a great deal of progress. It will shortly be completed, with the company taking up residence in its new facilities. “At this point - Kampouris finishes off - I expect Uniflair to make an important breakthrough in terms of competitiveness and IFM® to become a new reference model of organization.