Examples of Our Work - Manufacturing

Finding Creative Solutions in Unexpected Places

No matter how much a mid-size manufacturer of industrial computers focused on design improvement and employee training, the production output quality continued to decline.  Our analysis revealed the reason: inadequate production floor layout combined with an antiquated job-shop approach to large-volume work was creating bottlenecks in production flow.  The result was a fire-fighting approach to meeting production deadlines while assemblies spent 70 percent of total processing time waiting to be worked on.

Taking a fresh approach

Our simulation of the problem exposed processing inefficiencies, and led us to suggest a new manufacturing floor layout, combined with a batch-processing approach to production scheduling.  We then helped the manufacturer assemble a strong implementation team and conducted hands-on workshops to train personnel in managing the transition.

Increased quality combined with better financials

Beyond the dramatic increase in production quality and resulting customer satisfaction, our client gained financially.  With the new manufacturing layout, the company realized a 36 percent increase in production capacity without adding a single square foot of manufacturing floor space.  With the new process that managed workflow to eliminate bottlenecks, waiting time for most orders was cut by more than two-thirds, lowering costs of production and dramatically reducing work-in-process inventory.