Manufacturing

• Employee retention increased
• Institutional knowledge preserved
• Quality of output improved

This was a classic example of why many clients hire outside consultants. It was a case of a client having a need — the development and implementation of standardized training procedures at a new facility — and not having the capacity or expertise on staff to get the job done. But, as it happens with many projects, it wasn’t that simple.

• Annual revenue increased $1.5 million
• 99% improvement in year-over-year throughput
• $500,000 in cost avoidance with ability to find parts
• 51% reduction in monthly labor cost per job order
  

The company was behind schedule with no plan as to when they were going to make delivery to their customers. Their reputation was tarnished, customers were charging for lateness, cancelling orders, and costs were out of control. This was not a simple project.

• 62% increase in throughput Q3 YoY results
• 50% increase in throughput Q4 YoY results

The goal was to be on pace to double throughput by the end of the year and build in-process inventory levels to accommodate this increasing demand. This was a tall order that specifically required understanding of current capacity, inventory levels, and additional capacity needed to accommodate the constant quarter over quarter increase in demand.

• 11% OEE improvement
• $1,700,000 improvement in gross margin

Increasing demand for one of its alloys used in the industries mentioned above was increasing at a rapid rate and the site making the extruded version of the alloy was not able to meet the demand even at a rate of 15 – 20% overtime. A second challenge was to, in the words of the CEO, digitize the process as an example to the rest of the organization.

• $500,00 - $600,00 in aggregrate savings
• 4:1 ROI for the client

The company’s business was growing by leaps and bounds and they expecting record profits in the current year. However, the following year was expected by all in the industry to be very difficult, so management set aggressive cost savings targets. We were brought in to help them reduce the cost of their direct and indirect spend, including for raw materials, and the process by which they are sourced.

• $6 million in annualized cost savings
• 16% improvement in productivity
• 22% reduction in scrap

This particular holding by the firm was created through acquisition, and which drove questions regarding its true production capacity due to the multiple, disparate systems created by the acquisition. Our task was to help the operation to navigate their systems to improve asset utilization, increase throughput, and reduce setup time and scrap.

• 40% increase in on-time releases
  
• 97% decrease in defects
• 121% Increase in productivity

As the company shifted its business internationally, it found a much more competitive market that complicated its product mix and pricing structure. This put tremendous pressure on margins. Early retirement and layoffs caused a huge knowledge drain and loss of managerial control as many who left were senior managers. 

• 60% false credit holds reduction
• Over $500,000 annually in cumulative savings
  

The company wanted to improve back office productivity across all non-production functions. This included order-to-cash processes for North America to reduce waste and improve resource productivity. According to the company’s president and CEO, “We had lots of high-level process maps but were not seeing a lot of change at the point of execution. That’s when we knew we had to go outside for assistance.”

• Increased throughput from 136 to 164 per day
• Efficiency increased from 91.01% to 115.15%
• One business segment saw efficiency increase from 140.21% to 168.87%

Like many of our clients, this one came to us after seeing the results we’d produced for an industry peer. The company had committed to year-over-year production increases, but had concerns over meeting these commitments.