Discrete Manufacturing
Understanding Discrete Manufacturing Business Challenges
Consider this: Your operating costs are the same, regardless of fluctuations in throughput (and therefore your profits). So every minute of production lost due to a true constraint is equal to the cost of a minute of running the entire line or plant. And every minute gained is a true contribution to your bottom line.
"We have experienced around a 7% reduction in manufacturing costs, which is a lot of dollars for an old plant that really helps the business. So rather than build a new plant, because of capacity constraints, we are just making these old lines turn out more product better than they ever have before."
- Corporate Production Manager
North American Beverage Bottler
"By making product quicker and better than we ever have before, we are freeing up time in our schedule, to the tune of something like 1/2 million extra cases of available production per year."
- Wayne Luxford
Continuous Improvement Manager
Throughput Analyzer™ can put those lost minutes of production back into your shift. What would a 5% improvement equaling an extra 21 minutes mean to your facility? In a continuous low bottling operation, that can mean thousands of more units equaling millions of dollars.
"Collected correctly, data turned into information aids us in our 'Genchi Gembutsu' or Go and See activity to grasp the situation. Grasping the Situation is one of the first things that we are taught to do at Toyota, as it is part of the Toyota Way. The Activplant Performance Management System enables our Go and See Process."
- Parker Shannon
Project Manager
If you have to identify an additional 5% in throughput improvements would you know where to look?
Activplant Customers know where to look!
Discrete manufacturers range from small local operations to multinational
enterprises with facilities and distribution across the globe, their challenges
remain the same. How do you lower unit costs per piece while increasing the
demand for improved quality with fewer resources and less capital?
Many manufacturers are told by software companies that the answers to
improving your operations are better OEE metrics and downtime reports. This
thinking does not go far enough to make a significant impact on your bottom
line. Activplant has the only solution that can identify your chronic constraints
and increase the overall throughput for your entire system. We understand
the discrete manufacturing, and we can help you turn these challenges into a
competitive advantage. With Throughput Analyzer's clear focus on improving
your business, you can either settle for 3% to 5% improvement with your existing
continuous improvement team, or you can show a 15% to 25% improvement
while systematically dealing with your chronic constraints using Activplant
Throughput Analyzer. In an average size discrete manufacturing facility, an
increase in production throughput could result in over $1.2 million in annual
savings. Now that's a result you can take to the bank. But don't wait to make your
deposit, with Throughput Analyzer's rapid and repeatable deployment of less than
14 weeks, you could be cashing in savings in as little as 3 months.
Activplant's Throughput Analyzer can transform the raw data coming from your line into actionable information. A Balance Map (shown here) is updated in real time using intuitive color coding, allowing you to identify production constraints at a glance.
Delivering the Solution
The challenge has always been how to isolate and identify the most inefficient
area on the line that impedes or chronically disrupts product low. The problem
may lie in people, material or machines providing components, which can
simultaneously shutdown multiple other machines on that line making it more
diicult to understand the root cause. Further complicating this process is the
fact that constraints move from hour to hour and shift to shift making it nearly
impossible to identify the chronic constraint in the line.
Activplant's Throughput Analyzer is a proven performance management
application that simplifies the complexities of discrete manufacturing. By
identifying and prioritizing the chronic disruptors to product low, otherwise
known as the constraints, Throughput Analyzer empowers plant personnel
to focus on the issues that will result in the largest gains in throughput – and
enables management to make informed decisions that will positively impact the
bottom line.
"At Ricoh, we're very excited about the introduction of Throughput Analyzer in our facility; the application has the potential to accelerate the lines ramp up process by increasing product throughput and driving operational improvements that will lead to lasting efficiency gains."
- Richard Aston
Ricoh, Senior Engineer
Now discrete manufacturers have a solution to respond to the everyday
challenges faced in their industry. By eliminating the waste caused by
constraints, getting more parts out the door with fewer resources is no longer
a challenge but a reality. The Throughput Analyzer will sort though all the
noise and account for every second of production with the touch of a button.
Whether the root cause is a changeover issue, speed loss, downtime loss, or
human involvement, the Throughput Analyzer points you to the true constraints.
For example the Throughput Analyzer drives part and component cost down by
enabling the correction of the #1 problem limiting throughput and overall line
velocity. Now you can spend your day fixing the problems, not trying to figure
out where they are.
It's About Time
At Activplant, it's about time. Our Throughput Analyzer application is defined by
its ability to identify lost minutes of production within a line, plant or enterprise
and then provides you with the knowledge to put those minutes back into
your day. Identifying and regaining those lost minutes of production may mean
100% delivery rate on your customer's orders, unlocking hidden capacity of your
production system.
See what Throughput Analyzer can do for you
Watch a product demo now or request additional information.
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