February 2, 2023

Revamping the operations planning of an entire plant

Improve a printing unit from a leading manufacture company

Revamping the operations planning of an entire plant

At a glance

Challenge

The client sought to improve a printing unit struggling with timely order deliveries and high machine setup frequency, which reduced Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE). A diagnosis revealed the need for better order scheduling and improved alignment across Production, Supply Chain, and Maintenance to optimize operations.

Solution

Together with the client, we created an interdepartmental process mapping to provide a system-wide perspective. Initiatives such as improving the scheduling generator and reviewing MTS/MTO policies were implemented to maximize factory efficiency and ensure timely order delivery. Additionally, a program was developed to ensure production workers adhered to the schedule.

Results

In an ambitious timeframe, we delivered initiatives that aimed for a 12 p.p. increase in the printing unit’s OEE and a 22 p.p. growth in plan fulfillment, reducing workforce dedicated to production planning while ensuring more work orders were produced on time.

Challenge

The client sought to improve a printing unit struggling with timely order deliveries and high machine setup frequency, which reduced Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE). A diagnosis revealed the need for better order scheduling and improved alignment across Production, Supply Chain, and Maintenance to optimize operations.

Approach

Solution

Together with the client, we created an interdepartmental process mapping to provide a system-wide perspective. Initiatives such as improving the scheduling generator and reviewing MTS/MTO policies were implemented to maximize factory efficiency and ensure timely order delivery. Additionally, a program was developed to ensure production workers adhered to the schedule.

Results

In an ambitious timeframe, we delivered initiatives that aimed for a 12 p.p. increase in the printing unit’s OEE and a 22 p.p. growth in plan fulfillment, reducing workforce dedicated to production planning while ensuring more work orders were produced on time.

Our
AI-generated
summary

Our AI-generated summary

Our AI-generated summary

A leading manufacture company asked us to improve one of their printing units. The company was struggling to deliver the orders within the desired customer deadlines, whilst maintaining a good production sequence, capable of carrying high machine throughput without constantly changing machine setups.

Printing processes usually lead to a high number of setups, reducing the Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE), thus requiring a highly synchronized operation. A first diagnosis suggested that not only the order scheduling needed to be improved, but it was also necessary to ensure a proper alignment between different functional areas, such as Production, Supply Chain, and Maintenance.

Alongside the client, we designed an interdepartmental process mapping that allowed a system-wide perspective. Based on this initial step, a set of initiatives was identified and put in motion.

Our AI-generated summary

Our AI-generated summary

This action guaranteed a comprehensive approach, focused on maximizing the overall efficiency of the factory, while simultaneously assuring the delivery date.

Other initiatives included a revision of the policy between Make-To-Stock (MTS) or Make-To-Order components (MTO) and a program development to pledge the execution of the schedule by production workers.

Our work was delivered in an ambitious time-frame, guaranteeing a fast pace of develop-and-test iterations.

Our set of initiatives estimated a delivery of a 12 p.p. increase in the printing unit’s OEE, concomitantly reducing the amount of dedicated workforce to generating production plans.

In addition, a better-coordinated strategy estimated to accomplish a 22 p.p. growth in plan fulfillment, a measure that projected the amount of work orders produced within the negotiated due date with the commercial area.

For example, we reviewed the scheduling generator, aiming to include improvements suggested by the client team and other enhancements detected in the mapping phase.

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