In a strategy workshop, a wide range of topics are discussed. We start by determining your current goals in production (e.g. quality, delivery time, adherence to delivery dates, OEE, capacity utilization, cost structure) and determine how well you are already achieving them today. Furthermore, we want to understand the challenges you are facing now and in the future (e.g. new competitors, tighter markets) and how these trends will influence your goals. From this discrepancy we derive gaps to be closed (e.g. faster and more punctual delivery) and suitable success factors (e.g. increased quality). From these individual goals we design a concise vision for your production (e.g. your factory as speed master) from which we can derive generic measures and work streams for further action.

Based on the results of the strategy workshop, we then generate a precise project plan to achieve the set goals. Parts of the elaboration of a project plan are the tying up of work packages as well as the assignment of responsibilities and the mapping of a detailed time schedule. In other words: the development of a strategic roadmap.

In a logistical warehouse analysis, we examine all items that are in stock at your company. In doing so, we examine exactly in which quantities the articles are currently in stock and in which order sizes the planning control is carried out. On the other hand, we also look at the consumption behaviour and thus the stock call-off. From this direct comparison we can often already derive cost-relevant potentials that arise from articles in the warehouse that are not called off (“warehouse corpses”) or are stored in too large quantities. On the other hand, costs can also be avoided in some cases, which arise if more retrieval is booked as inflow and thus the supply to production is interrupted.

A bottleneck oriented production analysis enables us to identify bottlenecks in your production. For this purpose, we examine all production processes over a long period of time (e.g. one year) and provide these orders with further information (e.g. about machines used, articles manufactured, plant utilization). In particular, we compare the planned lead time with the ultimately required production time and thus establish a target-actual comparison of the lead times.  The analysis shows us exactly where the flow of material accumulates and where operational problems occur in the process. At these “bottlenecks”, we then implement improvement measures (e.g. short-term changes to shift models to increase capacity).

An exemplary strategy, as we have implemented it for one of our customers, is the design of high-performance logistics, which is made possible by automation. The aim was to make production as low-stock as possible in order to achieve a high level of transparency and clarity. A separation of logistics and production ensures a clear division. The routes from a perfectly parameterized, central warehouse to the production are taken over by driverless transport systems, which bring the articles to the production line just-in-time and thus stock-optimized.

A second possible strategy may be to selectively launch certain very high-margin products on the market in order to increase the company’s profitability. For this purpose, the focus can be placed on always delivering faster and more punctually than the competition and thus securing a market advantage. In terms of strategy, for one of our customers this meant interrupting the process flow at the customer decoupling point and installing a decoupling buffer. Semi-finished products can then be removed from this buffer and completed in the final production steps, thus enabling them to be brought to market quickly. This step may involve an increase in costs due to increased storage, but ultimately results in increased profits due to better production logistics.

It is particularly important to us that the ideas and concepts that we develop together with you are easy to implement and yet highly effective. In order to achieve this goal, we always involve your employees on site in the development of concepts for production controlling, because this is where the most process know-how is available. To ensure a high level of acceptance, we use pragmatic tools. For example, we have had good experience in using flipcharts and pens to record the production progress by plotting the actual production progress over the planned production progress, thus exposing time-critical deviations. This leads to the best results in the context of shop floor management – this creates a verifiable benefit for you with measurable target and process improvements.