An Optics Manufacturer Optimizes Production In a Challenging Environment

SITUATION

A global supplier of optics and optical systems with annual revenue of $250 million servicing Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Life Science, and Sensors & Detection industries, was looking to drive performance improvement transparency across multiple sites in a production environment with high process variability. Compounding the challenge was a lack of consistent metrics, data integrity and production controls that made identifying and tracking financial and operational improvements difficult.

ACTIONS

Working across three sites with a history of independent operations and diverse management cultures and behaviors, ARGO-EFESO partnered with our client to deliver an 8-10% throughput/efficiency improvement over three sites in Europe and Asia by:

• Deploying KPIs, visual management, and management systems and cadence starting at daily shop floor metrics building up to global reporting levels
• Configuring barcode scanning of operations to support full production control to promote accurate cost allocation, cycle time standards accuracy, and valid product profitability analysis  to confront eroding margins and loss of sales
• Increasing machine utilization by introducing downtime monitors, reporting tools, and kaizen events focused on reducing setup times
• Improving S&OP process through developing standardized capacity planning and forecasting tools, optimizing use of parameters and reports within SAP
• Focusing production engineering processes to improve automation targets and tooling design to decrease cycle times up to 40% and improve quality levels and process variability

Results

• 8-10% throughput improvement in 3 sites across 2 continents
• Up to 20-40% reduction in cycle times for high volume products
• 18 department-level gemba and shop floor management system deployments