The Client had a need for transparency in their manufacturing process that would allow them to better manage their production throughput and costing procedures. There was a lack of documentation with respect to process steps and accurate time standards for completing each step.

Reason for Project:

• The Client had the goal of integrating an MRP system into their facility. This required standards to be in place for the each process step, many of which are very manual operations, for every product that they produce. The project objective was to provide the client with data that would give them the ability to associate a cost with each element in their manufacturing process. The client brought in an outside engineering consulting group to study the processes. Epicenter Development Group was hired to complete the on-site data collection.

Project Deliverables:

• A comprehensive list of the products was collected which allowed for the development of product families based upon components and process steps. This allowed the facility to update their product naming standards for intermediate processing steps, which allowed for a more streamline product flow between processing areas.
• Detailed process time studies were gathered for each product family for all of the processing areas under examination. The value added and non-value added elements were recorded in a way that will allow the client the ability to use this valuable information if they choose to implement process improvement projects in the future.

Project Results/Benefits:

• The standards developed allowed the client the ability to compare the actual time spent on the each product to the times that they were previously using for their costing analysis.
• In addition, the standards developed can now be utilized in the MRP system to allow the plant management a more transparent view of their production system as a whole. The client now has the ability to more clearly view their lead time by product family. This makes the hiccups that occur along the way more visible and allows the facility and take a more proactive approach in solving problems when they arise.