Optimization
Post by Mike Gugger
This is the second post in a series where I will discuss the top five things to be cognizant of today (or in the not too distant future) on your shop floor. The first post, Brain Drain, can be found here.
Optimization
You get that big order and the production department is abuzz! Great. They work hard, diligently performing to get this job up, running well and delivered on time. And guess what? You made money on the deal. What could be better?
The next big job that’s what! Now production is on to the next one, and the next one and hopefully the next one.
Now a year later and the OEM is expecting that 10% cost reduction on the first project that you agreed to as part of the contract. The problem is that no one has looked at it in a year because it was running fine and they had more urgent things to address. Where are you going to get that cost reduction from? There is no one to put on the job because you are working the next bid and implementing the last order. Think of all the manufacturing advancements that have come down the pike in the last year. New alloys, new coatings, new fluids, new machine tools and your staff hasn’t had an chance to look at any of them. Yet here it is a year later and you have to pull 10% out of that process and give it back to the OEM. Hey you signed the deal.
How are you going to do it?
