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The Client - North
Carolina Office of State Archaeology
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The Background
In the fall of 1997, the shipwreck of Queen Anne’s
Revenge was discovered off the coast of North Carolina.
Queen Anne’s Revenge was the flagship for the
notorious pirate, Blackbeard. The notoriety of this
find kicked off the most ambitious archaeological
assessment of a N.C. shipwreck since the discovery
of the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor three decades
earlier. The artifacts recovered from this ship alone
could number in the millions and therefore a comprehensive
cataloging system would be required. During this time,
[TC]² was brought in to develop a reasonably
priced solution.
The Business Issue
Comprehensive cataloging system
The [TC]² Solution
After a brief assessment period, [TC]² quickly
designed a data structure that would not only support
the needs of the QAR Project, but also lend itself
to storing archaeological data from throughout the
state. During the design phase, special attention
was made to increasing the ease of use of the program.
This was critical because volunteers would be performing
the data entry, so there would be minimal training
time. Once the archaeologists were comfortable with
the design, the program was developed and implemented
in multiple locations throughout North Carolina.
As with many of [TC]²’s consulting engagements,
the success of the project is illustrated by the amount
of follow-up projects that were a direct result of
the artifact catalog. After the completion of the
initial project, [TC]² was called upon to convert
numerous existing legacy database applications to
a Windows environment. This included migrating data
and recreating data entry and reporting environments
for the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.
These follow-up projects include creating tools for
managing the data for historic sites and environmental
reviews, as well as, adding enhanced features to the
original program.
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The Client
- A supplier of men and women’s pants to the U.S.
market operating in El Salvador
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Background
The contractor’s El Salvador facility was producing
high volume product at very poor efficiencies. The
plant was operating with high indirect labor costs,
low plant efficiency, and long order lead times. In
order to increase the competitiveness of this facility
and maintain the feasibility of continuing operations
in this area, significant improvements were necessary.
Business Issue
Increasing efficiency and reducing operating costs
within an El Salvadoran apparel plant
The [TC]² Solution
After conducting a site assessment, [TC]²'s
project team decided that tremendous operational improvements
could be attained by providing the first line supervisors
with the training, information, and tools required
to manage their production lines. This was achieved
through formal workshops and through mentoring the
supervisors on a daily basis as they interacted with
the operators on the floor. Mentoring was also provided
for the engineers and plant management. The improvements
realized during this project far exceeded customer
expectations. According to the president and CEO,
“After five years of operating in El Salvador,
our manufacturing facility’s efficiencies had
reached a plateau. We contracted with
[TC]² to assist us in invigorating our factory and increasing
our efficiency. Working with our management, they
have increased our efficiency by 49% through operator
and supervisor training, along with basic sewing methods
engineering.” The knowledge transferred to their
staff is allowing this company to continue improving
long after the conclusion of [TC]²’s
involvement.
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The Client - A leading uniform manufacturer
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The Background
At the corporate level, orders were being sent to
one of four plants and there was no predictable lead-time
for when orders would be completed. One factory had
a backlog of 80,000 units waiting to be cut. This
plant’s maximum capacity was 20,000 units per
week, so this represented a minimum of a four-week
backlog, however, there were several constraining
operations that would limit capacity to well under
20,000. For example, only 500 pants requiring Cargo
Pockets could be produced during the week. So, if
an order for 2,000 pants with cargo pockets was sent
to the plant, it would represent four weeks of work
and would create a backlog. This represented the cause
of the 80,000-unit backlog and, because new orders
were being sent weekly, the backlog was growing with
each cycle.
The Business Issue
Accurate Capacity Planning/Scheduling
The [TC]² Solution
During a three-day visit, the requirements for a corporate
wide capacity-planning tool were identified and the
programming team began working. The database would
be developed to handle the planning for four factories
and over 10,000 styles. It was also important for
the program to be simple and straightforward to minimize
training, especially within the plants. The tool was
developed and installed in the pilot facility within
eight weeks. The backlog before cutting was quickly
reduced from 80,000 units to 25,000 as planning improved.
The program was then rolled out to all locations and
gave corporate planning the visibility they needed
to accurately load each facility. This greatly reduced
the work in process and throughput time for all orders
and improved the consistency of delivery for manufacturing.
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The Client - Small New York City contractor with a diverse product line
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The Background
After years of growth in a steady product line, the
client was faced with the same challenge that faces
many domestic manufacturers: What can we do to counteract
competition from inexpensive imports? Their response
was to expand their product line into a wide variety
of sewn products. This included bar stool covers and
a line of canvas closet accessories including garment
bags, shoe racks, under-the-bed storage bags and sweater
bags. While this diversification of the product line
allowed the client to counteract some of their competitive
pressures, they needed to increase sales for these
products, drive down their costs and reduce their
cycle time. This problem became particularly evident
in 1999, when two days before the usual Christmas
rush, one of their larger clients moved 50 percent
of their business to China. This incident drove them
to seek outside assistance in improving the operational
effectiveness.
The Business Issue
Increasing manufacturing flexibility to improve competitiveness
The [TC]² Solution
After establishing that the client should shift the
production of one of their product families to an
agile manufacturing system, [TC]² videotaped
operations, conducted time-studies, and designed and
implemented a manufacturing cell for the stool covers.
This manufacturing system allowed the client to improve
cycle time and reduce WIP and finished goods inventory
by 95%, which in turn has promoted improved cash flow
and increased efficiency. In addition, they have increased
production for bar stool covers by 28% while reducing
the amount of direct labor by 31%. This has allowed
the company to expand their capabilities and bring
in new products and new business.
After this initial success, the client quickly converted
all bar stool pad operations from a traditional large
bundle system to modular manufacturing. As part of
this process, the client developed the capability
to implement additional cells without assistance.
They have successfully completed a second cell in
the packaging area and are currently working on another
product family.
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The Client - Apparel cut/sew facility in greater New York City
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The Background
The client’s largest customer is located approximately
two hours from the manufacturing facility. Realizing
that they were not taking full advantage of this proximity
to the customer, which was the primary competitive
advantage that they held over foreign sources, the
client decided to improve their manufacturing lead
time. This delivery time had been 13 business days
and the client set a goal of 4 days. The only way
to achieve this delivery time without adding inventory
was to convert their traditional progressive-bundle
sewing line to a quick response manufacturing system.
To make these improvements, the client contacted [TC]².
Business Issue
Reducing order lead-time to capitalize on proximity
to the customer
The [TC]² Solution
The overall intent of this project was to convert
a traditional progressive-bundle sewing line to a
quick response manufacturing facility. The engineering
effort was to provide a manufacturing layout, process
flow, and implementation that would produce results
that met the goals for both throughput times and inventory
reductions. A combination of teams was created that
could process the garments in less than two days and
simultaneously reduce work in process levels to 50%
of the previous level. Also, office and supervisory
requirements to support the operators were reduced
significantly. Due to the team concept of recording
production information, the number of record sheets
was reduced from 14 individual sheets with as many
as 50 entries to two team sheets with approximately
30 entries. This reduced the daily payroll requirements
by a factor of 7. In addition, the self-balancing
nature of these teams reduced the work balance requirement
of the supervisor. Once cross-training issues are
resolved, supervisory line balancing requirements
will be reduced by approximately 70%.
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The Client - A leading manufacturer of high quality leather accessories.
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Background
The company’s domestic manufacturing facility
was not comparing favorably with their overseas contractors.
The U.S. production facility was producing orders
with long manufacturing lead times and extremely high
work-in-process inventories. Furthermore, quality
problems were resulting in high costs of re-cutting
and re-working materials. Improvements were necessary
in order to increase the competitiveness of domestic
manufacturing.
Business Issue
Increase competitiveness of domestic manufacturing
The [TC]² Solution
After visiting [TC]² ’s demonstration facility
and learning more about the impact that lean manufacturing
can have within an organization, it was agreed that
a pilot team should be designed and implemented. Using
[TC]² ’s proven implementation plan, a
pilot module was engineered and within a couple of
months was exceeding their goals for production and
quality levels. According to the Plant Manager, “Quality
is far superior to what we were able to produce in
the department.” This can be attributed to the
ownership felt by the employees in the new manufacturing
environment. Additionally, work-in-process was reduced
significantly and throughput time for orders was decreased
from thirty days to less than one. The success of
the pilot team led to the conversion of other production
areas to lean manufacturing and to the continued success
of the company’s domestic manufacturing operations.
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The Client - A U.S. designer and manufacturer of women’s high-end
swimsuits.
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Background
This small, family-owned and operated company had
experienced sales declines of more than fifty percent
during the three previous years. Its New York sales
office had alienated a number of customers and had
not generated any new clients in quite some time.
There was a high level of frustration among the family
members and a lack of consensus regarding the appropriate
direction that should be taken. The original request
was to submit a proposal to provide marketing direction
to the company and turn around the decline in sales.
Business Issue
Increasing sales volume through strategic planning,
customer analysis and a focus on the basics of business
management.
The [TC]² Solution
After conducting a site assessment, [TC]²’s
senior staff determined that the company needed to
define its core competencies and establish some executive
operating procedures before spending money on a marketing
campaign. The product development process was taking
too much time and the company seldom completed samples
in time for the launch of the line. The company had
also never identified its target customers.
[TC]²’s first step was to work with the
principals of the company to create a mission statement
along with a statement of values. From that work it
was discovered that the two founders of the company
had been functioning more as hourly workers than business
executives. Day-to-day operations were taking precedence
over strategic thinking and cash shortages were limiting
longer-term investment thinking.
[TC]² suggested that the two founders focus
their primary efforts on their individual core competencies.
More clearly defined roles were established and decision-making
authority was allocated. An aggressive product development
calendar was established and financial projections
were made to determine cash requirements for the next
six months. A decision was made to leverage a cash
investment account to provide operating funds until
such time that sales and accounts receivable could
be used to sustain the business.
Results
Sales for the current season increased fifty percent
over the previous year, and a net operating income
that is twenty percent of sales replaced the previous
year’s income statement losses. In addition,
a new sales representative in New York has led to
new customers and plans for a West Coast showroom.
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