How a manufacturer of million dollar underground fuel storage tanks cut lead times 12% and started quoting delivery dates it could keep.
reduction in manufacturing lead time
assets now quoted with reliable delivery dates
total employment costs as throughput grew
The Challenge
A major manufacturer of million dollar underground fuel storage tanks was producing premium, highly specialized assets on a massive physical footprint. Behind the product, though, supply chain and production planning were badly out of balance.
When customers asked for new tanks, it was nearly impossible to quote accurate, reliable on time delivery dates. Unpredictable planning compounded into idle machinery, supply bottlenecks, misaligned truck and transport logistics, and excess manpower kept on standby to cover the gaps.
The Approach
Software only amplifies the process it sits on, so Coredrive fixed the process before touching the technology. The team ran a holistic business process reengineering project first, then overlaid targeted IFS capabilities onto the stable foundation, and closed with the workforce consensus and training that make adoption stick.
The Solution
- Analyze: mapped the chaotic current state operations to find the structural bottlenecks behind late deliveries.
- Engineer: designed the optimized future state for supply chain flow, moving delivery tracking from guesswork to live visibility of asset completion.
- Overlay: integrated specific, high leverage IFS supply chain and production planning capabilities to physically support the newly engineered processes.
- Empower: secured organizational consensus on the new standard operating procedures and ran targeted training so the workforce used IFS correctly.
The Results
Delivery and Lead Time
12%
reduction in manufacturing lead time
Confident, accurate delivery quotes on million dollar assets
Throughput and Cost
Expanded manufacturing throughput of large scale tanks
Stabilized total employment costs by removing standby manpower and idle machinery