CI DILEMMA FEBRUARY 2020
CI Dilemma
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Bottle job
A breakthrough in technology appears at fi rst to be the holy grail for a metalworking fi rm,
but on second glance it could cause signifi cant bottlenecks elsewhere in the plant
T he head of our laser-cutting
department has discovered a brilliant
new machine which gets raw material
through the laser-cut process 300% faster.
She’s produced a business case to
illustrate how investing in this technology
will reduce the cycle time, increase the
output and ultimately decrease the cost
per part.
Our fi nance director has signed
off on it, claiming that the £200,000
investment will have a pay-back
period of only eight months, and
our managing director agrees that
this is a good idea. He is excited
by the prospect of increased
output and reduced lead
times – and who can
blame him!
CI Solution Andy Watt, MD & Theory of Constraints expert, Goldratt UK
Whilst this seems like a real dilemma, it
sounds to me as though you are in a good
place to improve your business! You
appear to have competent people, the
ability to invest and, most importantly,
you’ve identifi ed your system’s constraint
(weld). Your department head has put
forward a fully supported business case
so you will need to prove your point to
everyone that has signed off on it.
In order to achieve this, you will
require full agreement on the real
problem. You are in a unique position in
that you have an overview of the entirety
of production, your head of laser-cutting
only has visibility over her department.
She clearly has an analytical mind; so try
walking her through the weld department
to show her where the systematic
hold-ups are. Involving her in the
process will help her to recognise that
currently an investment in her
department is not the next step
for the business. Improving
laser-cutting, and even
bending, will only result in
more queues and increase the
risk of longer lead times.
The Theory of Constraints
uses the Five Focusing Steps to
improve production: fi rst, a business
must identify its constraints, then it must
exploit, subordinate to and elevate them.
You’ve identifi ed weld as the current
constraint; therefore, you must ensure it
is operating as close to 100% as possible.
However, as production manager I
am hesitant to back this venture for the
business. There is no question that this
investment will triple the output of
laser-cutting, it will even allow for
increased output from the next
department (bending) as I am confi dent
the press brake can cope with the
increased output. The real problem
comes with welding. Weld is a highly
skilled and very manual operation and is
currently operating at full capacity. I am
certain weld will not be able to process
the increased output from the laser and
therefore this investment will not
contribute to the overall increase in
output that is being promised.
The head of laser-cutting is very
competent and I want to ensure a good
relationship with her; however, I feel the
improvements she is suggesting will have
a negative impact on the business rather
than delivering the positives everyone is
expecting. I’m at a loss as to how I can
maintain a good rapport with my colleague
whilst opposing her seemingly sound idea.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
All the time welding is running, your
business is making money – so keep that
arc light on! Often we fi nd that simple,
practical steps are the best way to
ensure a constraint is operating
at full capacity. An example
could simply be to always make
sure the correct WIP, of good
quality, is queued in front of
the bottleneck.
While investments in the latest
technology are exciting, they aren’t
often required to achieve the goal of the
business: to make money. Once you have
increased the capacity of weld, you can
look for your next bottleneck, which could
well be laser-cutting – in which case you
have a business case ready to go!
HAVE YOUR SAY: Do you agree with our expert? Have you held o on a seemingly brilliant initative due to the knock-on e ect it would have?
Send us your views and you could appear here next month. Email: chris.beck@markallengroup.com
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