Lead time cut by 55%, and every new order answered in 24 hours
Sanitary process equipment and custom fabrication for pharmaceutical, food and industrial customers. Too many late orders, and new orders that took weeks to acknowledge.
The numbers
Where it started
Every component of an order started on the same day and finished on different days, so finished parts waited for the slowest one. Overtime covered the gaps, and customers waited two to three weeks just to have an order acknowledged.
What we did
Grouped every product into families, from two years of actual production time.
Staggered the start of each component so all parts of an order finish together.
Set up a cross-functional order team that schedules and confirms every new order within 24 hours.
The order team’s schedule tells the floor what to work on next, which improves flow and cuts work in process.
Why it held. The plant now answers every new order within a day, and similar work followed at the company’s second plant.
Start with one value stream.
A one-week Diagnostic: where to pace the line and a go or no-go, or you don’t pay.