Case study · Milne Construction & Fabrication
From 2 to 10 truss sets a day
Milne Construction & Fabrication needed to increase output dramatically to compete for a large tender, and needed the numbers to price it.
- Client
- Milne Construction & Fabrication
- Services
- Production system design · tooling · labour model · tender costing
The challenge
The plant was producing about 2 truss sets a day. A large tender would need far more, and the business needed confidence it could deliver, and at what cost, before it priced the job.
What we did
- Designed a new production system for truss manufacture.
- Determined the tooling requirements.
- Analysed labour costs and staffing for the new system.
- Calculated set-up costs to support the tender pricing.
The result
Production increased from 2 to 10 truss sets a day, with the costing behind the tender worked out in advance.
What other plants can take from this
A five-fold jump doesn’t come from asking people to work faster. It comes from designing how the work should flow, then working out what that system needs. If you are weighing up a big tender or a step-change in volume, these are the questions to answer before you price it:
- What rate does the job need? Work back from the required output to the time available for each unit.
- Which step limits you? Find the bottleneck first, since extra capacity anywhere else adds cost without adding output.
- What tooling does the new rate need? Good jigs and fixtures can change the labour needed for each unit.
- How many people, doing what? Build the labour model from the balanced line, not from what you run today.
- What does it cost to set up? Include equipment, fit-out and ramp-up time, so they are in the price rather than coming out of your margin.
Pricing a big job?
We can build the production plan and costing with you before you commit. See cycle time reduction and line balancing and fabrication and engineering.
“Paul successfully delivered a comprehensive solution to increase production from 2 to 10 truss sets per day. Paul’s expertise in designing a new production system, determining tooling requirements, analysing labour costs, and calculating setup costs for a large tender was instrumental in our success. Highly recommended for exceptional problem-solving and efficiency improvement.”
Is your business running on one person?
If the factory slows down every time a key person is away, a free 30-minute call is the first step to fixing it.