Wessington Cryogenics and Schedule Adherence
October 14, 2008 14:30
Schedule adherence is one of the most important factors in meeting customer's expectations and this is not just the domain of poor supplier or production performance. In the case of Wessington Cryogenics, it was an issue for the Design Department.
NAC supported the business with a project in developing a new approach to planning and scheduling within the Design area of business.
The need to comply with both customer requirements and complex worldwide technical and legislative approvals caused a bottleneck within the Design department with lapsed time between quotation and design approval stage often beyond the control of the Company. Delivery dates estimated at point of sale were consequently compromised, leaving insufficient time to procure materials and manufacture the vessels. Wessington welcomed the opportunity to consult with industry logistics experts from NAC to help them address these issues and improve schedule adherence.
The intervention involved introducing a simple but effective method of planning and monitoring design staff effort within the business. Gill Southern, Director said:
‘NAC has proven to demonstrate a much improved approach to planning...reducing these delays by examining the overall process from enquiry to dIspatch. NAC gave valuable insight into the importance of planning, measuring and evaluating recommended methodologies that could be adopted to improve current processes through understanding of all aspects manufacturing logistics...this will be invaluable to our attempts to improve a critical area of our business.'