NATURE OF ASSIGNMENT:
Primary: Company Services / Operations Excellence
Primary Industry: Manufacturing & Processing
Company: $5 million manufacturer and distributor of flags and banners
Situation: A manufacturer of flags and standard and custom banners was struggling to improve profits. The Company made approximately 6000 standard products and customer designed banners for inside and outside environments. Products ranged in size from 2’ x 3’ to 200’ x 100’ US flags. Process used silkscreen and/or hand sewn information. Artwork was completed using prepress department. The Company did not have bills of materials or product costing and due to the nature of the flag business, was extremely seasonal in sales.
Focus Scope: The Company engaged a Focus professional to run the operations and establish the necessary controls to improve profitability.
Tasks Performed: The Focus professional developed a standard base of operation activities to build routings and bill of materials. Production forecasting was developed and a simplified MRP program was written to project material requirements. Because of the seasonal nature of the business, finished goods had to be maintained in inventory in order to ship the same day as receipt of order. Finished good inventory levels were established and production was scheduled based on min/max levels. The Focus professional was responsible for scheduling all departments including prepress, custom manufacturing, silk screen, and flag production.
Results: Following completion of the manufacturing improvements, the Company improved on time performance to over 95%, reduced inventories by 50%, leveled production, reduced costs and returned to profitability.