Capital Productivity

Creativity Before Capital

In the never-ending quest for productivity improvement, investment in new capital equipment should always be the option of last resort. TBM’s Lean Sigma approach can dramatically improve existing equipment effectiveness and site productivity in continuous process industries. Here production depends upon expensive, interconnected pieces of equipment that require constant maintenance and adjustment, where almost every new investment requires millions of dollars.

TBM can help you reduce capital spending by increasing equipment life, maximizing the output of existing resources – both machine and employees – and incorporating new continuous improvement concepts as your output requirements grow. Reliability is critically important in any 24/7 operating environment where, in many cases, three different shifts are achieving three different levels of performance. Standardization across shifts and plants can make it possible for your teams to increase both yield and flexibility, and release capacity for new products.

For instance, a TBM-led team at a seed processor nearly doubled the plant’s unloading capacity by standardizing work and making simple mechanical improvements. At the end of a single week, company leaders realized that they would not need a new unloading facility that they had budgeted for, avoiding $1 million in capital spending.

When a well-known snack maker wanted to expand available flavors in one of its product lines, both to generate additional sales and maximize valuable retail shelf space, the company turned to TBM for help. Noting that every machine and every inch of floor space was dedicated to existing flavors, TBM led four week-long kaizen events focused on standardization, increasing machine reliability, reducing changeover times and improving yields. Following these initiatives, the company successfully launched two new flavors using its existing equipment without requiring any additional floor space.

Such work can extend to an entire plant. One TBM client, a frozen foods company, had blueprints prepared and a site selected for a new plant in order to meet five-year forecasts for customer demand. TBM Lean Sigma leaders worked with the company to re-design existing lines to meet current demand, adding flexibility to make multiple products on each line and simple expansion capabilities to handle future growth. Total capital investment avoided: $9 million.

TBM business consultants use Lean Sigma tools to instill a culture of continuous improvement. We’ve generated breakthrough results in numerous continuous process manufacturing environments. Contact Bill Swisher at 800-438-5535 for more information.