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ProModel Manufacturing Examples
"The company calculates that it has
saved over $10 million by opting to base its growth
plan on modeling processes using ProModel."
- Chris Hopkins, Wright
Brand Foods
From automotive to agriculture, consumer goods to chemicals,
virtually every manufacturing industry in the world
today can benefit from ProModel’s Simulation Suite.
Here are a few specific examples from thousands of customers
who have successfully integrated ProModel solutions
in their manufacturing environments
A Leading Appliance Manufacturer
Solution: Service Level Improvement
Through Supply Chain Analysis
Situation:
A $900 million division of the company was
not meeting customer delivery level requirements even
though inventory levels were high, product was available,
and manufacturing capacity was not an issue.
Results:
Conservative Estimated Results:
• ROI >1000%
• Direct savings $12,000,000 annually, and 12%
reduction in inventory carrying costs due to closing
three factory warehouse locations
• Improved service level and lower projected lost
sales from product stock-outs
• Gained the capability thorough use of the simulation
solution to evaluate potential future changes to the
supply chain including costs, delivery timing, fleet
sizing, and demand schedules.
Click
here to read the full story 
Global Leader in the Design and Manufacture
of Floors, Ceilings and Cabinets
Solution: Cost Reduction, Throughput
Increase and Capital Justification
The client was facing increasing costs from international
suppliers. At the same time the company was seeing an
increase in demand for hardwood flooring products. This
situation led to the objective of increasing throughput
in one of their U.S. solid wood manufacturing plants,
while simultaneously reducing direct labor requirements
and scrap/raw material waste.
Results:
• Discovered the means to meet required throughput
while reducing labor costs by 20%.
• Minimized wood scrap and significantly reduced
material costs by measuring and sorting boards so the
best combination of 2.5” and 3.5” could
be cut from each board.
• Estimated savings from this project are $1-
3 million.
• Improved their ability to clearly and concisely
communicate the value of process improvement to stakeholders.
Click
here to read the full story
Solution: Simulation Proof of Concept and New
Product Introduction
Teradyne’s Operations NPI (New Product Introductions)
Team felt that new tools were needed in order to provide
improved strategic decision making and the desired increased
confidence in the risk assessment for overall company
performance. The evaluations would have to account for
real life variability and interdependencies as well
as allow multiple scenario evaluation and sensitivity
analysis.
The Operations NPI Team, decided to test ProModel’s
simulation technology to see if it could provide the
level of answers that the current tool-set and methods
could not. The initial objective for this project was
a “proof of concept” for simulation technology.
If the proof of concept worked, then simulation would
be incorporated into the Operations NPI tool-set for
decision support.
Click
here to read the full story
Pillowtex Corporation - $2.2
billion company that manufactured pillows, mattress
pads, comforters, towels, and sheets.
Solution: Plant Consolidation and Manufacturing
Optimization
Pillowtex had recently filed for bankruptcy and desperately
needed to cut costs and regain profitability in the
next 18 months or face the prospects of going out of
business. It had five plants in the United States; all
making the same three products (pillows, mattress pads,
and comforters), all using identical equipment. Each
plant had similar total floor space, but had different
layouts, different material handling methods, different
cycle times, and different costs.
Total savings were based on closing two plants and
all the associated costs (moving equipment, factory
layouts, moving/hiring people, etc) coupled with the
previously noted cost savings. Completion of this project
resulted in a net savings of $12.2 million, with a payback
period of nine months
Click here to read the full project review.
Major Innovator in the Oil Drilling Industry
Solution: New Plant Layout – New Product
Introduction
The client is an innovator in the oil drilling industry
for drill bits and the pipe strings that drive the bits
thousands of feet to oil. To help counter the rising
costs of drilling and exploration they envisioned a
product that provides rig operators information about
what is happening at the drill bit.
With the product nearly developed, engineers and architects
designed an 80,000 square foot building for the manufacture
of the new drill pipe and remanufacture of bits returning
from the field. This joint venture had to reach profitability
quickly after coming on-line. Start up risks had to
be reduced, and certainty was needed in the ramp up
to reach planned capacity.
Results
• Identified the most cost effective Course of
Action such that the new facility could produce to the
demand requirements.
• Ensured that the $8.5 million investment would
meet the venture objectives.
• Predicted the impact of repairs and remanufacture
of products returning from the field.
• Developed the basis for a supply chain analysis
for the flow of returns from the field for remanufacturing,
rebuilding, and upgrade.
Click here to read the full project review.
Major U.S. Appliance Manufacturer
Solution: Lean Analysis for Appliance Assembly
Throughput
Throughput from the dishwasher tub line was not keeping
pace with demand from the final assembly area. In order
to increase the tub line throughput, the client added
an extra shift at an annual cost of $275,000. The additional
shift should not have been necessary given that the
takt time for all tub operations was less than the required
takt time at final assembly.
This project was completed in two weeks using ProModel
software and services. By eliminating the additional
shift, the company realized an annual savings of $275,000.
The ROI in the first year alone from this project was
% 1,100 and the payback period was less than 2 months.
Click
here to read the full project review.
Solution: Evaluating new equipment and processes.
XOM evaluated new equipment installation and process
change for the Films Division with ProModel, to determine
the impact of these changes on the rest of their operations.
ProModel identified numerous unforeseen constraints
involving automated guided vehicle operations. Once
equipment was purchased and processes changed per ProModel
recommendations, the plant was enabled to produce 40%
over previous expectations. Millions of dollars
of benefit were realized with this ProModel solution.
Solution: Evaluating new equipment and processes.
ProModel provided modeling, manufacturing process analysis
and recommendations needed for GM to make critical launch
decisions that saved millions of dollars.
GM and a tier-one supplier were uncertain whether a
new manufacturing process design for a critical stage
of the new vehicle would produce the desired jobs per
hour. ProModel discovered an unexpected constraint,
which would have caused a 30% shortfall.
ProModel recommendations were implemented and the launch
was saved. The supplier chose to integrate ProModel
for ongoing process improvements.
Solution: Capacity analysis and improvement.
Carrier Corporation, a division of United Technologies,
used ProModel to accurately model their refrigeration
equipment paint line. They found that more than $800K
of planned throughput improvement projects would have
little or NO impact
on actual throughput. Instead they proved that, by installing
a new paint oven, they could adequately improve throughput.
This caused an annual benefit of $370K, and resulted
in overall savings to Carrier of more than US
$1 million.
Solution: Capacity analysis and improvement.
Modeling the entire laser plant helped Cymer ramp up
production by 400% in one year, which allowed a revenue
increase of over $180 million. ProModel
was used to optimize new layout design, evaluate process
changes, find and exploit constraints, schedule personnel,
control WIP and investigate the impact of new techniques
(i.e.: switching from a “push” to a “pull”
system, evaluating just-in-time material flow, etc.).
Solution: Inventory Reduction.
Fiat found that ProModel enabled them to accurately
model their process, reduce work-in-process inventory
by 48%, reduce lead times, and reduce space requirements.
From dozens of possible improvement initiatives, ProModel
enabled them to identify specific plant scheduling changes
and process improvements resulting in a large ROI and
over US $1 million savings.
Solution: Capacity analysis and improvement.
ProModel accurately modeled Wright’s complex
bacon production processes, helping them make valuable
recommendations for new equipment, changes in process,
and improved scheduling of personnel. This solution
enabled Wright Brand Foods to double production capacity
and save more than $10 million.
 Solution:
Continuous Improvement.
Eastman Chemicals uses ProModel to continuously analyze
and evaluate manufacturing improvement opportunities,
to determine whether new ideas will be valuable before
risking implementation. Countless dollars in savings
have been realized though improved cycle times, new
equipment evaluations, throughput improvements, railcar
loading improvements, optimized staffing and material
handling designs.
Click here to see
the Eastman Chemical success story.
Solution: Evaluating alternative manufacturing techinques
(lean).
Boeing used the predictive technology from ProModel
to successfully implement lean manufacturing and dramatically
reduce manufacturing costs. A counter-intuitive process
change was identified that reduced work-in-process
inventory by 1/3 and improved delivery performance
in a complex manufacturing process with over 1 million
separate parts. The area supervisor had suspected this
improvement would work, but until a custom ProModel
solution was built, management had little faith to make
the change. Our technology is all about risk-free decision-making
in the safety of world-class software.
High Tech Manufacturer
Solution: Reduce costs.
This high tech manufacturer with over $2 billion per
year revenue relied on custom solutions from ProModel
to avoid unnecessary capital investments, to make significant
cost reductions in labor input per unit, to shorten
production cycle times and to improve quality. An example
of how ProModel has helped was to determine that no
new downstream capital equipment was required if the
upstream throughput was increased by 30%. This
manufacturer would have invested millions of dollars
in the new equipment if they did not have the predictive
technology from ProModel that allowed them to safely
decide on their best business decision
Contact us to discuss
how we can help change your manufacturing future.
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