SUCCESS STORIES

OUR CUSTOMERS’ FEEDBACK

A project is a full success when the performance objectives are achieved and our customer can work in autonomy with the new settled tools.

Here are a few customer testimonies on flow management and performance improvement.

They are representative of the missions we lead on several activity fields, whether it be SMB,

AGCEI

24 October 2024

AGCEI optimizes its production, increasing its service rate from 60% to 90% thanks to the CONWIP method and the SmartWip planning tool.

NTN EUROPE

13 June 2024

In 3 months, the lead time in the CONWIP loop for spherical rollers has been halved and is now sustainably stabilized

Swiss Watchmaking Manufacture

28 February 2023

Lead time divided by 5 in Watchmaking manufacture

THALES

20 February 2023

Digital management control panel integration for a electronic repair workshop (MRO), to improve the OTD management.

SAFRAN ELECTRONICS & DEFENSE

19 February 2023

The digital CONWIP facilitates the management of 100-people mechanical unit

AMV MECA

15 February 2023

The customer at the core of the industrial blades production workshop.

SUDELEC

14 February 2023

Improvement in the production management of electronic cards thanks to the WIPSIM solutions

SBS FORGE

30 January 2023

A digital control panel boosts the performance of a forge with over a century of experience.

Which Return on Investment?

At the end of a flow optimization project with WIPSIM, the average profits on works in process are between 20% and 60% thanks to a lead times reduction to the same extent.

Thus, the works in process reduction releases a cashflow according to the pieces cost, but always superior to the project’s cost.

So, a flow improvement project is self-funded in cashflow.

Moreover, the annual competitiveness profits are generally much superior to the implementation costs, and the ROI is inferior to one year.

A ROI example in Mechanics

Here is the real case of a mechanics company equipped with a CONWIP pull flow management system.

The production process involves about twenty internal steps including cutting, forging, grinding, milling, deburring, assembly, control, subcontracted heat treatment operations.

The annual turnover amounted to 10 million euros and the production had a 40 days’ lead time. The implementation of a CONWIP pull system allowed to reduce the lead time by a 30%, being 28 days.

Costs:

The cost of a CONWIP project amounts to 25.000 euros for the company. This includes the flow analysis, the simulation-based calculation of the tickets number and of the orange and red thresholds, the modeling of the CONWIP control panel, and the training of future users. This last step could be part of a professional training program.

Cashflow profits:

The work in process valuation is worth 1 million euros. Its decrease is proportionally related to the lead time reduction, being a 30%. This generates 300.000 euros in cashflow. The CONWIP project is therefore widely auto funded in cashflow.

Return On Investment:

The productivity gain associated to CONWIP is here around 3%. It considers the overtime reduction and the decrease of temporary work. Based on a 1million euros workshop payroll, it provides a 30.000 € annual profit. The project is therefore profitable in less than a year; and generates 30.000 euros of profit each year.

This 3% number in productivity is a lower cautious limit. We achieved +30% profits on production lines of precision mechanical component.

In addition, there are other non-quantifiable profits: delivery delays and order delays reduction, better response to the demand versatility, quick detection and decrease of the scraps, less meantime between design and product marketing…

Origin	Valuation method	Benchmark
Reduction of the Work in process in the workshop	Piece quantity, valued at the cost price of the part evaluated halfway through the range, including the totality of the material part.	At least 20% reduction, and up to a division by 5 of the work in progress in the most favorable cases.

Origin

Valuation method

Benchmark

Reduction of the Work in process in the workshop

Piece quantity, valued at the cost price of the part evaluated halfway through the range, including the totality of the material part.

At least 20% reduction, and up to a division by 5 of the work in progress in the most favorable cases.

Origin	Valuation method	Benchmark
Earned cashflow	Multiply the amount of cash you have earned, at least by the bank loan rate, but more normally by an opportunity rate (i.e. what the lack of cash costs you to develop)	Between the current bank loan rate and an opportunity rate that can go up to orders of magnitude of 25% if you are in a growth phase and have new market opportunities requiring investments.
saved floor space	Use the floor space taken by the pieces (pallets, boxes…) to transform the work in process gain into square meter gain. Multiply these square meters by your cost per square meter.	The cost per square meter depends on your situation and you implementation. You can attach maintenance, heating, depreciation, taxes.
scrap reduction	It mechanically results from the work in process reduction: when a defect is detected during the quality control, the consequences influence a thinner work in process load.	On average, there is a gain of about 20% of the current scrap rate. For example, a 5% scrap rate will be reduced to 4%.
missing items reduction	The reduction and stabilization of manufacturing times for your sub-assemblies greatly improves their availability for assembly. This is valued by a better productivity (less waiting) in assembly.	On average, there is a gain of about a 3% to a 20% in assembly productivity.
OTD improvement	The lead time reduction, as well as a better priority management, will improve the compliance with client dates.	The gain is calculated from the penalties you will avoid, but also by an improvement of your image and thus a better commercial development. The rate to use depends on your activity area. It is not uncommon to see business development effects of 10% to 15% due to the competitive advantage given by short lead times.
direct productivity	These gains come from a better visibility of the flow, an increased motivation by making the personnel responsible for the line’s objectives, time avoided to change production during the process, early detection of incidents, a reduction in the need for emergency overtime.	It is common to achieve at least 3% productivity gains. Our best projects have led to 30% direct productivity gains. The calculation is made with the cost of loaded salaries, on the perimeter of the line, possibly increased by a rate of general expenses.
non-direct productivity	You will observe gains on the time spent by the management to planificate, schedule, control the priorities and manages the schedules.	The gain is at least 20% of indirect productivity, which can be calculated with the cost of the loaded salary, possibly increased by an overhead rate. For some sites, we achieved an 80% gain.

Origin

Valuation method

Benchmark

Earned cashflow

Multiply the amount of cash you have earned, at least by the bank loan rate, but more normally by an opportunity rate (i.e. what the lack of cash costs you to develop)

Between the current bank loan rate and an opportunity rate that can go up to orders of magnitude of 25% if you are in a growth phase and have new market opportunities requiring investments.

saved floor space

Use the floor space taken by the pieces (pallets, boxes…) to transform the work in process gain into square meter gain. Multiply these square meters by your cost per square meter.

The cost per square meter depends on your situation and you implementation. You can attach maintenance, heating, depreciation, taxes.

scrap reduction

It mechanically results from the work in process reduction: when a defect is detected during the quality control, the consequences influence a thinner work in process load.

On average, there is a gain of about 20% of the current scrap rate. For example, a 5% scrap rate will be reduced to 4%.

missing items reduction

The reduction and stabilization of manufacturing times for your sub-assemblies greatly improves their availability for assembly. This is valued by a better productivity (less waiting) in assembly.

On average, there is a gain of about a 3% to a 20% in assembly productivity.

OTD improvement

The lead time reduction, as well as a better priority management, will improve the compliance with client dates.

The gain is calculated from the penalties you will avoid, but also by an improvement of your image and thus a better commercial development. The rate to use depends on your activity area. It is not uncommon to see business development effects of 10% to 15% due to the competitive advantage given by short lead times.

direct productivity

These gains come from a better visibility of the flow, an increased motivation by making the personnel responsible for the line’s objectives, time avoided to change production during the process, early detection of incidents, a reduction in the need for emergency overtime.

It is common to achieve at least 3% productivity gains.
Our best projects have led to 30% direct productivity gains. The calculation is made with the cost of loaded salaries, on the perimeter of the line, possibly increased by a rate of general expenses.

non-direct productivity

You will observe gains on the time spent by the management to planificate, schedule, control the priorities and manages the schedules.

The gain is at least 20% of indirect productivity, which can be calculated with the cost of the loaded salary, possibly increased by an overhead rate. For some sites, we achieved an 80% gain.