- 33% production improvement at fraction of cost of proposed investment
- Visual accuracy and animation aids business decisions
- Supports process waste elimination
- Underpins optimal capex decisions
Don't speculate to accumulate
1 min read
£12m Burbidge, which manufactures kitchen unit doors and fixtures at two sites in Coventry, has been using simulation tools from Production Modelling to improve its business and its manufacturing. Most recently, it's been doing that itself, without a big IT team and without specialist skills, having bought the software.
Burbidge finance director Graham Heaven says software, consultancy and hand-holding cost no more than £20,000 – a figure the firm has now saved time and again. "Although we have only limited in-house IT, we felt that with the reduced cost of the hardware needed, and the user friendly nature of modern systems, this would be feasible." And it was.
Burbidge's problem was the classic of batch sizes, cycle frequencies and choices around investing and changing factories to meet different demands. For example, some operations required large batch sizes for efficiency: smaller batches were leaving the paint shop in particular largely empty – the net effect being expensive downtime.
Running real production data on ProModel, Burbidge found that by splitting that line – the minimal investment option – output would rise by 17%; while by buying a new lacquering pen, output could be increased by 33%. "The simulation provided exactly what we needed – clear and detailed answers," says Heaven. He points out that with proposed process improvements costing upwards of £500,000, getting good intelligence "at a cost that's a small fraction of our proposed investment" was essential.
He also says that the visual accuracy and animation of the model helps when it comes to explaining proposed changes and getting commitment. Equally, there's value in the data gathering exercise in terms of bringing real understanding of existing processes and operations. "It's amazing what you find, what really happens with the processes, what's actually being done by operators. We've eliminated several unnecessary and wasteful activities."
Since then, the system has been used with other projects. For example, Burbidge used it to establish the best way to replace its ageing door-edge profiling machine, again a requirement resulting from smaller batches and more variety. By modelling two alternatives – single or twin cutter machines – the company found that a twin cutter is more efficient for existing demand, but smaller batches will favour a single cutter machine.
In this case, Burbidge decided to buy two machines, one of each type, while consolidating other activities. Again modelling helped management make a good, well-informed decision for capex in excess of £350 000.
Key benefits
