Take it to the limit one more time

Key benefits Transformed scheduling and operations management across manufacturing and engineering from run by ‘guestimates’ to run by ‘definites’ – with management empowerment through ‘what ifs’ Synchronised production and customer order pegging Accurate and dynamic materials, WIP and cost management provides detailed and instant business visibility Forget guesstimates and fire fighting: consider deliverable production plans that you can quickly change and optimise no matter what’s thrown at you. Cosworth did, and so impressed has the company been with its advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems that it’s made them the heart of its impressive engineer- and build-to-order business. Cosworth’s is a dynamic and innovative environment. Something of a surprise then to find that until 2000, production management was down to an ageing ManMan infinite capacity MRP system dating back to 1971), assisted by Excel spreadsheets and, from 1998 to 2000, Microsoft Project. Scheduling manager Darren Dowding explains that everything started to change when the firm moved manufacturing into core teams, each with its own machines and people. “We went for quite aggressive lead time reduction targets. For example, we wanted to reduce machine times for crankshafts from 17 weeks to six.” ence initially Microsoft Project. “Our big problem is we’re constantly having to change the plan,” says Dowding. “Without a quick and visual system you’re constantly guessing and fighting fires.” So in 2000 Cosworth went for Preactor, initially a P300 FCS system. He concedes it took around eight months to set up on the most complex cell – the cylinder head section – because of the detail and scale of rules – and during the process he had to upgrade to Preactor’s APS. But early in 2001 it was working, and two more APS systems and two P300s followed, all-time and on-budget. Dowding recalls one of the early extra successes. “We were having a core team meeting, which has to handle the most immediate changes. Before Preactor, the meetings would be full of ‘what if” questions that were answered by gut feel. This time, the scheduler simply took the scenario to Preactor and returned a few minutes later with the consequences. In that meeting we saw not only the transition from ‘guestimates’ to ‘definites’, but the beginning of a very short process by which all the teams came to trust completely the information from Preactor. “By generating quick, reliable information, the workforce was given back a degree of self-determinism… The beauty of Preactor is that you can tell it what’s wanted and it shows you straight away what can still be done. If you can’t achieve what you need, you can suggest alternative scenarios and it shows you the results.” Since then, Cosworth has linked its systems within the electronics assembly section, so that what was spreadsheet-based is now scheduled by Preactor generating work-to lists for each person. The business has also gone live with Preactor’s Dynamic Materials Control feature to auto-peg orders within an assembly so that components always arrive on time. And Preactor is also now being used to help drive business level understanding and decision-making, signalling the value of WIP, outstanding purchase orders and stores value in pounds – an excellent way of getting around the strangulation of standard costing systems and finger pointing over machine utilisation. Cosworth is currently considering even more extensions. “There is so much more that could be achieved; so much extra potential. Preactor could, for example, control part of the stores activity, and eventually we would like to add shipping activity and forecasts as well,” says Dowding. It’s all about extending the use of the factual information and visibility. “So, for example, if we can see that we’re not scheduling much for finished goods, or we’re not expecting much goods coming in, we don’t need to run stores overtime. We can change working patterns and use our annualised hours scheme better.”