Lack of transparency and flexibility; capacity bottlenecks in production
Full order books and machines running at full capacity: sounds like the best-case scenario if you're a medium-sized company, especially in the highly competitive metal processing industry. But customer needs have shifted significantly in recent years. These days clients require small batches from flexible, quick-turnaround suppliers who are not just reliable, but also offer the right production options – lots of them. As a result, our client – a SME already offering a heterogeneous selection of specialised metal solutions – found itself increasingly challenged by the new demands of its customers. And its shopfloor was proving increasingly difficult to manage. It was time to address some familiar issues in its sector:
- A general lack of transparency regarding machine statuses and capacities
- Unknown causes of errors on the shopfloor, resulting in delays and disruptions
- Large volumes of finished and semi-finished components occupying time and resources