World Class Manufacturing (MAKE)

Factory Physics and Layout

Through the implementation of good practices in Manufacturing Management, we assist our customers in becoming World Class Manufacturing Companies. This can take the form of a continuous improvement approach or a breakthrough project.

Areas under investigation are: shop-floor layout (e.g. job shop, cellular manufacturing, line balancing), workplace organization (e.g. Can Do Teams, 5S), machine and man efficiency (e.g. Overall Equipment Efficiency), shop-floor organization (e.g. self-supporting teams, interaction with maintenance, engineering, material handling, purchasing, quality), shop floor control (e.g. data collection, work order management, kanbans).

Furthermore, the laws of manufacturing - Factory Physics - are analyzed for specific situations. The relation between throughput time, work in progress, operational reliability, machine workload and lead-time reliability is investigated and an optimal mix of working capital, assets, operating cost, flexibility and reliability is proposed.

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

In order to win the battle for customers, companies are on a continuous quest for innovation. Whereas five years ago customer service was an order winner, this has gradually become an order qualifier. Customer service has introduced extra costs internally. Today companies struggle to achieve higher customer satisfaction through innovations like new product development and new product introduction at acceptable costs.

Many companies however are still facing product master data dispersion. The master data are distributed over multiple systems (ERP, MS Office, PDF formats, legacy applications, etc). The organization and procedures are cumbersome. As a result the product master data appear as scattered information found in island applications, leading to organizational inefficiencies. These inefficiencies are multiplied when the company has a European scale with multi-site dimensions.

To be able to focus on customer satisfaction it is necessary to harmonize product definition and data, manage the specifications (manufacturing, customer, supplier specifications), ensure uniform recipe management, etc. S&V Management Consultants will help you in every aspect of your product data and lifecycle management process by streamlining the product master data, defining the right recipe concepts, optimizing the processes, building the desired organization and procedures, evaluating the need for specific software solutions, and so on. As an architect, S&V delivers the concept but will also guide the change process implementation.

Material Tracking and Tracing

With the introduction of the European General Food Law, company tracking and tracing of feed and foodstuffs became mandatory on January 1st, 2005. But what do the legal requirements really mean in the corporate manufacturing and supply chain context? Which materials must be traced and how detailed must the information be? What about rework? How to implement tracking and tracing?

Although the purpose is clear for most feed, food and beverage manufacturers, it remains a struggle to translate the generic requirements into a realistic implementation. Based on its broad experience, S&V developed a structured and comprehensive method to meet the documentation, registration and organizational tracking & tracing requirements in a pragmatic way. Clients such as Cargill, Danone and the Confederation of Belgian Brewers use our method for their traceability initiatives.

Our method for Tracking and Tracing has the following benefits:

• It covers all aspects and business processes that relate to Tracking and Tracing, such as goods receipt, production, quality control, shipping, transportation, etc.
• It is structured and easy to implement.
• It includes ready-to-use checklists, a comprehensive documentation, templates and examples.
• It supports both paper-based and automated implementation.
• It uses global standards and models such as ISA S88 (standard for batch processes), which makes the step to implementing traceability with contemporary process automation solutions minimal.

S&V's method for Tracking and Tracing includes a complete offering to help you achieve compliance with the current legislation. This means:

• A Material Tracking & Tracing Implementation Guide.
• Template forms and transaction logbooks.
• Documentation that complements your quality system.
• Training sessions on the methodology.
• Implementation assistance.

Check our World Class Manufacturing client portfolio and testimonials.