“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
Atticus Finch in “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee
Multiple delays while transporting molten metal in rail cars to a metal-processing facility was causing throughput deficits in monthly processing time and an annualized production loss of $4.7 million.
IE teams tracked the journey of the molten metal, including traveling alongside the train to time railroad signals, meeting with the railroad representatives, and standing in the cast house to watch the loading and unloading of the molten product.
Operational Targets
After these observations, the following objectives were established:
• Reduce operations downtime from 7.9% to 2%
• Reduce logistics cycle time by 25%
• Improve average rail car fill by 2%
Collaboration is key
Through Kaizens, data analysis, reducing variations, and improvements to the GPS tracking system, the objectives were met. The engagement was completed in 6 months. Four years later, the tools installed by the joint client/IE teams are still in use.
The key to success was when the IE team broke the silence between the steel company and railroad leadership. This collaboration resolved the needs of all parties, and contributed to the success and sustainability of this project.
Give us a call
Call us at +1 (312) 474-6184, and let IE help your company get started down the path to sustainable results or visit www.implementation.com to learn about Implementation Engineers’ capabilities, methodology, and our people.
Implementation Engineers is a business-optimization firm that specializes in accelerated performance and improved financial gains while providing immediate results. We differentiate our services by being solely focused on implementation. For this reason, our services go Beyond ConsultingSM.
