Use case · A new line

A new line, tested before it is built.

Draw it with real distances, let the model say what is missing, and run it. Then rule out the fixes that would not have helped, before anyone buys them.

Much of what goes wrong with a new line shows on the drawing to anyone who runs it. Finding out there is cheap; on the floor it costs a launch.A new line is drawn long before it is bought, and much of what goes wrong with it is visible on the drawing to anyone who runs it: the press that waits because the forklifts are elsewhere, the cell that stops because the belt behind it is full, the buffer that seems to buy throughput and does not. Finding out on the drawing is cheap. Finding out on the floor costs a launch.

An illustration: an invented line placed, checked and run, then its fleet sized

Place it

Drawn as distances, not guesses

A move has a distance, a speed, a lane and time to load, so its duration follows from the drawing. Each fix is then one change the model can test.A move on the drawing is not a duration somebody estimated. It has a distance, a speed, a lane and the time to load and unload, and a belt has room for so many parts. So the time of a move follows from the drawing. Moving the cell, widening the aisle or buying a truck then become changes the model can actually test, each one a single change.

The blocks a line is drawn from, on Simulation

An illustration: the time of a move follows from the drawing, and each fix is one change

Check it

Checked before it runs, and while it runs

The model says in plain words what stops it from running, and if part of the line seizes up during a run, it stops the run and says why.The model is checked as it is drawn and says in plain words what stops it from running and what is worth a look. A machine nobody priced is named, not quietly costed at nothing. And while it runs, the engine watches for the one fault a drawing cannot show: part of the line seizing up while the rest keeps moving. It stops the run and says what is stuck and why, rather than hand back totals that are merely low.

Checked as it is drawn, watched as it runs: a seized loop stops the run and says why

Run it

Four fixes, two of them nothing

Of four obvious fixes for a cell fed down an aisle one truck wide, two change nothing, and the best changes the cost of moving, not the flow.One worked example feeds a cell one part at a time down a long aisle one truck wide, then tries the four fixes anyone would suggest, each a single change. The parts made stay the same in every run. Two fixes change nothing at all; carrying four to a load cuts the forklifts' driving by three quarters; and half of every metre is driven empty whatever you do. So the best fix changes the cost of moving, not the flow.

Four fixes tried on one line: the same parts every time, and two change nothing at all

Size it

Sized by search, judged at the edge

The search finds the cheapest crews, fleets and buffers that keep the delivery promise at the unfavourable end of its interval, not just on average.Then let the model search crews, fleets and buffers together. The answer is the cheapest option that keeps the delivery promise at the unfavourable end of its interval, not merely on average. On the sample line the search moved people into the paint shop: one person more, a quarter cheaper a part, and on time with confidence. Painting is the constraint, so the people belong there.

The search itself, on Planning

The search moves people into painting and keeps the promise at its unfavourable end

What goes to the capital request

A summary to sign and a report for the engineers, in either language. The model stays a file to review, and every run is stored so it can be run again.A summary for whoever signs: the figures that count, what was found, what is recommended and what it earns back, with room to sign it off. And a report for the engineers: the line's diagram, its blocks, people and shifts, and how it behaved. Both are printed in either language. The model stays a file your team can review like any other document, and every run is stored with what it ran on, so the answer can be run again.

A summary to sign, a report for engineers, a model to review, a run that repeats

Use cases

An investment for an existing line

Four options, six sections, and the point where the lead changes hands.

An energy price shock

What it does to the cost of a good part, and what a roof and moved work win back.

Daily planning, done by six

Forecast, plan of the day and both reports, before the early shift starts.

More sustainable, losing nothing else

The measures that cut CO₂ per good part and break none of your limits.

Bring us the drawing.

If a line is being planned, the cheapest moment to run it is now. Bring the layout and the target, and we will show you what the model would check.

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