Smorgon Steel

Manufacturing

Drum Buffer Rope

Summary of Success

Constraint analysis identified the bottleneck of the system. Then by implementing Drum Buffer Rope and subordinating the system to the constraint, WIP was halved and due date performance was improved three and a half fold over a period of five months. This resulted in a 63% increase in profit.
 

The Ensemble approach gave the operators and managers the tools to rethink their operations, put some science around the method and belief in the opportunity for improvement. The process is now being introduced to our forging business.

John Gillespie, Works Manager

The Problem

Smorgon had engaged Ensemble before in helping them synchronise their operations in their wheel production facility. Now Smorgon was seeking a way to improve efficiencies that could put profit on the bottom line in their roll plant. Roll production is an intrinsically complex process. How could Smorgon reduce high levels of WIP and rework as well as increase capacity and shorten lead times? Smorgon also required an identification mechanism to help them optimise ROI through logical product and customer selection criteria. 

The Solution

Drum Buffer Rope finite capacity scheduling was implemented in the roll plant. Constraint accounting helped Smorgon optimise their product and customer segment mix.