Duggan’s operations improvement for Machine & Fabrication Shops helps your team eliminate on-time delivery issues and promote operational excellence.
After completing the basic value stream designs, the Duggan team applies our Creating Mixed Model Value Streams and Creating Flow Through Shared Resources methods. These ensure each value stream manages its product mix while meeting guaranteed turnaround times (GTT) and on-time delivery.
Shared Resources – equipment used by multiple streams – are managed using visual and binary scheduling to maintain downstream fl ow. The Mixed Model framework defi nes Pacemaker operations through ten design criteria, creating a single point of scheduling.
This approach eliminates constant manual scheduling, eases planner workload, and controls inventory and lead time between processes, driving major reductions in both.
Flow Through Shared Resources extends product families upstream where equipment is shared, maintaining predictable flow, removing variability, and ensuring consistent, guaranteed turnaround time performance.
How? Duggan’s proven technique begins with having a clear view of your operation. We follow a design-based methodology to generate a future state for delivering to your customers on time, every time. We focus on clearly defining an endpoint or destination. We’ve found that you can avoid the cycle of never-ending improvements if your destination is clear.
Throughout the engagement, we work with your team in a manner that enables them to leapfrog the traditional improvement curve because every action is targeted toward achieving the future-state design.
Duggan is not like other lean consultants. Most consulting firms tell you what you already know and create endless improvement events that spin around. It’s an excellent way for them to make money, but it’s not good for you. These tactics keep you stuck in a cycle of short-term fixes.
A tier-one pump maker needed to ramp a new mixed-model assembly line from 12 to 21 units/day in six months, without sacrificing safety, quality, or team well-being.
Early lean tool use wasn’t the constraint; leadership wanted an operation that grew the business, not one that required daily management heroics. Specific pressures included:
At Duggan Associates, we take traditional lean training further with advanced courses, academic resources and hands-on support to transform how organizations operate at every level and area, from complex manufacturing environments to the office.
To get there, Duggan Associates offers each organization a customized roadmap supported by formal training and hands-on implementation assistance to show employees how to create an end-to-end, self-healing flow.
Everyone can tell if the flow is normal or abnormal. If it becomes abnormal, employees who work in the flow can repair it before it impacts the customer without management’s assistance.
Industry Week
Duggan doesn’t just provide theoretical advice.
Absolutely! Duggan works with your team to rough-in your design using our eight guidelines for value stream design, where we apply our mixed-model flow. We examine product mix, setup times and other factors In this process. Throughout the entire engagement, Duggan educates and works with your team to ensure sustainable outcomes after the engagement is completed.
One of our superpowers at Duggan is handling complexity from the number of parts and part numbers to unpredictable demand, varying volume of parts needed and more. You learn that we can handle the mix. Traditional lean material left many unanswered questions for companies with thousands of part numbers, infinite routing possibilities and unpredictable demand. Our specialty is creating a lean flow even when your business is highly complex.
Specifically, here is what we do:
