Operational Intel & Forensic Cost Realities
Insights & Diagnostics
Forensic strategies for architecting cost resilience and eliminating hidden operational friction.
Featured Insight
China has shown the world how to "architect" costs. Instead of cutting costs arbitrarily they designed manufacturing processes that led to minimum costs.
They showed that many of the seemingly radical operational strategies we discuss later are practical, and effective. China is thus a great case study for cost architects.
How Plant Managers Achieve Results Expected of Them
3 Min Read — Plant Managers and Industrial Engineers are constantly caught between two conflicting mandates: maximize plant throughput and minimize unit manufacturing cost (UMC)—all using existing, aging equipment.
How Operations & Turnaround Consultants Deliver Concrete Value to Manufacturing Clients
3 Min Read - How business consultants deliver concrete value to their clients
Stop Bleeding Seed Capital Before Your MVP Hits the Factory Floor
3 Min Read - Learn abou tthe the evolution of a physical MVP and the invisible ways cash begins to leak out as you move from the lab to the factory floor.
The Importance of Being Cost Effective
3 Min Read — About A Handbook for Discrete Manufacturing Startups & Consultants - Cost Architecture
Fixed Overhead: A Disguise for Waste?
6 Min Read - We look at how one-time, temporary, or variable operational glitches transform into permanent structural costs.
Operational Resilience at Unit Level
12 Min Read - Startups that do not have enterprise level budgets need to develop cost-effective resilience.
Material Wastage in Manufacturing
8 Min Read - Materials costs are increased by levels of scrap, rework on faulty products and sub-optimal processes. Specific actions can minimize their impact.
Non-Value-Add Labour Payments
6 Min Read - Not laziness of the worker but faulty processes are more likely to cause idle workers and wasted work.
Designing for Takt Time & Zero WIP
10 Min Read - Takt time production synchronizes production and market demand and minimizes work-in-process and finished goods inventories.
Project Ramp-up: A Costs Minefield
5 Min Read - An close look at how the final ramp-up of a new project is particularly vulnerable to high levels of wastage.
Industrial Control Systems
8 Min Read - How technology made it possible to control operations in real time and reduce wastage.
Plant Layout Options
8 Min Read - Cellular layout is preferable where it is practical because it generates major benefits; but is not a panacea for all industrial environments.
Industrial Clusters
5 Min Read - How Industrial Clusters lead to cost savings, more effective marketing and faster innovation, among other benefits.
Story of Three Velocity Titans
5 Min Read - Three industrial titans with incredible results through high velocity.
Operations Control Systems
5 Min Read - Do Your Control Systems Lead to Profitability and Growth?
The China Price
3 Min Read - China has shown the world how to "architect" costs. Instead of cutting costs arbitrarily they designed non-traditional manufacturing processes that led to minimum costs.
The Culture Tax
3 Min Read - Even the most modern equipment and software cannot protect your margins if old cultural habits remain.
The Inventory Anchor
3 Min Read - Inventory, an ASSET in corporate Balance Sheet, is an ANCHOR slowing cash flows.