Manufacturing

Make to Stock, Make to Order, Assemble to Order and Continuous Process are some of the challenges (and opportunities) faced by all Operations Managers today in all Manufacturing Environments. We at Aqua MCG apply our expertise and thought leadership in all the service areas of manufacturing, some of which are

• Strategic decisions such as In-house vs. Outsourcing Analysis, De-bottlenecking, Facility
  Installation, Capacity Building, Organizational Design, etc.
• Planning Systems such as MPS, RCCP, MRP,CRP, Production Scheduling,
• Quality Management Systems such as Process Design, Process Capability, Training and
  Documentation, as well as
• Shop Floor related Quality Control, Production Efficiency

• Gearing up the manufacturing function to meet business needs
• Transforming manufacturing operations in terms of new processes
• When improvements are required to reduce costs or increase quality standards
• When lead times for production and servicing needs to be reduced
• When managers want more flexibility from their product lines to meet market requirements
• When managers want  reduction in new product introduction cycle time
• When managers want to effect manufacturing cost reductions on products when the model and technology keeps changing so frequently
• Ensuring quality with zero defects on products from day one
• Introducing a Pull based systems in an unsteady state environment
• Producing competitive advantage either from cost reduction or from better quality
  through manufacturing

Shop floor control
Detailed Scheduling and Planning	Detailed Scheduling Processes Shop order based manufacturing and control Campaign based manufacturing to reduce set up times
Execution and Control	Input / Output Control systems to control material flow Setting dispatching rules for scheduling Shop floor Performance metrics
Lean Manufacturing / JIT	Lean Manufacturing / JIT Kanban based replenishment systems Backflushing systems to reduce transactions
TOC (Theory of Constraints)	Drum Buffer Rope System Bottleneck Scheduling

Factory costing
Costing Methodology	Setting up Standard Costing Methodology MIS - Variance reports Cost reduction methodology

Production planning
Master Scheduling	Setting up time fences based on lead times Setting up the MPS processes Configuring Planning BOMs
Material Requirement Planning	Implementation of the MRP processes / Tools Exception reports from MRP Lot sizing for MRP
Capacity Planning	Conceptualization and implementation of rough cut and detailed capacity planning processes Optimization using quantitative techniques

Production planning
Inventory Strategies	Inventory norms and policies
Inventory Planning	Inventory optimization (MEIO) Inventory tracking

Service parts management
Inventory Classification	Spare parts classification Sourcing strategies (supplier/ own), Safety inventory stocks
Spare parts pricing	Pricing for higher margin in spare parts business Pricing strategies for different inventory classes
Spare parts planning & distribution strategy	Network for spare parts distribution Spare parts sales forecasting Replenishment process

Operations Strategy
Facility Selection	Selection of location Product mix and capacity planning Factory Evaluation on multiple factors
Own versus Outsource Decisions	Analyze core competencies and product strategic fit Benchmark internal cost effectiveness for manufacturing Evaluation of alternatives in the market
Strategic Partnerships and Alliances	Develop framework for extent of collaboration
Change Management	Perform Change Readiness Assessment Perform Impact of Change Assessment Manage Issues, Risks and devise mitigation plan

Quality Systems
ISO 9000	Establishment for quality systems, processes and SOPs for certification
Total Quality Management	PDCA cycle for process improvements Quality Circles Quality Function Deployment (QFD) Application of quality tools
Six Sigma	Process Capability Studies Process Design Design of Experiments and ANOVA (Analysis of Variance)

Facility Planning
Facility Layout	Product versus Process Versus Cellular Route optimization
Equipment Planning	Equipment selection, sizing and vendor evaluation
Services Planning	Preventive and Predictive Maintenance Processes

New Product Development
Concurrent Engineering	Early Supplier Involvement Product Design
Stage and Gate Model	Business Feasibility Evaluation Establishing criteria for go no-go decisions