The customer was committed to moving operations from one building into an expanded, nearby sister facility as part of a new program launch. The expanded facility had more than enough space to house the new program, but some equipment, once placed, would be difficult to reconfigure. Therefore, the customer wanted to see a layout that met the requirements of smooth material flow for the new program, plus maintain as much open space as possible to accommodate additional future business. Equipment was scheduled to move in four weeks.

Three key questions needed answers. (1) How to sub-assemble and deliver components in sequence to the new assembly cell? (2) How much material must be stored in-house and how? (3) How many truck docks are needed to support current and future business? IET’s engineers worked with the customer’s team to understand and document Bill of Material, packaging and assembly sequence information. IET also field measured the expanded facility to guarantee that all proposals were based on “as-built” dimensions. Armed with the essential data, IET utilized its industrial engineering and lean manufacturing expertise to answer the key questions and develop recommendations to review with the customer’s team.

IET’s analysis and recommendations confirmed that it was possible to keep open almost one quarter of the expanded facility for future business awards and the existing dock capacity would be adequate to support it. The proposed layout guided placement of hard-to-move equipment, as well as offered a transition plan for maintaining current production while launching the new program. The equipment moves and subsequent launch proceeded with no glitches.