A competitive bidding environment, disrupted supply chains, and a manufacturing department with little internal predictability had left this make-to-order defense manufacturer struggling to deliver on time and under budget. Production paradigms that had worked for decades no longer scaled with the operation, and the organization was simultaneously absorbing a generational management transition. Leaders carrying twenty-plus years of institutional knowledge were approaching retirement.
On-time performance climbed from 56% to 89% inside a make-to-order defense operation that had been running on opinion.
Make-to-Order Defense Manufacturer
Results at a Glance
59%
On-Time Performance
65%
Lead Time Reduction
69%
Lost Time Reduction
Executive Brief
Schedules shifted hourly, supervisors couldn't tell operators what to work on, and rework time nearly equaled first-pass assembly. POWERS installed a unified production schedule, a working capacity model, and the leadership routines required to hold both. On-time performance improved 59% without expansion, hiring, or new equipment.
The Situation
Outdated paradigms, a generational management transition, and a culture where everything was priority one.
A competitive bidding environment, disrupted supply chains, and a manufacturing department with little internal predictability had left this make-to-order defense manufacturer struggling to deliver on time and under budget. Production paradigms that had worked for decades no longer scaled with the operation, and the organization was simultaneously absorbing a generational management transition. Leaders carrying twenty-plus years of institutional knowledge were approaching retirement.
With programs behind schedule and customers to satisfy, program managers competed for limited resources while senior leadership had little visibility into how individual decisions affected the whole. The result was an opaque operation, a culture without accountability, and rework time that nearly equaled first-pass assembly. Every order was urgent, which meant nothing was.
Beneath the urgency, the foundations had eroded. Production data could not be trusted to plan or forecast, no unified schedule reconciled program demands against capacity, and supervisors were spending their shifts deciding what could be worked on rather than getting it done.
The Diagnosis
Six structural gaps producing the same outcome from six directions.
Inaccurate, insufficient production data
Work and time relationship studies showed the operation could not reliably plan or forecast resources. The underlying database was inaccurate and incomplete.
No unified production schedule
A patchwork of constantly shifting hot lists had taken the place of a real schedule. Reactive production became the default operating mode.
Poor cross-program collaboration
Program timelines were built in silos without reconciling production resources across the enterprise. Programs were planned as if they were the only program.
Weak shop floor control
Without a unified schedule, supervisors couldn't reliably assign work. Time was lost determining what could be worked on rather than executing it.
Manufacturing status as a research project
Determining where work actually stood diverted manufacturing, scheduling, operators, and program managers from their primary responsibilities.
No reporting, no evaluation
Without operating reports, performance was unmeasurable. Past performance was never reviewed at the process or department level. There was no mechanism to see it.
What POWERS Did
Built the operating system the manufacturer had grown beyond.
Working with manufacturing engineers, the POWERS team constructed observations and time studies that established defensible expectations across hundreds of unique routing operations. With the planning department, a capacity model was developed that supported both short-term scheduling and long-term resource forecasting. Frontline leadership received hands-on coaching on short-interval scheduling, follow-up, and barrier identification. Supervisors gained the means to spot variance and act on it.
Lost time was captured to root cause and converted into corrective actions. Working with IT, operating reports were built to make production performance visible to management, identify variance down to the operation level, and close the feedback loop to program management and scheduling. The cumulative effect was a singular priority focus replacing an environment in which everything had been priority one.
The Full Result
Six measurable gains, all without expansion, hiring, or new equipment.
59%
On-Time Performance
From 56% to 89%. Real-time ERP usage and shop floor planning visibility fed near real-time information to program managers and customers, reducing expedites.
65%
Lead Time Reduction
Lead time in testing fell from 7.5 days to 2.5 as fewer scheduling changes and tighter upstream coordination improved flow through the work center.
69%
Lost Time Reduction
Surface Mount Technology lost time fell after SMED analysis, structured start-up routines, and root-cause corrective action.
56%
Indirect Time Reduction
Manufacturing operators saw indirect time charged drop by more than half as work cells reorganized around a clearer schedule.
22%
Stock Room Output Gain
Root-cause focus on lost-time drivers improved stock room throughput without adding headcount.
20%
Scheduling Accuracy Gain
Time studies and feedback loops between production management and engineering improved schedule accuracy in cable and wire.
Ready to builddisciplined execution in your operation?
Every POWERS engagement starts with our intensive Discovery Process. We work with everyone on your team, identify the gaps in the five disciplines that hold execution back, and build the partnership that closes them. The results stay built long after we’re gone.
Stronger Execution. Stronger Performance.
Frontline Leadership
On-time performance climbed from 56% to 89% inside a make-to-order defense operation that had been running on opinion.
Make-to-Order Defense Manufacturer
Executive Brief
Schedules shifted hourly, supervisors couldn't tell operators what to work on, and rework time nearly equaled first-pass assembly. POWERS installed a unified production schedule, a working capacity model, and the leadership routines required to hold both. On-time performance improved 59% without expansion, hiring, or new equipment.
Results at a Glance
59%
On-Time Performance
65%
Lead Time Reduction
69%
Lost Time Reduction
The Situation
Outdated paradigms, a generational management transition, and a culture where everything was priority one.
With programs behind schedule and customers to satisfy, program managers competed for limited resources while senior leadership had little visibility into how individual decisions affected the whole. The result was an opaque operation, a culture without accountability, and rework time that nearly equaled first-pass assembly. Every order was urgent, which meant nothing was.
Beneath the urgency, the foundations had eroded. Production data could not be trusted to plan or forecast, no unified schedule reconciled program demands against capacity, and supervisors were spending their shifts deciding what could be worked on rather than getting it done.
The Diagnosis
Six structural gaps producing the same outcome from six directions.
Inaccurate, insufficient production data
Work and time relationship studies showed the operation could not reliably plan or forecast resources. The underlying database was inaccurate and incomplete.
No unified production schedule
A patchwork of constantly shifting hot lists had taken the place of a real schedule. Reactive production became the default operating mode.
Poor cross-program collaboration
Program timelines were built in silos without reconciling production resources across the enterprise. Programs were planned as if they were the only program.
Weak shop floor control
Without a unified schedule, supervisors couldn't reliably assign work. Time was lost determining what could be worked on rather than executing it.
Manufacturing status as a research project
Determining where work actually stood diverted manufacturing, scheduling, operators, and program managers from their primary responsibilities.
No reporting, no evaluation
Without operating reports, performance was unmeasurable. Past performance was never reviewed at the process or department level. There was no mechanism to see it.
What POWERS Did
Built the operating system the manufacturer had grown beyond.
Working with manufacturing engineers, the POWERS team constructed observations and time studies that established defensible expectations across hundreds of unique routing operations. With the planning department, a capacity model was developed that supported both short-term scheduling and long-term resource forecasting. Frontline leadership received hands-on coaching on short-interval scheduling, follow-up, and barrier identification. Supervisors gained the means to spot variance and act on it.
Lost time was captured to root cause and converted into corrective actions. Working with IT, operating reports were built to make production performance visible to management, identify variance down to the operation level, and close the feedback loop to program management and scheduling. The cumulative effect was a singular priority focus replacing an environment in which everything had been priority one.
The Full Result
59%
On-Time Performance
From 56% to 89%. Real-time ERP usage and shop floor planning visibility fed near real-time information to program managers and customers, reducing expedites.
65%
Lead Time Reduction
Lead time in testing fell from 7.5 days to 2.5 as fewer scheduling changes and tighter upstream coordination improved flow through the work center.
69%
Lost Time Reduction
Surface Mount Technology lost time fell after SMED analysis, structured start-up routines, and root-cause corrective action.
56%
Indirect Time Reduction
Manufacturing operators saw indirect time charged drop by more than half as work cells reorganized around a clearer schedule.
22%
Stock Room Output Gain
Root-cause focus on lost-time drivers improved stock room throughput without adding headcount.
20%
Scheduling Accuracy Gain
Time studies and feedback loops between production management and engineering improved schedule accuracy in cable and wire.
POWERS|+1 678-971-4711|info@thepowerscompany.com|1801 Peachtree St NE, Suite 200, Atlanta, GA 303091 / 1