Velocity Scheduling System Case Studies

Michigan Precision Machine Shop Scheduling Success Story

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Manufacturing and Theory of Constraints Expert Dr. Lisa Lang Features a Michigan Precision Machine Shop Success Story

Robert Peuterbaugh, President of Joint Production Technology, shares his story of how the Velocity Scheduling System is helping his company to see increased production and profits.

Green Valley, AZ – December 29 – “Dr. Lisa” Lang, President of the Science of Business and Theory of Constraints expert, is proud to share another client job shop scheduling success story.  Robert Peuterbaugh, president of Joint Production Technology (JPT) in Macomb, Michigan.  Robert has utilized Dr. Lisa’s Velocity Scheduling System to improve productivity at his facility.

The Velocity Scheduling System is based on The Goal book and Theory of Constraints, but it has been adapted for highly custom job shops and machine shops whose constraint can move week-to-week or day-to-day.

Robert Peuterbaugh’s case study and success story (written by Mike Touzeau) can be found at https://www.velocityschedulingsystem.com/files/On_Time_Shops/Joint-Production-Technology-v4.pdf

Here is an excerpt:

Providing high tech innovations for precision cutting, boring, and other applicable manufacturing functions for such big outfits as GM, Ford, TRW, and many others here and abroad, Peuterbaugh knows his operation inside out. Battling the downturn like everyone else, this seasoned leader has always investigated long-term remedies rather than groping for gimmicks, so he began to search for solutions.

“As things got worse, I looked at what would make things better,” he said.” I had followed Dr. Lisa’s emails for two years before signing up.”

He knew it would be important to improve productivity, so having read much of what Dr. Lisa had written on Velocity Scheduling System (VSS), he took the plunge, knowing many others wouldn’t.

“Sometimes you say that we’re good at what we do, so why change?”

“When I saw all the reasons,” he put it, “it all fit. That’s what got me to talk to her.”

JPT HAS SHOWN A 64 % INCREASE IN SHIPPED $.

He estimates between a 25 and 35 percent profit increase “directly attributable,” he says, to the changes his team instituted after starting the VSS program in February. Once the process started working, he recalls, his team stood in awe at the seamless flow, shipping each day with customers getting something every day.

“They just could not believe it.”

And another:

Robert Peuterbaugh’s story is probably not unlike your own. You worked hard to build a solid reputation with your customers. You want American manufacturing to be great, and though you’re a successful small or large operation, scheduling is still always an issue.

VSS is a system that creates a continuous flow in your operation so all your employees share in knowing what needs to be done and when.

A member of many manufacturing organizations, Robert Peuterbaugh works with local schools to promote manufacturing career education, and serves on the Board of Directors for Tooling, Manufacturing & Technologies Association (TMTA).

CNC Machining  Shop Scheduling Success Story

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Manufacturing and Theory of Constraints Expert Dr. Lisa Lang Shares Client Success Story

Tanya DiSalvo, President of Criterion Tool, shares her story of how her precision machine shop used Velocity Scheduling System to achieve record profits.

 Green Valley, AZ – November 14 – “Dr. Lisa” Lang, President of the Science of Business and Theory of Constraints expert, is proud to share one of many client success stories. Tanya DiSalvo is the President of Criterion Tool (founded in 1953) and an active member of both NTMA (National Tooling and Machining Association) and PMPA (Precision Metal Products Association).  Tanya has utilized Dr. Lisa’s Velocity Scheduling System at her machine shop to improve on-time delivery and reduce lead times.

Tanya DiSalvo’s case study and success story (written by Mike Touzeau) can be found at https://www.velocityschedulingsystem.com/wp-content/uploads//2012/10/Tanya_Success_Story_v5.pdf

Here is an excerpt:

“It’s so different from what we’ve seen in the world of manufacturing that it sounded too good to be true. At first as a team we couldn’t get our arms around it, but Dr. Lisa said she was going to give me my money back if it didn’t work, so we were going to do everything she said.”

They liked the homework, but several of her 30 employees, including her dad, who was then  consulting and observing as he neared retirement, bet some real cash against her that it wasn’t going to work.

“I was pretty sure they thought this was just another flavor of the month. Before VSS we were all frustrated,” she remembers, because they were always  trying to manage the “slop,” as she calls it—the jobs that got bogged down and often carried into the next month,  with select customers always suffering.

Once they saw how the system could facilitate movement of jobs, things started clicking.

“As we worked through the Velocity Scheduling process, we got more and more in control. We could focus our resources where we needed them the most. We didn’t have to monitor the jobs, the deadlines, the priorities anymore.”

“It was all the  same people just changing their focus.”

To learn specifically what Tanya did to improve her machine shop scheduling, watch a 47 minute webinar on “How to Get More Jobs Done Faster” at https://www.velocityschedulingsystem.com/webinar/

Precision Machine Shop Improves On-time Delivery, Lead-times and Achieves Record Profits!

Tanya DiSalvo, President of Criterion Tool, shares her story of how her precision machine shop used Velocity Scheduling System to improve on-time delivery, reduce lead-times and how they achieved record profits by improving her job shop scheduling.

Read the story here:  Tanya_Success_Story

Tanya talks about how they went from good to great with a few bumps and challenges along the way.  Job shop scheduling and machine shop scheduling in custom shop can be a challenge.

Tanya is an active member of both NTMA (National Tooling and Machining Association) and PMPA (Precision Metal Products Association).

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Criterion is a precision machine shop specializing in close tolerance (+/- .0002) Swiss Turning, CNC Turning and CNC Milling of precision components from prototype through production quantities.

Criterion has almost doubled the dollars out the door. If you ship twice as much without hiring anyone or buying any equipment — what happens to your profits?

Criterion was successful because they weren’t satisfied with where they were.  It was not okay to be just okay.  So they did something about it.  And as a result they are more than okay, in fact, they are better than the competition and have created a competitive advantage!

I just got an update from Tanya. Here it is:

SUBJECT: Our One Year Anniversary
“Welp it’s Criterion’s one year anniversary with the VSB (Velocity Scheduling System) and WE STILL love it!

A few major projects went thru our building: new product launch in Oct- Dec, another new product launch currently under way, reduction of staff thru attrition and increase in work, and in most cases we came thru with flying colors.
Attached is our score card. ”

Accenture just released a report in conjunction with the United Nations Global Compact called “A New Era of Sustainability.” The most significant finding was that 93% of the approximately 1,000 CEOs surveyed from across the globe indicated they believe sustainability is important to their companies’ future success.

So if sustainability is important to you, maybe the Velocity Scheduling System Coaching Program is a good fit. The Velocity Scheduling System that Tanya uses is based on the Theory of Constraints Drum Buffer Rope. There are 1000s of success stories dating back to the 80s.

Build — Capitialize — Sustain. We agree that sustainability is important. The key is how to achieve it. The answer is simple — the Velocity Scheduling System Coaching Program.

2020 UPDATE:  How One Machine Shop Survived COVID-19 and Lessons Learned

Job Shop Scheduling Success Story: Big Company, Big Improvement and Big Employee Involvement!

Even the largest and most successful corporations want to improve delivery performance, which is what motivated Chicago Metallic Corporation (CMC), a world leader in custom architectural building products, to get on board with the Velocity Scheduling System (VSS), a system for custom job shop scheduling which brings all production people together on a daily basis to meet those challenges as a team.

Old school thinking often keeps workers on the floor out of the loop, and the byproduct can be boredom, which leads to apathy, which leads to slow or no improvement in performance.

Workers are very accustomed to and probably too comfortable with taking four or five assignments to the floor for their shift, says CMC production manager Bob Tunney, so they don’t like being pulled off one of those jobs once they started it. But that’s exactly what’s often necessary with VSS, since now everybody can readily see which jobs need to be attended to and which can be set aside for later.

Busy = Chaos and Stress.

“Even on our worst days, our delivery was 88 percent (which is VERY good for a highly custom job shop),” Tunney said, but when they got busy it was chaotic and stressful for everybody. They knew they could increase that number, so their senior people searched for a better way to schedule.

They signed up to learn the Velocity Scheduling System process after their purchasing manager saw the opportunity online.
Tunney explained, “We went to VSS looking for improving our scheduling and visibility of orders through the shop. We wanted a way to improve work through our constraints.”

“I envisioned this hi tech electronic scheduling board where everything would be automatic,” he said, “but the Velocity Board is a manual board and I like the idea that everybody is touching it. Employees feel more comfortable with that. Some people don’t like to touch technology.”

Read the rest of the story https://www.velocityschedulingsystem.com/wp-content/uploads//2013/12/Chicago-Metallic-success-story-v1.pdf.

Injection Molding Job Shop Reduces Lead-times 50% to 75%

Scheduling and improving the performance of a custom job shop can be challenging (to say the least).

Exothermic Molding, Inc., Kenilworth, New Jersey, is a 24 employee pioneer in reaction injection molding, doing business since 1972. They provide RIM parts to the medical, electronic and lab instrument markets.

Following an economic downturn, they found they were experiencing a somewhat ironic situation. Of course they’re happy to suddenly have so much new business all at once, but how do they keep up without adding excess overtime and weekends?

Job Shop Reduces Lead-Times

If the only way to deal with the new business is excess overtime, profits may not increase or not increase as much as they could…

Read the rest of the story https://www.velocityschedulingsystem.com/wp-content/uploads//2015/04/Exothermic-Job-Shop-Scheduling-Success-Story.pdf.

Visual Job Shop Scheduling Success – Case Study

Ohio Job Shop STOPS Focusing on Efficiency and Dramatically Improves with Velocity Scheduling System

Mound Laser and Photonics Center Inc. of Kettering OH, 

successfully completed the Velocity Scheduling System Coaching Program and their story was captured.  MLPC is a custom job shop focused on laser-based microfabrication for medical, automotive, microelectronics and defense industries, among others. They were already very successful, but wanted to take it to the next level.  They suspected that focusing on their scheduling could help them do that — and they were right!

The interesting thing about this story is the initial resistance to the very first step of implementing Velocity Scheduling System.  To say this this group was skeptical about cutting work in process and abandoning their efficiency mentality is an understatement.

You can read the full story here:  MLPC Success Story  (written by an independent reporter)

You can also check out the press release about their story which was picked up by over 218 news outlets at last count.  MLPC Press Release

Case Study: Job Shop Scheduling in a Reno Machine Shop

Increased productivity, increased flow and the ability to deliver FASTER than anyone expected (even the employees and most certainly their customers). 

 (c) Can Stock Photo

Read the entire case study here –> AD Hawk Inc Success Story

That’s the headline of this case study.  These claims aren’t usually made in reference to a custom job shop — but that’s exactly what happened.

These results are great in any manufacturing environment, but when you consider that we are talking about low volume, high mix manufacturing (a highly custom job shop) — there results are particularly impressing.

How was all this possible WITHOUT adding people or machines?

Velocity Scheduling System (VSS)

VSS is a visual, manual scheduling board and system that was designed for highly custom job shops and machine shops that operation in a high mix, low volume manufacturing environment.  In this environment your constraint can move week to week or even day to day.

Precision Machining VSS Case Study

Contour Tool Inc. did not think it was possible to improve their scheduling  to substantially improve due date performance or ship more with fewer people, but they did just that and more with the Velocity Scheduling System.

Read their full success story and check out their results, here:  https://www.velocityschedulingsystem.com/On_Time_Shops/Contour-Tool-VSS-success-story.pdf.

This is not your typical drum buffer rope or Theory of Constraints success story.  Contour is a highly custom machine shop with lots of chaos, ever changing customer needs, a moving constraint and in short, an environment where job shop scheduling is tough.

Contour was just featured in Modern Machine Shop and they had this to say about Velocity Scheduling System:

Contour Precision Milling & Machine moved into a brand new facility in 2006. Two years later, that move almost seemed ill-considered. “We lost about 60 percent of our business overnight,” recalls Michelle Reichlin, CEO, about the economic downturn of 2008.

Thanks largely to a new approach to shop-floor scheduling (Velocity Scheduling System), the company is reportedly twice as productive and twice as profitable as it was before the move with less than half the employees (21 versus the 2007 peak of 48). Its average on-time delivery rating is 96 percent. CNC machining equipment on the 20,000-square-foot shop floor in North Ridgeville, Ohio, includes pallet-fed horizontal machining centers and five-axis vertical machining centers. Six new pieces of equipment have been purchased in the past 18 months alone, but debt is controlled, and the company is not highly leveraged, Ms. Reichlin says. She and the rest of the company’s leadership believe themselves better prepared than ever for whatever the future brings.

You can read the full article here:  https://www.mmsonline.com/blog/post/how-do-you-sell-your-value-add

Injection Molds and Mold Components Success Story

The rock stars at Cavaform International LLC proved that Velocity Scheduling System based on Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints and Drum Buffer Rope WORKS!  After just 2 months Cavaform experienced a 2.6 X improvement in pieces shipped.

I received another update at the end of April showing the results continued.  The units shipped went down by a few units but this was due to working fewer hours.  But their productivity/efficiency actually continued to improve.

So Cavaform has successfully uncovered capacity allowing them to substantially improve their due date performance.  From the data you can see that they did cut the time through their shop by more than half.  I haven’t asked them about the 3rd promise of VSS, chaos reduction, but I suspect that has also reduced.  I mean, they had time to send me this data.

Cavaform International concentrates on close tolerance injection molds and mold components for the plastics industry. Cavaform builds molds for the medical, lab disposables, home and personal care, packaging, writing instruments and cosmetic markets. Cavaform also specializes in Catheter tipping tool dies where ultra precision and high polish is required!

So if you need a new tool or a replacement, why would you go to the vendor that’s going to over promise and UNDER deliver when you could go to Cavaform?  Seems to me that Cavaform is the clear choice.

And Cavaform has also proved another thing I preach — that efficiency is an effect and NOT a prerequisite to improved performance.

Have you done the math?  What their ROI might be on the Velocity Scheduling System Coaching Program?  What would yours be if you doubled your output?

So what are YOU waiting for?  Think you’re s00o different this won’t work for you?  Maybe (and you can evoke the guarantee), but what if it does work for you?  Check out the FAQs and then if you still have questions, drop me line, pick up the phone, leave a question in the comment box, but don’t just wonder.

Custom Plastic Manufacturer implements Drum Buffer Rope

A custom polypropylene sheet and product manufacturer participated in the 14 week Velocity Scheduling System Coaching Program that is based on the Theory of Constraints Drum Buffer Rope — but modified for custom job shops and machine shops.  The drum buffer rope method has to be modified for custom job shops and machine shops because their constraint can move week to week or even day to day due to the high mix low volume nature of their business.

In addition to the challenges mentioned above, there are a number of job shop scheduling problems that makes “off the shelf” Theory of Constraints challenging.  But Velocity Scheduling was designed for these tough environments.

Job Shop Whisperer

Here’s what the custom plastic manufacturer had to say:

“You’ve heard of the ‘Horse Whisperer’ well Dr Lisa is the ‘Job Shop Whisperer‘.

She has taught us to read the messages that our job shop has been communicating to us all along. Signs that our instincts and training have caused us to ignore.

Many of the things this program asks us to try are counter intuitive, but I would encourage everyone to have faith and try them because the downside risk to trying them is almost nothing.

The program is well thought out. It is structured in such a way that each week you gain insights from observing what is actually happening in your shop. This weekly epiphany is great because your team becomes motivated, inspired and committed to making more changes.

It sounds too good to be true, but it works. Our due date performance is currently tracking at 100%, 3 months in to the program. Our lead times are being maintained at market expectation and we are charging a premium for times that clients want things faster. Our job shop is calm and ordered with almost no visible work in process and our scheduler has cancelled his prescription for angina tablets.

The best part about the system is how easy it is to run and manage. Our team is able to get immediate feedback when things go wrong from simple measurements. The corrective actions required are obvious and have an immediate impact which helps develop peoples understanding. We are much more focused on doing the things that matter and stopping doing the things that don’t.”  Daniel Heerding, Megara

If you’d like to know if your custom job shop or machine shop is a good fit for Velocity Scheduling, watch the job shop scheduling webinar, then sign up for a free private strategy session.  The Job Shop Whisperer aka Dr Lisa will dive deep to determine if your shop is a good candidate for her job shop scheduling program.

The Velocity Scheduling System is one of the best examples of Theory of Constraints in action.  It’s the drum buffer rope concept simplified.  If you’re shop is in need of the Job Shop Whisperer — check out the webinar right now!

Qualitel Corp implements Velocity Scheduling System and wins Award!

Tuanhai Hoang, President, Qualitel Corporation is named Manufacturing Executive of the Year, large firms. Qualitel implemented Velocity Scheduling System (VSS) and reduced lead-times by 25%.  You can read the full article here:  http://seattlebusinessmag.com/article/2015-washington-manufacturing-awards-manufacturing-executive-year-large-firms 

Qualitel is a custom electronics manufacturer making circuit boards and complex box assemblies for aerospace, medical, industrial and military customers.  Like most custom manufacturers they struggled to reduce lead-times.  With VSS they were able to reduce lead-times by more than 25%.  Now they are focused on the continuous improvement aspects of Velocity Scheduling System.

Precision Components Manufacturer achieves Job Shop Scheduling Success!

Profile Grinding is a manufacturer of precision components providing manufacturing solutions combining machining capabilities, innovation, engineering, and experienced, dedicated employees.   They serve many different industries including durable and capital goods, hydraulics, transportation, aerospace, and automotive. They work in all types of materials including mild, alloy, stainless steels, brass, bronze, plastics, aluminum, titanium, tungsten, and exotics.

And like any highly custom job shop they wanted to further improve on-time delivery and reduce chaos which is why they signed up for the Velocity Scheduling System Coaching Program.

Here’s what they had to say:

Custom Engineered Parts Job Shop Scheduling Success!

Skunk2 Racing engineers and builds the highest quality and best performing aftermarket parts for today’s sport compact cars.

Tool & Die Shop Scheduling Success!

Penn State Tool & Die is a manufacturer of specialized products for a multitude of industries. Participating in both commercial and defense related projects, they do machining and fabrication for Navy and Commercial Nuclear Programs; Navy and Commercial Shipbuilding; Navy and Commercial Nuclear Refueling; Handling and Storage Equipment; Aircraft and Aerospace Industries; Defense and Commercial Research and Development Programs; Gas Turbine Installations; Utility and energy Companies; and The Valve Industry.

Custom Machine Manufacturer gets results with Velocity Scheduling System!

Bent River Machine, Inc. designs, builds, tests, delivers, and installs factory automation for companies in several different markets to help manufacturers become more efficient. Bent River also produces a custom line of photovoltaic, flat panel laminators, low flow pumps, conveyors, handlers, valves, and pick and place systems. They work at being a valued part of their customer’s team, through current designs and custom automation. They strive to be much more than simply a print-to-part machine shop, they are here to help your business expand and grow by leveraging the power of automation.

They wanted to be able to serve more customers and to be able to deliver their high quality machines in less time. The faster they can deliver, the faster their customers can start gaining the benefits of Bent River automation. So they turned to the Velocity Scheduling System to schedule their custom machine shop.

Here’s what they had to say:

Job Shop Goes from Good to Great!

And how this shop that was 95% on time and only took 3.4 days to go through the shop when they STARTED still got benefits from the program:

Custom Injection Molding Job Shop Scheduling Success!

Crescent Industries is a supplier of custom injection molded thermoplastic products ranging in quantities from prototype to high volume.

Oil & Gas Job Shop Scheduling Success!

Schlumberger is the leading oilfield services provider, trusted to deliver superior results and improved E&P performance for oil and gas companies around the world.
Check out this email.

Maintenance Overhaul & Repair (MRO) Shop Improves Scheduling!

This testimonial is from a custom machine shop that does some repeat work, repair jobs (off site and on site), maintenance, completely new stuff, and provide resources for shut downs.

Gulf Engineering’s Machine Shop can handle the biggest repair jobs, particularly on rotating and reciprocating equipment. Gulf can balance rotating equipment in the field or in our shop. We can do your welding jobs, machining, boring, grinding, turning or any other operation on the biggest equipment. Our field services can do many milling jobs at your site. Gulf can manufacture your parts from a drawing or a prototype or we can make your prototype. Gulf Engineering is an authorized service center for Lawrence Pumps.

Custom Machine Builder Improves Scheduling!

This is a custom machine builder. They machine, fabricate and assemble (with lots of purchased components) big machines for the concrete paving industry, canal construction equipment, bucket wheel trenchers, and other special equipment.