Process Analysis and Optimization

Optimizing processing facilities requires a lot more than a well designed and maintained plant. It requires a profound knowledge of the entire process including reserves or raw materials, product mix, sales mix, inventory management, etc. More than anything, it requires a highly qualified plant manager.

Most plant managers today are required to be the “Jack of all trades” and the master of many. With the ever increasing expectations related to safety, health, environmental, quality, customer relations, public relations, employee relations, employee development, accounting requirements (paper work), meetings, meetings, meetings (that is not a typo), and the list goes on and on. It is no wonder that plant managers are spending less time working on process analysis and optimization.

Many times the action required to dramatically improve performance seems to be just out of reach. TPS often provides a boost for plant managers to get over the hump and on their way to optimizing their facility.

We typically provide the following services:

• Inspection of the facility
• Interview management and employees
• Develop a flow diagram of the plant
• Identify the key operating modes and the optimum schedule for each mode
• Identify opportunity to improve product mix
• Identify the capacity of each component in the process
• Identify the constraints in the system
• Determine the most effective modifications to maximize the performance
• Analyze manpower requirements
• Develop a written report complete with suggestions and action items
• Provide training as needed
• Develop a process optimization plan
• Execute the plan