Engineer-to-Order Manufacturers Reduce Assembly Time in Half with Pinnacle Strategies

Plano, TX -- (SBWire) -- 02/08/2013 --When demand outpaced capacity at FMC Technologies, it was imperative to ramp up production. The company hired Pinnacle Strategies to identify areas where immediate improvement was possible, then formulate and initiate solutions. Pinnacle complied, coupling considerable experience implementing Critical Chain projects with their “pit crew” technique and other innovative strategies. The outcome was impressive. Pinnacle CEO Mark Woeppel reports that the project resulted in a 50% reduction in test duration and final assembly time for the products FMC Technologies made for Shell Oil and substantial improvement overall including an increase in labor productivity of 15 to 30 percent — all without capital investment — all within 60 days.

Pit Crews cut final assembly time in half at FMC Technologies. Synchronized pit crews of today, represent optimum speed, precise timing, and meticulous attention to detail. According to Woeppel, those same benefits can be driven right onto the factory floor, giving the manufacturer a competitive workflow advantage that’s hard to beat. Pinnacle Strategies harnessed a pit crew analogy to demonstrate and facilitate successful Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM). The innovative idea proved itself by turning in an outstanding performance in a recent application at FMC Technologies, an engineer-to-order manufacturer of complex capital equipment in Houston.

Mark Woeppel is a Theory of Constraint expert and a master of organizational transformation with a lengthy track record of successful turnarounds. He is the leader at Pinnacle Strategies. Pinnacle Strategies (www.pinnacle-strategies.com) is an international management consulting firm delivering operations management excellence. Pinnacle Strategies increases shareholder value by developing high-performance business processes that significantly enhance productivity, reduce costs and time to market, improving profitability and accelerating sustainable growth.

Driller demand for FMC Technologies’ subsea trees (the huge under-ocean structures that interface between wellheads and flow lines) increased dramatically as the call for oil grew worldwide and surged in the U.S. Pinnacle’s Critical Chain implementation that incorporated the development of pit crews for the manufacturing operation proved to be “most significant,” according to Kendall Turner, FMC Technologies Assembly Process Engineering Manager. By relating the tree assembly process to a racecar making a pit stop, the method of working was changed so that workers were “at the ready” with the right parts at the right time.

About Pinnacle Strategies
Pinnacle Strategies offers results-driven consulting solutions in the areas of performance management, project management, operations management, and supply chain.

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Annette Hamilton, Director of Marketing
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