Manufacturing Consultancy
- Business and Manufacturing Strategy
- Technology Strategy
- Product and Process Development
- Lean Manufacture
- Project management
- Quality assurance
- Health and safety
- Brainstorming
Business and Manufacturing Strategy
Through the analysis of your company's Strengths and Weaknesses and the Threats and Opportunities faced, TWI can help you develop the most appropriate future direction and strategy for the business.The Business Strategy will help to decide the future capabilities required from your products and your manufacturing operation. TWI can help translate these into a Manufacturing Strategy that addresses these requirements and plans the changes and developments necessary.
Technology Strategy
The rate of technology innovation is fast outstripping the commercial organisation's ability to keep track of relevant research. The speed with which a new technology can be brought to market can be critical in determining a company's success or failure. Increasingly TWI is being asked to provide a technology monitoring service that keeps companies aware of developments worldwide that have particular relevance to their operations.This service can be readily expanded into the development of a company Technology Strategy. This identifies the future technological needs of the business and sets down how these are to be developed and incorporated into products and/or processes.
Product and Process Development
TWI Manufacturing Consultants regularly participate in Member
Companies' development teams, contributing to :
- Brainstorming
- Simultaneous Engineering
- Design for Manufacture
- Fitness for Purpose
- Process Technology
- Automation & Robotics
- Production Planning
- Cell Design
- Computer Simulation
- Plant Layout
Lean Manufacture
TWI Manufacturing Consultants have developed a unique participative training exercise aimed at all levels of the manufacturing organisation, which relates known techniques such as TQM and Kanban to profitability.The Lean Manufacturing Game requires 8 - 10 volunteers to work in a 'traditional' manufacturing organisation assembling childrens' building blocks into a 'product' for a demanding customer. The success of this organisation is measured on a profit/loss basis. The team is then given the chance to make whatever improvements they like and the new organisation is tried and re-measured. On the third attempt, 'Lean Manufacturing' techniques are introduced to optimise the team performance in terms of profit and customer satisfaction. An interactive discussion follows to analyse the ingredients of a truly profitable manufacturing operation. The game delivers strong messages about the roles of the Customer, Quality, Planning, Organisation and the choice of production system.
Project management
The effective management of projects is at the heart of TWI's business, over 6000 internal projects are managed every year. Increasingly TWI is being requested to apply its project management skills and systems to manage external projects for client companies and for collaborative programmes.Quality assurance
TWI has trained and qualified personnel who can help from the beginning of the project. Experts work with your staff to establish quality systems to comply with Standards such as ISO 9000 and EN 729 (ISO 3834). In the case of ISO 9000, pre-assessment examination can be carried out to test an organisations compliance before the real event. If problems arise after the assessment, support staff will be able to advise.Manufacturers can demonstrate compliance with EN 729 (ISO 3834) by registering in a Certification Scheme managed by TWI. Certification and registration on TWI's Register of Fabricators endorses the capability of a fabrication company in terms of products, processes and procedures.
Health and safety
TWI has considerable experience and knowhow in the health and safety aspects of joining technology. A service of particular value to Industrial Member companies is a welding fume and health & safety site survey service. This helps companies comply with the risk assessment requirements and to devise solutions, should any unacceptable risk be identified. The survey is of one day duration and may include:- up to 10 fume sampling tests
- advice on fume control measures
- assessment and advice on other significant health & safety hazards
- an informal tutorial on any points of concern regarding health & safety in fabrication
Brainstorming
An exciting new service offered by TWI is Brainstorming. This is a means of generating, evaluating and prioritising new ideas for
existing or new products. It has the following benefits:
- Defines opportunities
- Solves problems
- Generates options for action
- Helps plan further strategies
- Stimulates enthusiasm and teamwork
- Evaluates ideas with respect to cost and time
- Problem definition
- Generating ideas. This is done by a group of five to ten people selected for their inventiveness. The client often participates. No suggestion is rejected at this stage. The discussion is as freewheeling as possible.
- Grouping ideas. This is done in several ways, depending on the nature of the problem.
- Analysis. The technical and commercial risks associated with each idea are highlighted.
- Prioritisation. An action plan is identified tailored to the client's needs.
- Reporting. A report of recommendations is presented to the client.
- Predesign
- Concept design
- Detail design
- Production troubleshooting/continuous improvement
- Problems in service
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