Business Archives | Bullant Creative

3 steps to a renewable energy strategy

Renewable energy strategies for the food & beverage industry can be quite complex and full of uncertainty. However, once the unique needs and location of a particular manufacturing site are understood then the strategy can become self-evident when the different options are examined in the context of technological maturity and payback. Step 1 – Understand … Read more

Which changeovers are the most important in the process industry?

by Paul Day

Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) is a Lean manufacturing tool developed around the 1960’s as a systematic way of reducing changeover times in the car assembly industry. Most SMED guides include 4 steps. Identify the changeover elements Separate external elements Convert Internal Elements to External Streamline Remaining Elements SMED was developed with single work … Read more

The 3 prerequisites of a powerful digital twin

by Paul Day

Digital twins are simply the digital clone of a system. A digital twin can be a spreadsheet, a CAD drawing, a sophisticated business proposal or a complex dynamic simulation. The common characteristic is that the twin is digital and it accurately depicts the behaviour of a system during the of achievement of a business goal. … Read more

Production levelling in the process industry – why bother?

by Paul Day

Production levelling (or smoothing) is an important part of the Toyota production system. Here we show why production levelling is so important and how it is achieved in the process industry.

Which of the 5 Production Technologies do you have?

by Paul Day

In 1984, Robert Hayes from Harvard University and Steven Wheelwright from Stanford University, joined forces to write a book called Restoring our Competitive Edge¹. In it they identified 5 different production technologies.

10 types of business transformation – which one should you focus on?

by Paul Day

At Bullant we make sure we know our place in the world of business transformation. This is an article that helps us to focus our attention and we reckon it is a good resource for our clients as well.

We’ve distilled business transformation into 10 types and we’d love to know if you have any others.

10 high-powered building blocks that change the way you look at your complex supply chain

by Paul Day

the ultimate guide to process factory performance

Ever wish that there were simple, fundamental building blocks that could be used to represent your supply chain, no matter its complexity?

Hidden in the industrial engineering literature are 10 building blocks that can be used to clearly establish the performance of an entire supply chain.

How to create a factory performance metric that boosts productivity and changes behaviours

by Paul Day

Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is often used as the main metric for factory performance in the process industry (food & beverage, liquids, sheet goods, solid & fluid packaging operations).

However, while OEE is a good measure for independent workstations and processes, production lines in the process industry are usually made up of several workstations and processes which are all connected together, rendering the OEE metric less than ideal.

How to modify the Lean, 6 Sigma and Theory of Constraints methodologies for the process industry

by Paul Day

The process industry (food & beverage, liquids, sheet goods, solid & fluid packaging operations) differs from the parts manufacturing and assembly industry, where the Lean, 6 Sigma and Theory of Constraints methodologies were developed. The unique characteristics of supply chains in the process industry make them less responsive to a one-size-fits-all approach. Performance optimisation in … Read more

How to design a process factory that fits into a complex supply chain

by Paul Day

Process factories (food & beverage, liquids, sheet goods, solid & fluid packaging operations) must satisfy the competing needs of high volumes, high variety and high variability. All of this in a capital intensive environment where throughput is limited by equipment rather than labour and where product changeover issues are very complex. Process factory design is … Read more

Some of our Clients