Case study

A European consumer durables producer

Manufacturing strategy for a high-volume European consumer durables producer

This highly successful manufacturer of sector-dominant products was keen to keep ahead of the competition. The company wanted to re-address its manufacturing strategy in the light of increasing demand for product innovation, a steady rise in investment and operational costs, and additional logistical problems as product diversity escalated sharply.
    
PA team initially developed a sophisticated business simulation model to test the effect of alternative scenarios. Then, working with the client team, they identified, a wide range of improvement options including:

• Moving to a more modular product architecture
• Streamlining manufacturing by linking component production to assembly and focusing more tightly on specific product/volume combinations
• Outsourcing non-core activities

The team then calculated the business impact of pursuing these strategies.

During the project, PA:

• Illustrated the potential to improve the shareholder value of the company by 12%
• Provided a strategic 'road map' of improvement actions
• Identified a series of short-term actions for reconfiguring the manufacturing operations to improve output and reduce costs.