To fix problems or resolve issues isn′t enough; real improvement requires bridging the gap between actual performance and what is theoretically possible.
Doing better with less (Minimalism) is the best way to keep it simple and robust in complex operations.
We have designed, developed, and implemented business improvement projects and systems in a host of arenas. We have conceived and deployed systems for transforming distribution and logistics, production management, strategic analysis of the global value-added chain, supply chain management, and yield management. We have organized and managed projects concerned with planning for growth, the siting and design of greenfield production facilities, and industry analyses on a national scale. The following are among the industries and companies we have served
Apparel and footwear
Lead time for shoes was reduced by one manufacturer from four weeks to one week and development time for sports apparel by another from 16 months to 6 months. Another company reduced risk in raw materials fourfold and yet another lowered cut-to-pack time from 20 days to 6 days while cutting work-in-process in half.
Chemicals
A producer of wheat starch products that simplified and stabilized its continuous process refining operations increased throughput by 30% per year, an improvement valued at $300 million, equivalent to the cost of building a new 1,000 ton per day capacity refinery.
Electronics
An instrumentation manufacturer increased first pass yield from 86% to 98.8% in its machining process and from 50% to 91% in assembly with concomitant reductions in lead times and was able to replace its MRP system with a simple, personal computer-based spreadsheet control system.
Food
A company for which we implemented an information system to integrate multi-warehouse logistics for product and cost control saved 10% of total distribution costs.
Household appliances
A household appliance maker that implemented in its product delivery system lean manufacturing concepts in conjunction with Minimalist principles was able to reduce inventory by 35% throughout a supply chain that extended to fifteen countries.
Laundry and linen leasing.
A German textile leasing and laundry service was able to exploit existing overcapacity in the nation's laundry industry and mount an aggressive global purchasing effort aimed at making it more competitive with suppliers that sell textiles directly to end users.
Metals Refining
One of the largest general-purpose mills in the world is being entirely redesigned and optimized for flexibility using Minimalist principles and a steel cord manufacturer that was able to achieve previous level of production with a far smaller complement of machines and reduce process disruptions fourfold and defects by 100:1 by radically reorganizing and restructuring its production process in accordance with these principles.
Minerals refining
An international non-ferrous refining company saw inventory turns increase from six to fifty times, reduced the foreign exchange risk of hedging precious metals, and realized gains in efficiency and flexibility from a restructuring of the supply chain process for its non-ferrous metals business for an aggregate system-wide savings of $3 million per year.
Pharmaceuticals
A pharmaceutical company that implemented Minimalist principles in its production planning, scheduling, and inventory policy system reduced work-in-process inventory by 50% and improved delivery times.
Steel
A multinational manufacturer of steel cord was aided with the planning and siting of a greenfield production facility in a foreign country. The manufacturer was helped to establish market demand, configure a highly refined and environmentally sensitive production process, develop a project timetable, and perform financial analyses that enabled a projection of plant profitability.
Textiles
A study initiated by Harvard Business School and conducted jointly by MNI Partners and a major investment bank in India of the effects on the country's textile and apparel industries of inconsistencies between government export-led growth and liberalization programs and contemporaneous regulatory, technological, and market changes continues to be discussed enthusiastically by industry leaders and ministers at many levels of government.
Any company can implement Minimalism. To date, every company we′ve worked with has seen some benefit from employing this Minimalist philosophy.