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Strategos Case Studies

Compilation of all Case Studies on Our Website 

Summary Issues /Topics

The Great Nuclear Fizzle at Babcock & Wilcox

Heavy Fabrication

Everything went wrong when the venerab`le boilermaker entered the nuclear pressure vessel business. The aftermath brought delivery delays, strikes, lawsuits, red ink and a bizarre suicide. This classic case study is an excellent way to introduce Manufacturing Strategy to your management team or classroom. It comes with notes on the most effective way to conduct the discussion.

  • Manufacturing Strategy
  • Key Manufacturing Task

Competition In Substation Transformers

Electrical Equipment

This study illustrates how one manufacturer moved from a "Do everything for everybody" mentality to a more focused approach to competition, in this instance, Delivery and Quality.

  • Key Manufacturing Task
  • Marketing/ Manufacturing
  • Focused Factories

Blitzing To Disaster

Aircraft Machining

How misapplication of the Blitz and designing workcells with slogans and edicts led this aircraft manufacturer into deep trouble.

  • Kaizen Blitz  or Event
  • Cellular Manufacturing

A Kaizen Blitz Overdose

Injection Molding/Assembly

Shows the effects of too much reliance on the Kaizen Blitz approach combined with too little attention to Manufacturing Strategy.

  • Kaizen Blitz or Event
  • Manufacturing Strategy

The Hidden Hazards in One Piece Flow

Investment Casting

A precision foundry focuses inappropriately on One Piece Flow when designing workcells. The results are lower productivity.

  • One Piece Flow
  • Cellular Manufacturing

A Successful Lean Manufacturing Implementation

Mechanical Control Cables

How perseverance and thoughtful planning leads this manufacturer to success in Cellular and Lean Manufacturing.

  • Lean Implementation
  • Manufacturing Strategy
  • Assembly Workcells

Kanban System Design

Light Assembly

Illustrates the 10 steps for designing a kanban systems for production control.

  • Kanban

Successful Kaizen Blitz

Industrial Heaters

The blitz approach is successfully applied to combined assembly/fabrication workcells that build industrial heaters.

  • Kaizen Blitz  or Event
  • Cellular Manufacturing

Kaizen Success II

Heavy Machining

The difficult situation of short-run machine shops is attacked successfully by this manufacturer of specialized water pumps.

  • Group Technology
  • Kaizen Blitz or Event
  • Cellular Manufacturing

Ford Crisis of 1920-1921

Ford Motor Company History

How Henry Ford survived the recession of 1920-1921, bought out some unpleasant partners and divorced himself from Wall Street bankers. The company emerged with great financial strength and almost doubled efficiency.

  • Just-In-Time
  • Inventory
  • Strategy
  • Lean History

Toyota Survives Strategic Bombing and The Aftermath of War

Toyota History

While the catastrophe of American bombing in 1945 affected all of Japanese industry, Toyota's biggest crises came about five years later. This financial and labor crisis was the inspiration for what became the Toyota Production System and, particularly, the Human Side of Lean.

  • Labor Unions & Employees
  • Strategy
  • Lean History

Harley Davidson

Harley Davidson History

In 1984 Harley-Davidson was in the last extremity, just hours away from bankruptcy. This article tells how Harley turned the tables on the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers and implemented Lean fast and cheap.

  • Just-In-Time
  • Inventory
  • History

The Glass Ceiling of Cycle Counting

Case Study

A company's cycle counting program had initial success but then stalled out. This case study illustrates why counting is not enough and Error Prevention is also required.

  • Cycle Counting
  • Inventory errors

Improving Service In Telecom

Action Learning & Process Improvement

While telecom companies move information at the speed of light, their business processes are somewhat slower. This case study shows how one large telecom company reduced installation time from three months to six weeks on a new type of business service.

  • Process Improvement
  • Action Learning
  • Office Lean

The Focused Factory In Printing

Focused Factory Case Study

After seven years in business, Les Davis has one customer for his company -- the only customer he wants. This case study shows how one entrepreneur focused his factory and his business on a single customer with singular results.

  • Focused Factory
  • Manufacturing Strategy

Apple, Foxconn & Manufacturing Strategy

How Apple Computer bungled strategy in their 1984 "Factory of The Future" and how they and their partner, Foxconn, are enjoying great success today. This case illustrates specific application of Manufacturing Strategy principles.

  • Manufacturing Strategy

Warehouse Inventory Analysis

This case study taken from one of our consulting projects shows how a distributor of machine parts used inventory analysis to discover how deficiencies in their supply chain led to stockouts, lost sales and huge overstocks.

  • Inventory

Manufacturing Inventory Analysis

Another case study in inventory analysis--this one for manufacturing. It pointed to bottlenecks and process complexity and led to a cellular re-layout of the plant.

  • Inventory

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Value Stream & Process Mapping

The Strategos Guide To Value Stream and Process Mapping goes  beyond symbols and arrows. In over 163 pages it tells the reader how to do it and what to do with it.

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