Factory Automation That Transforms Supply Chains

Turning Challenges into Opportunities

• Reducing Cost Across the Manufacturing Pipeline: Identifying waste, bottlenecks, and preventable downtime that inflated operating costs.
• Minimizing Unplanned Downtime: Moving away from reactive responses that disrupted production schedules and throughput.
• Accelerating Failure Learning and Response: Improving how quickly teams could detect issues, understand root causes, and prevent repeat events.
• Improving Inventory and Stocking Confidence: Enabling better coordination with vendors and maintaining optimal inventory levels across warehouses and stores.

Innovative Solutions:

• Always-On Operational Visibility: Leveraged automation and cutting-edge technology to increase real-time insight across the manufacturing pipeline.
• Proactive Maintenance Enablement:
  • Machines were continuously evaluated to identify where maintenance was needed before breakdowns occurred.
  • The organization shifted to a more planned maintenance schedule to further reduce the likelihood of downtime.
• Faster Learning Loops for Reliability: Streamlined the ability to learn from failures and address them quickly, improving reliability outcomes across the factory floor.
• Production and Materials Optimization: Improved line efficiency and materials efficiency through higher-quality data and more consistent operational control.
• Data-Driven Stocking Improvements: Expanded manufacturing pipeline visibility to support smarter vendor coordination and more dependable stocking practices.

Transformative Results

• $70 million in annual efficiency created within the supply chain, with benefits that carry forward year over year due to lasting operational improvements.
• Factory uptime exceeded “five nines” performance, achieving just 13 seconds of total downtime across the entire year.
• Mean time to learn from failures and address issues drastically improved, reducing repeat disruption risk.
• Reduced downtime exposure through a combination of proactive machine checks and a planned maintenance cadence.
• Meaningful gains in line efficiency and materials efficiency, supported by improved data and operational consistency.
• Stronger stocking outcomes through improved vendor coordination and more reliable inventory optimization across warehouses and stores.