Case Studies
A look at the operational challenges we've tackled and the structured approaches our team has applied to drive measurable improvement.
Pacific Rim Fabrication
A structured operational assessment and process optimization engagement for a growing mechanical fabrication company specializing in pre-packaged water component assemblies and chamber systems for civil infrastructure projects.
The Challenge
Pacific Rim Fabrication was experiencing growing strain on throughput, delivery reliability, and scalability as demand for fully assembled units increased. Manufacturing operations remained largely informal — with no validated cycle-time data, limited shop-floor visibility, inefficient inventory staging, and unmanaged bottleneck operations in grooving and welding. While an ERP system was in place, its capabilities were significantly underutilized at the shop-floor level.
Our Approach
Discovery & Stakeholder Interviews
Conducted shop floor walkthroughs, stakeholder meetings, and workflow reviews to map the end-to-end current state without assumptions.
Bottleneck & Cycle Time Analysis
Identified grooving and welding as the primary system constraints and performed cycle time estimation to quantify throughput impact.
Inventory & ERP Assessment
Evaluated existing NetSuite ERP utilization and assessed material staging, kitting, and inventory accuracy gaps against a barcode/WMS solution.
Capacity & Investment Analysis
Conducted a comparative cost–benefit analysis of adding labor versus investing in a multi-function grooving/welding machine to resolve the identified bottleneck.
Outcomes & Deliverables
- Current-state and future-state process maps documenting the full fabrication workflow
- Bottleneck identified in grooving/welding — targeted equipment investment recommended over incremental labor hiring
- Phased implementation roadmap covering cycle-time tracking, quality traceability, and inventory control
- NetSuite-integrated mobile barcode/WMS solution selected as the inventory improvement path
- 5S workplace organization framework proposed to reduce wasted motion and stabilize production flow
- Conservative break-even analysis of approximately 2.5 years for equipment investment with sustainable throughput gains
Facing similar operational challenges?
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