The situation

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A client in the chemicals industry needed help to manage demand for a new product mix.  DBA helped design a growth plan resulting in a 15% increase in capacity.

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Our client faced the following challenges:

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• Original nameplate capacities could not be used as improvements were made to various production units over the years

• After 4 years of declining output, the plant faced a new production target that was significantly higher than the most recent output

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The DBA involvement

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We provided an assessment of current manufacturing capacity, and identification and evaluation of low-cost incremental and capital-intensive breakthrough options for capacity growth, including:

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• Detailed analyses of historic overall equipment efficiency data

• Integrated capacity modelling with update of operational assumptions

• Calculation of baseline capacity and identification of process bottlenecks

• Calculation of capacity shortfalls per product type

• Identification of more than 30 incremental capacity growth options, with evaluation and selection of most preferred options

• Identification and evaluation of more longer-term capital intensive capacity growth options

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Key outcomes

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• Agreement on current baseline capacity

• Selection of incremental growth options that increased overall capacity by nearly 15% at minimal capital expenditure

• Incremental changes added sufficient capacity to cover sales forecast for next 5 years

• Identification of changes to operational management to enable and sustain higher production levels

• High CapEx longer-term capacity growth with potential of changing the industry to the benefit of our client