The problem
Where the time was going
A consulting and systems-integration firm helps corporate clients improve their print and audio-visual media, supplying digital asset management systems to the packaging, marketing, and communications divisions of Fortune 500 companies. It faced three pressures at once: stay ahead of competitors on technology, explain its choices credibly to customers, and show clients why they needed advanced equipment rather than older methods.
One Fortune 500 client ran about 38 printed-communications projects a year, with average cycle times of roughly five months. The firm needed a way to show, convincingly, where that time was going and how it could be reduced.
What we modeled
Mapping the process, then testing the fix
Instead of relying on brainstorming, the firm adopted process simulation, an animated and interactive way to test ideas before presenting them to clients. For the client's printed-communications workflow it built a high-level animated model of the whole process.
The model was aimed at three things: establish the current job cycle times, identify the major bottlenecks, and work out how to remove them. Because it was animated and interactive, the firm could trial a change and see the effect before recommending anything.
The result
The proof, and the payoff
The model pinpointed two bottleneck activities. Running an improved version showed cycle time dropping "by 22 days (from 155 to 133 days)," with activity utilization staying "above 95%." On top of that, the firm recommended new technology expected to cut at least ten more days.
The work also gave the firm what it had been missing in front of clients: tailored solutions it could point to, model demonstrations it could run live, and a clear justification for investing in advanced equipment.
Part of our work in services.