Engineering & Manufacturing Workflow Assessment
Gain an understanding of how Industry 4.0 can apply to your company with a Free, No Obligation “Engineering & Manufacturing Workflow Assessment” tool that can help determine your “Current State” and help identify potential improvement areas.
2:20 Minutes
Many people familiar with the term Industry 4.0 may not fully understand what the capabilities of Industry 4.0 are, nor where to begin with Industry 4.0. The basic definition of Industry 4.0 (The Fourth Industrial Revolution) is the ongoing automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices, using modern smart technology.
However, Industry 4.0 goes well beyond simply utilizing modern smart technology. Without the proper information feeding modern smart technology, Industry 4.0 can be defined as garbage in / garbage out technology. The key drivers of Industry 4.0 are reliant on providing meaningful information when and where needed. Our 30 plus years of experience with Industry 4.0 principals has taught us key to success with Industry 4.0 is the consolidation of information silos and the integration between key IT systems (ERP, CRM, CAD / PDM, MES and Legacy). This also includes the incorporation of automated workflow software to reduce and eliminate labor intensive quoting, engineering, and manufacturing workflow tasks.
To begin the process of approaching Industry 4.0 starts with an “Engineering & Manufacturing Workflow Assessment” that helps map out the “Current State” of your company to determine potential improvement areas with the Quoting, Engineering, Manufacturing, and Shop Floor workflow process. Logic Design Corporation (LDC) has devised an innovative spreadsheet to perform an “Engineering & Manufacturing Workflow Assessment” that is free of charge with no obligation to help your company effectively determine potential improvement areas that can be achieved with a variety of available consulting services and software tools. LDC will work with your company to navigate and complete the “Engineering & Manufacturing Workflow Assessment” process.
However, Industry 4.0 goes well beyond simply utilizing modern smart technology. Without the proper information feeding modern smart technology, Industry 4.0 can be defined as garbage in / garbage out technology. The key drivers of Industry 4.0 are reliant on providing meaningful information when and where needed. Our 30 plus years of experience with Industry 4.0 principals has taught us key to success with Industry 4.0 is the consolidation of information silos and the integration between key IT systems (ERP, CRM, CAD / PDM, MES and Legacy). This also includes the incorporation of automated workflow software to reduce and eliminate labor intensive quoting, engineering, and manufacturing workflow tasks.
To begin the process of approaching Industry 4.0 starts with an “Engineering & Manufacturing Workflow Assessment” that helps map out the “Current State” of your company to determine potential improvement areas with the Quoting, Engineering, Manufacturing, and Shop Floor workflow process. Logic Design Corporation (LDC) has devised an innovative spreadsheet to perform an “Engineering & Manufacturing Workflow Assessment” that is free of charge with no obligation to help your company effectively determine potential improvement areas that can be achieved with a variety of available consulting services and software tools. LDC will work with your company to navigate and complete the “Engineering & Manufacturing Workflow Assessment” process.
Engineering & Manufacturing Workflow Assessment Methodology
- The methodology behind the “Engineering & Manufacturing Workflow Assessment” is based on defining four areas of the quoting, engineering, and manufacturing workflow process that includes key Industry 4.0 information areas which include:
- Sales Quotes: Accurate quoting is the normal starting point in the engineering and manufacturing workflow process.
- Engineering / Sales Orders: The next step in the engineering and manufacturing workflow is the daily processing of sales orders, which are the same as engineering orders that need work done by the engineering department to process Engineering to Order (ETO), Configure to Order (CTO), and custom order.
- Job Orders / Scheduling: Once orders that are processed by engineering, including standard orders, the next step in the engineering and manufacturing workflow process is to prepare specific information required for production including job orders and scheduling.
- Production Orders / Data Collection: The major last step in the engineering and manufacturing workflow process is the actual execution of job orders, which we then refer to as Production Orders and the tracking and recording of actual production counts that drives real-time production dashboard capabilities.
Engineering & Manufacturing Workflow Outline
When launching the "Engineering & Manufacturing Workflow Assessment" spreadsheet, the following Excel Worksheet is displayed with the following worksheet tabs:
The tabs included in the "Engineering & Manufacturing Workflow Assessment" spreadsheet include the following:
1-Profile: This spreadsheet tab provides an area to define the work shifts for Quoting, Engineering, and Manufacturing and includes defining the various Job Titles, Overhead Rates, and percentage of time they dedicate to each specific area.
2-Quotes-Orders: This spreadsheet tab provides an area to define the numbers of Sales Quotes, Engineering / Sales Orders, Manufacturing / Job Orders that are generated on average daily for your company.
3-Improvements: This spreadsheet tab includes sections to enter potential improvement percentages based on applied workflow automation capabilities provided by the Global Edge system, which then reflects the potential cost savings.
4-Software: This spreadsheet tab includes pricing of the Global Edge system and the selection of the various software and service options to help drive the potential results and Return On Investment.
5-Results: This spreadsheet tab includes the results of the potential improvements and capacities that are delivered with the potential workflow improvements.
1-Profile: This spreadsheet tab provides an area to define the work shifts for Quoting, Engineering, and Manufacturing and includes defining the various Job Titles, Overhead Rates, and percentage of time they dedicate to each specific area.
2-Quotes-Orders: This spreadsheet tab provides an area to define the numbers of Sales Quotes, Engineering / Sales Orders, Manufacturing / Job Orders that are generated on average daily for your company.
3-Improvements: This spreadsheet tab includes sections to enter potential improvement percentages based on applied workflow automation capabilities provided by the Global Edge system, which then reflects the potential cost savings.
4-Software: This spreadsheet tab includes pricing of the Global Edge system and the selection of the various software and service options to help drive the potential results and Return On Investment.
5-Results: This spreadsheet tab includes the results of the potential improvements and capacities that are delivered with the potential workflow improvements.
Section 1: Profile
This section provides a foundation for establishing base profile information that provides a tool for effectively identifying improvement areas with your company's quoting, engineering, and manufacturing workflow process. To access the "Profile" worksheet, select the "1-Profile" tab:
1.01: Work Schedule Hours
The chart below allows you to define the number of shifts, hours per shift, days per week, and weeks per year with the departments that handle Quoting, Engineering / Sales Order, and Manufacturing / Job Order workflow tasks. Populate each of red outlined cells to define the work schedule for each of these departments / areas:
1.02: Employee Profile / Workflow Tasks (Quoting)
The chart below is for defining the Job Titles / Job Positions of the people involved in generating Sales Quotes including their Overhead Rate, Employee Count of each Job Title and the Average Percent of time that is dedicated to the quoting process. In our example below, five people are dedicated to the quoting process with a total of 24.40 hours per day. This total is used as a baseline for the current quoting capacity:
The chart below in conjunction with the above chart provides the definition of the workflow steps / tasks associated with the quoting process. Following the definitions of the quoting workflow process is a percentage breakdown of each workflow task. In our example, the following percentages have been applied to each workflow task so the Percent / Time Balance equals 100.00 percent and 24.40 hours per day to match the hours generated in the chart above:
1.03: Employee Profile / Workflow Tasks (Engineering)
The chart below is for defining the Job Titles / Job Positions of the people involved in processing Engineering / Sales Orders including their Overhead Rate, Employee Count of each Job Title and the Average Percent of time that is dedicated to the processing of Engineering / Sales Orders. In our example below, three people are dedicated to the engineering process with a total of 10.00 hours per day. This total is used as a baseline for the current engineering capacity as it relates to the processing of Engineering / Sales Orders:
The chart below in conjunction with the above chart provides the definition of the workflow steps / tasks associated with the processing of Engineering / Sales Orders. Following the definitions of the Engineering / Sales Order process is a percentage breakdown of each workflow task. In our example, the following percentages have been applied to each workflow task so the Percent / Time Balance equals 100.00 percent and 14.00 hours per day to match the hours generated in the chart above:
1.04: Employee Profile / Workflow Tasks (Manufacturing)
The chart below is for defining the Job Titles / Job Positions of the people involved in processing Manufacturing / Job Orders to prepare information for the shop floor which includes their Overhead Rate, Employee Count of each Job Title and the Average Percent of time that is dedicated to the processing of Manufacturing / Job Orders. In our example below, three people are dedicated to the manufacturing process with a total of 16.00 hours per day. This total is used as a baseline for the current manufacturing capacity as it relates to the processing of Manufacturing / Job Orders:
The chart below in conjunction with the above chart provides the definition of the workflow steps / tasks associated with the processing of Manufacturing / Job Orders. Following the definitions of the Manufacturing / Job Order process is a percentage breakdown of each workflow task. In our example, the following percentages have been applied to each workflow task so the Percent / Time Balance equals 100.00 percent and 16.00 hours per day to match the hours generated in the chart above:
1.05: Applied Workflow Automation
In the "Applied Workflow Automation" section, the spreadsheet provides an area to enter the Applied Workflow Automation options that are specifically available to your company to improve a specific workflow process or group of workflow processes. The chart below lists the Workflow Automation solutions that are available and provided by the Global Edge Integrated Manufacturing software to use in our example, and to show what is possible with the various workflow automation capabilities. This workflow automation will be applied in the “4-Improvements” tab to illustrate the improvements that is possible with the below Applied Workflow Automation:
Section 2: Quotes / Orders
This section provides the capability to define how many Sales Quotes, Engineering / Sales Orders, and Manufacturing / Job Orders are currently processed by your company Daily, Weekly, and Yearly. This includes the breakdown of the percentage of Simple Parts, Medium Parts, and Complex Parts are associated with each of the various Sales Quotes, Engineering / Sales Orders, Job Orders, and Production Orders. To access the "Quotes-Orders" worksheet, select the "2-Quotes-Orders" tab:
2.01 - Sales Quote Volume
This section allows for the definition of the number of Incoming RFQ (Request For Quotes) and the current average number of Sales Quotes that are generated each day. Each of red outlined cells allows the entry of relevant Sales Quote information to drive the ROI Calculator (“2-Quotes-Orders”) tab. In addition to the current counts for RFQ’s and Sales Quotes, you can define the average number of parts per sales quote, which in our example is 4.00 Parts / Quote. Additionally, in our example, we define a Sales Quote Close Percentage of 30.00 percent.
On the lines labeled "Simple Parts", "Medium Parts", and "Complex Parts" provide a breakdown of an average percentage of what comprises an average Sales Quote including the "Minutes Per Part" they take to process so it proportions to match the 24.40 daily capacity hours:
On the lines labeled "Simple Parts", "Medium Parts", and "Complex Parts" provide a breakdown of an average percentage of what comprises an average Sales Quote including the "Minutes Per Part" they take to process so it proportions to match the 24.40 daily capacity hours:
2.02 - Engineering Order Volume
This section ripples down the number of closed Sales Quotes from the previous section (2.01 – Sales Quote Volume) of 20 Processed Sales Quotes (20 times 30 percent close rate) which equals 6.00 daily orders. From this calculation, also included / defined is 10.00 Percent Part Reorder which is subtracted from the 6.00 daily orders (6.00 times 10 percent) which is subtracted from the daily orders that equals 5.40 Engineering Orders per day which is displayed in the “Engineering Order Count (Current)” daily cell.
On the lines labeled "Simple Parts", "Medium Parts", and "Complex Parts" provide a breakdown of an average percentage of what comprises an average Engineering Order including the "Minutes Per Part" they take to process so it proportions to match the 14.00 daily capacity hours:
On the lines labeled "Simple Parts", "Medium Parts", and "Complex Parts" provide a breakdown of an average percentage of what comprises an average Engineering Order including the "Minutes Per Part" they take to process so it proportions to match the 14.00 daily capacity hours:
2.03 - Manufacturing Order Volume
This section ripples down the number of Engineering Orders from the previous section (2.02 – Engineering Order Volume) of 5.40 processed which equals 5.40 Manufacturing Orders per day which is displayed in the “Manufacturing Order Count (Current)” daily cell.
On the lines labeled "Simple Parts", "Medium Parts", and "Complex Parts" provide a breakdown of an average percentage of what comprises an average Manufacturing Order including the "Minutes Per Part" they take to process so it proportions to match the 16.00 daily capacity hours:
On the lines labeled "Simple Parts", "Medium Parts", and "Complex Parts" provide a breakdown of an average percentage of what comprises an average Manufacturing Order including the "Minutes Per Part" they take to process so it proportions to match the 16.00 daily capacity hours:
Section 3: Improvements
This section includes the cumulative results of the "Engineering & Manufacturing Workflow Assessment" process and the potential savings that can be achieved by incorporating Global Edge Automated Workflow Functionality. To access the "Improvements" worksheet, select the "3-Improvements" tab:
3.01 - Applied Workflow Automation
As defined in Section 1.05 (Applied Workflow Automation), the Automated Workflow Functionality provided by the Global Edge system works with your existing workflow and software technologies and is not disruptive to your operations. In the subsequent sections, the below Applied Workflow Automation has been applied to the Workflow Tasks that were previously defined in Section 1: Profile:
3.02 - Sales Quote Improvements (Sales / Engineering Departments)
The chart below allows you to enter potential "Sales Quote Improvement" percentages for each of the Sales Quote Steps by entering values in each of the red cells. The far right-hand column allows you to select the appropriate "Workflow Automation Plug-In" solution that can help achieve the specific workflow improvement.
Savings Summary
With the Improvement Percentages entered in our above example, starting with the 24.40 hours of daily available Quoting Capacity, 11.77 hours per day of savings will be achieved, which is a nearly 100% increase in quoting velocity and resulting in a 48.25 percent time and cost savings with the Applied Automation functionality. This equates to daily savings of $700 and weekly savings of $3,398 and annual savings of $174,906. This is achieved by reducing the time of an average Sales Quote from 73.20 minutes to 37.88 minutes.
From a different perspective, Daily Quoting Capacity is increased from 20 sales quotes generated daily to 30 sales quotes generated daily, which is also an increase of 2,500 Sales Quote per year.
From a different perspective, Daily Quoting Capacity is increased from 20 sales quotes generated daily to 30 sales quotes generated daily, which is also an increase of 2,500 Sales Quote per year.
3.03 - Engineering Order Improvements (Design / Product Engineering)
The chart below allows you to enter potential "Engineering / Sales Order Improvement" percentages for each of the Engineering Sales Order Steps by entering values in each of the red cells. The far right-hand column allows you to select the appropriate "Workflow Automation Plug-In" solution that can help achieve the specific workflow improvement.
Savings Summary
With the Improvement Percentages entered in our above example, starting with the 14.00 hours of daily available Engineering Capacity, 7.17 hours per day of savings will be achieved, which is a 50% increase in the processing speed of engineering orders and resulting in a 51.25 percent time and cost savings with the Applied Automation functionality. This equates to daily savings of $502 and weekly savings of $2,511 and annual savings of $125,563. This is achieved by reducing the time of an average Engineering Order from 155.50 minutes to 75.81 minutes.
From a different perspective, Daily Engineering Capacity is increased from 5.40 engineering orders processed daily to 10.43 engineering orders generated daily, which is also an increase of 2,608.70 Engineering Orders per year.
From a different perspective, Daily Engineering Capacity is increased from 5.40 engineering orders processed daily to 10.43 engineering orders generated daily, which is also an increase of 2,608.70 Engineering Orders per year.
3.04 - Manufacturing Order Improvements (Shop Floor Preparation)
The chart below allows you to enter potential "Manufacturing / Job Order" percentages for each of the Manufacturing / Job Order Steps by entering values in each of the red cells. The far right-hand column allows you to select the appropriate "Workflow Automation Plug-In" solution that can help achieve the specific workflow improvement.
Savings Summary
With the Improvement Percentages entered in our above example, starting with the 16.00 hours of daily available Manufacturing Capacity, 7.12 hours per day of savings will be achieved, which is an 80% increase in the processing speed of manufacturing orders and resulting in a 44.50 percent time and cost savings with the Applied Automation functionality. This equates to daily savings of $308 and weekly savings of $1,540 and annual savings of $76,985. This is achieved by reducing the time of an average Manufacturing Order from 177.75 minutes to 98.65 minutes.
From a different perspective, Daily Manufacturing Capacity is increased from 5.40 manufacturing orders processed daily to 9.73 manufacturing orders generated daily, which is also an increase of 2,432.81 Manufacturing Orders per year.
From a different perspective, Daily Manufacturing Capacity is increased from 5.40 manufacturing orders processed daily to 9.73 manufacturing orders generated daily, which is also an increase of 2,432.81 Manufacturing Orders per year.
Section 4: Software Subscription & Professional Services
This section includes pricing of the Global Edge system and the selection of various options to help drive the potential Return On Investment with the ROI Calculator.
4.01 - Software Subscription / User Counts
This section provides the selection of Global Edge software module options including entering an estimated Linux Server Hardware price. Quantity of the Global Edge Startup Fee and Base Module Per User quantities are driven the employee counts entered in the “1-Profile” tab. The “Unit Price” column lists the monthly Per User prices, and the monthly Module prices which are a Per Site price that covers whatever selected quantity of users. Selecting “Yes” or “No” in the “Enterprise”, “Quoting”, “Engineering”, and “Manufacturing” columns will include the various system options in each configuration and ripple throughout the spreadsheet:
4.02 - Professional Services
This section provides the selection of Global Edge Professional Services by selecting “Yes” or “No” in the “Include?” column. The “From” and “To” columns allow for the entry of hour ranges for services of each Project Phase:
4.03 - System Totals
This section automatically updates the Global Edge System Totals from the two previous sections with these totals automatically driven into the “3-Improvements” tab:
Section 5: Results
This section includes the cumulative results of the "Engineering & Manufacturing Workflow Assessment" process and the potential savings that can be achieved by incorporating Industry 4.0 workflow automation components. To access the "Results" worksheet, select the "5-Results" tab:
Engineering & Manufacturing Workflow Assessment: Savings ResultsComprehensive Labor Cost Reduction and Long-Term Savings in Sheet Metal Fabrication
Overview
The “Engineering & Manufacturing Workflow Assessment” evaluates three crucial operational areas within a sheet metal fabrication company: Quoting, Engineering, and Manufacturing. The assessment focuses on identifying process improvements and workflow optimizations that collectively drive significant cost savings and efficiency gains across the organization.
Annual Labor Cost Reduction
By implementing the recommended workflow enhancements, a sheet metal fabrication company can reduce its combined labor costs in the quoting, engineering, and manufacturing departments by more than $200,000 annually. This represents a labor cost reduction exceeding 40% per year, highlighting the substantial impact of process streamlining and automation.
Five-Year Net Cost Savings
The cumulative effect of these annual savings is projected to result in net cost savings of over $1.595 million across a five-year period. These savings are achieved by minimizing inefficiencies, reducing manual interventions, and leveraging technology to optimize each phase of the workflow.
Illustrative Savings Chart (Enterprise)
The following is the savings results of the “Engineering & Manufacturing Workflow Assessment” which is the culmination of the three primary areas that include: Quoting, Engineering, and Manufacturing. The chart below illustrates how a sheet metal fabrication company can reduce quoting, engineering, and manufacturing labor costs by over $1.887 Million and by over 40 percent annually and achieve net cost savings of over $1.595 Million for five years:
Illustrative Savings Chart (Quoting Section)
The following illustrates the potential savings and Return On Investment (ROI) with only the Quoting Section including a Global Edge system based on five users:
Illustrative Savings Chart (Engineering Section)
The following illustrates the potential savings and Return On Investment (ROI) with only the Engineering Section including a Global Edge system based on three users:
Illustrative Savings Chart (Manufacturing Section)
The following illustrates the potential savings and Return On Investment (ROI) with only the Manufacturing Section including a Global Edge system based on three users:
5.01 - Results (Enterprise)
The following chart is a culmination of the improvements and savings that were illustrated in the Quoting, Engineering, and Manufacturing sections with the following Enterprise representation:
Savings Summary
The above chart illustrates the “Total Existing Enterprise Processing Hours” of 54.39 daily hours for Quoting, Engineering, and Manufacturing, which equals 271.96 weekly hours, and 13,598.13 yearly hours. The estimated cost of these Enterprise Processing Hours equates to $3,122 daily cost, $15,610 weekly cost, $780,5000 yearly cost.
The “Total Potential Enterprise Improvement Savings” that is a result of the improvement percentages in the “4-Improvements” tab. The resulting savings equate to $1,510 daily savings, $7,549 weekly savings, $377,454 yearly savings. Lastly, this also results in a yearly hourly reduction of 6,516 hours, which is an improvement of 48.36% percentage in savings.
The “Total Potential Enterprise Improvement Savings” that is a result of the improvement percentages in the “4-Improvements” tab. The resulting savings equate to $1,510 daily savings, $7,549 weekly savings, $377,454 yearly savings. Lastly, this also results in a yearly hourly reduction of 6,516 hours, which is an improvement of 48.36% percentage in savings.
5.02 - Results (Sales Quotes)
The following chart is a summary of the improvements and savings that were illustrated in the Quoting section of the “3-Improvements” tab:
Savings Summary
The above chart illustrates the current count of 30 “Incoming RFQ (Request For Quotes)” and the daily generation of 20 Sales Quotes, which also illustrates a deficit of 10 RFQ’s that are not being processed. With the applied workflow improvements, the daily quoting capacity increases to 39 daily Sales Quotes that can be processed.
Also illustrated is the current time of 73.20 minutes to generate a Sales Quote is reduced to 37.88 minutes, which reduces the time and cost per Sales Quote by 48.25 percent. This results in the cost per quote from $72.50 to $37.52 for a reduction of $34.98 per Sales Quote.
Also illustrated is the current time of 73.20 minutes to generate a Sales Quote is reduced to 37.88 minutes, which reduces the time and cost per Sales Quote by 48.25 percent. This results in the cost per quote from $72.50 to $37.52 for a reduction of $34.98 per Sales Quote.
5.03 - Results (Engineering Orders)
The following chart is a summary of the improvements and savings that were illustrated in the Engineering section of the “3-Improvements” tab:
Savings Summary
The above chart illustrates the current count of 5.40 “Engineering Order Count” that are processed daily with the current engineering capacity. With the applied workflow improvements, the daily engineering order capacity increases from 5.40 to 10.43 engineering orders that can be processed daily.
Also illustrated is the current time of 155.50 minutes to process an Engineering Order is reduced to 75.81 minutes, which reduces the time and cost per Engineering Order by 51.25 percent. This results in the cost per engineering order from $181.48 to $88.44 for a reduction of $93.04 per Engineering Order.
Also illustrated is the current time of 155.50 minutes to process an Engineering Order is reduced to 75.81 minutes, which reduces the time and cost per Engineering Order by 51.25 percent. This results in the cost per engineering order from $181.48 to $88.44 for a reduction of $93.04 per Engineering Order.
5.04 - Results (Manufacturing Orders)
The following chart is a summary of the improvements and savings that were illustrated in the Manufacturing section of the “3-Improvements” tab:
Savings Summary
The above chart illustrates the current count of 5.40 “Manufacturing Order Count” that are processed daily with the current manufacturing capacity. With the applied workflow improvements, the daily manufacturing order capacity increases from 5.40 to 9.73 engineering orders that can be processed daily.
Also illustrated is the current time of 177.75 minutes to process a Manufacturing Order is reduced to 98.65 minutes, which reduces the time and cost per Manufacturing Order by 44.50 percent. This results in the cost per manufacturing order from $128.15 to $71.11 for a reduction of $57.04 per Manufacturing Order.
Also illustrated is the current time of 177.75 minutes to process a Manufacturing Order is reduced to 98.65 minutes, which reduces the time and cost per Manufacturing Order by 44.50 percent. This results in the cost per manufacturing order from $128.15 to $71.11 for a reduction of $57.04 per Manufacturing Order.