All case studies
Manufacturing & Field Service (Equipment Manufacturer)
Beat a $3.4M Savings Target, Then Found $1.5M More
An equipment manufacturer brought us back for a second engagement because the first one delivered more than the target.
Client: Equipment Manufacturer · name withheld
$3.5M
Annual savings run rate against a $3.4M target
29
Service positions right-sized
35%
Field service overtime reduction
$1.5M+
Estimated additional annualized savings from the second engagement
Situation
- Scheduling and staffing were based on history or gut feel, and operators were given work without time expectations.
- Supervisors had become expediters and parts chasers, and standards were out of date or missing.
- Management layers were heavy: 19 manager, supervisor and lead roles in manufacturing, and 37 service managers and supervisors across 18 territories, with worker-to-management ratios under 3:1 and 4:1.
First engagement: approach
- Reorganized manufacturing management from 19 positions to 12, and service management from 37 to 22 across four regions.
- Rebuilt scheduling rules around MRP lead times, updated standards and routings, and added performance reporting and staffing guides.
- Built a workload-based technician staffing model using work orders, preventive maintenance visits, and customers per technician.
- Built a Net Income Calculator so each territory could plan to a profit target, and added management training, review meetings, and a corrective action process.
First engagement: results
- Savings running just over $3.5M a year against a $3.4M target.
- Manufacturing: 10 overhead and indirect positions removed, about $650K a year, plus 68 fewer labor hours per machine, about $550K a year.
- Field service: 15 management positions and 14 technicians removed, 29 in total, just over $2.4M a year, with technician headcount down 12%.
Second engagement: approach
- Found total hours per machine stuck at 353 and prior-year overtime of $607K because crewing wasn’t matched to workload.
- Introduced a master schedule, a daily and weekly scheduling tool, and a weekly scorecard.
- Built crewing guides for indirect areas, rebuilt the field service labor model, and consolidated warehouses.
Second engagement: results (estimated annualized)
- $530K in manufacturing savings from a planned reduction from 353 to 299 hours per machine.
- $420K from a net 6-position reduction in field service.
- $469K from a 35% reduction in field service overtime.
- 13 warehouses closed or moved, about $131K annualized, with further closures scheduled that would bring the total to about $201K.
First-engagement figures are annual run rates reported at completion. Second-engagement figures are estimated annualized savings at the time of the wrap-up review, based on the plan and year-to-date results.
Ready to put this kind of rigor to work in your business?
Every engagement starts with a conversation about what's actually broken and what would move the number.