Manufacturing: The Little BIG Things

At Contour Engineering we are in pursuit of manufacturing quality products and components “On Time, Every Time”. Most of our clients are in the high innovation, high tech industries where quality is not negotiable. The other factor in this pusuit is speed, where a client’s (and therefore manufacturer’s) speed to market is often everything.

Of course, it is quite easy to achieve one of these at a time, and in fact achieving both at the same time is almost impossible. This is however, what our customers require of us all day, every day. There is no room for compromise and error in a lot of the industries we supply to, like the aerospace and medical industries. Getting it wrong can be expensive.

In a regular catch-up and review session with a client recently we asked: What do we need to improve on? This started a discussion around how we managed to deliver On Time with Zero Defects to date. In the field of precision engineering and hi-tech manufacturing, there are many out there that are easily able to say the words, ‘on time with zero defects’, but fewer follow through. Those that don’t deliver on this promise are quickly found out.

 

The Pursuit for On Time and Zero Defects

The reality is that we do not always get this right, but we aim to and are continuously reviewing our manufacturing systems and processes to ensure continuous improvement. The biggest differentiator we believe we have is our people and the relentless drive we have day in day out, job after job to make sure we deliver quality products on time. We’ve experienced success in many different fields that has enabled our clients to do amazing things like save lives and even travel to space, and helping with these projects drives us every day.

If you want to work with engineers who produce results on time with zero defects, contact us today.

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Manufacturing and Global Competitiveness

To be Globally Competitive you Need to Dominate Locally

The Role of Manufacturing in Achieving Success

Recently we had the privilege to be invited to the launch of the Team NZ Americas’ cup challenge where the new race boat was introduced. It reminded us that there is no lack of innovation in New Zealand. Success and winning at a global level can however be difficult. Only a few companies scale successfully locally and go on to be a global success (think Xero and TradeMe), or perform above expectation or against all odds at the world stage, like TeamNZ in the America’s Cup. Why is that?

What is often not well understood by most companies is the impact of core (internal – the things we are good at) and non-core (manufacturing, etc. that we are not so good at) and the direct correlation of these activities to success. Company leaders need a holistic view of manufacturing that considers the entire value chain, from research and development (R&D) and design to supply management, production, go-to-market strategies, sales, etc.

High Value Manufacturing Value Chain

At Contour Engineering we have learned the value we can add as part of the value chain by focusing on building solid partnerships where we partner to combine our core strengths (high precision engineering and manufacturing) for a better outcome.

The TeamNZ challenge is relying on both core, for example R&D and design, as well as non-core capabilities, such as engineering and manufacturing though partnerships to enable performance at the highest level. In our industry we often see companies fail due to inattention to non-core activities.

At Contour Engineering we get real about our core and non-core capabilities every 90 days as we review our strategy. Have you recently done and audit of both your core and non-core activities to ensure you stay competitive? Is manufacturing one of those activities (whether done in-house or not)? Have you considered dual sourcing?

If you want to have more information or want to discuss how our “OnTime – Zero Defects” approach can help you achieve success and take your products to the global market, get in touch with us.

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