Operation services for manufacturers

Achieving operational excellence requires you to align your people, processes and
technology with delivering value and profitability. Wipfli can help you maintain that alignment by looking past your day-to-day challenges to identify sustainable solutions.

Our operational excellence services include support for:

• Process improvement, including Lean and Six Sigma methodologies.
• Analyzing your operations and providing relevant benchmarking, best practices and actionable recommendations.
• Supporting your implementation of the right software and processes.

Wipfli’s job costing workshops can help you gain a complete picture of costs while keeping them aligned with both pricing and profitability.

Many manufacturers have found themselves challenged to gain a complete picture of what it truly costs to manufacture and deliver finished products to their customers, compared to the revenue generated or even the quoted price — but they don’t have the time or resources to commit to such an undertaking. 

Wipfli helps you gain crucial visibility into your processes and costs. Our job costing solution includes:

• A two-day workshop: During our two-day operational workshop with your team, we break down the components of your manufacturing activities, review your cost pools and analyze how they relate to one another. Then we identify the drivers of your overhead and what percentage of that overhead should actually come from your manufacturing process.
• Recommendations: We then provide you with a list of recommendations for improvements. Each manufacturer is different, and our recommendations are completely tailored to your situation. What’s more, we simulate for you what making the recommended changes will do to your overall performance — allowing you to not only more comfortably make ideal changes but also grow profitably in the future.

Manufacturers face increasing pressure to maximize asset productivity and minimize losses, yet many still lack the visibility needed to make informed decisions on the shop floor. Wipfli’s production monitoring solutions empower manufacturers to transform raw machine data into actionable insights. By capturing real-time data on machine utilization and maintenance needs, these tools enable faster, more informed decision-making. 

Our services include:

• Guided implementation that helps ensure timely, accurate configurations, supports staff education and helps you start leveraging data faster.
• Performance analysis support that helps increase data literacy and provides coaching over your data so that you’re equipped to leverage it in improving performance.
• Driving change with in-person support and staff augmentation that can help you facilitate change and leverage data to make smarter decisions  

As interest rates rise and raw material costs fluctuate, monitoring cash flow is key. Wipfli’s inventory management solutions can help you optimize inventory levels to improve your financial standing, achieve significant savings and free up capital.

Our inventory management services include:

Data readiness and AI assessment

Effective data management and governance are nonnegotiable for smarter manufacturing and optimized inventory management.  Our knowledge of ERP platforms, data, AI and robust digital systems can help mid-market manufacturers unlock the full potential of technology and achieve measurable results.

We focus on three critical areas:

• Data infrastructure understanding: We analyze your data management program, pinpointing strengths and areas for improvement.
• Data governance best practices: We help ensure accurate and available data through robust governance practices.
• Operational gap analysis: We assess your strategy, people, processes and technology to identify gaps. Our recommendations pave the way for strategic improvements.

Data visualization proof of concept

Let Wipfli demonstrate the potential value of your data by displaying it in a cloud platform and creating insightful dashboards. We’ll help you understand how to visualize your historical data for better decision-making around production and inventory management.