Scale · Capacity Planning & Bottleneck Analysis for Food Plants

Find the Real Bottleneck Before You Buy Equipment

The most common thing we find in a plant is a capacity model that says 95% OEE and a line running near 58%. The gap is where capital gets wasted. We measure every station, name the constraint with numbers behind it, and price every fix, so the money goes where the bottleneck actually is. Sometimes that means no money at all.

A stainless conveyor section under build in the shop, parts bins racked behind it

Engagement at a Glance

Typical range: ~$10K planning work to a $28K full-line assessment
Duration: 2–3 weeks
Structure: Fixed price, quoted before we start
Method: Theory of Constraints, station by station
Deliverables: Measured capacity model, OEE decomposition, ranked fixes with cost and payback
Ends with: A plan you can fund, not a dashboard

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What you get

1. Outcomes

The constraint, named with numbers

Measured rates at every station, not nameplates. True OEE split into availability, performance and quality, so you can see exactly where the capacity goes.

Capital only where it moves the line

Every loss has a different fix and a different price, and most of them cost less than a filler. Sometimes the fix is a scheduling change that costs nothing.

A model you can plan on

Measured OEE for today, a defensible target for next season, and the capital, if any, it takes to hit your volume at that number.

How it works

2. The Process

Step 1

Measure every station

We walk your operation and log rates, stops and scrap station by station, against what each machine can actually hold when it runs clean. Measured rates, not nameplates.

Step 2

Decompose true OEE

Availability × performance × quality at every station. Waiting time gets charged to the neighbor that caused it, so nobody fixes the wrong machine.

Step 3

Name the constraint

The lowest number is the bottleneck, and the stop log says what it's made of. Often it isn't the machine you were about to buy.

Step 4

Price the fixes

Every lever ranked with its cost, its payback and what it's worth in output. Then you decide whether, and how, to execute.

Proof

3. Recent Work

Recent: a refrigerated foods manufacturer needed 280,000 lb a day and was ready to buy another filler. True OEE was about 58% against the 95% their model assumed. The bottleneck was the chill loop, not the filler, and the filler they were about to buy was already sitting in their own facility. Every OEE point recovered was worth about 3,600 lb a day.

Detail of a plant floor plan showing four process machines laid out against racking and walls — **CAD render**|The model starts from the floor you actually have

A tape measure held against heated tubing to verify spacing during a build — **Detail**|Measured, not assumed

Launch Partners at a Glance

Longest client: 8 years and counting
Delivered: 100+ projects
Largest program: 52 identical machines, 4 runs, one OEM
Team: 12 people + in-house shop

Straight answers

4. Questions We Hear

How long does an assessment take?

Two to three weeks. We walk your operation, build a stage-by-stage capacity model with measured rates, and name the constraint with numbers behind it. Then you decide whether, and how, to execute.

What does it cost?

Planning work starts around $10K. The full-line assessment in the example above was $28K, fixed price. You get the price before we start.

What do we get at the end?

The constraint named, every fix priced with its payback, and a plan you can fund. Sometimes the answer is a new machine. Often it's less than you thought: a changeover fix, a scheduling change, or installing equipment you already own.

Do you do planning work, or only build machines?

Both. We do capital planning, capacity modeling, cost-per-unit analysis, and phased equipment roadmaps, often well before anything gets built. Plenty of clients start with a planning engagement and decide with us whether a build is warranted at all.

We can make enough. The margin just isn't there. Can you help?

That's a large part of what we do. We measure where the cost actually goes (labor per case, yield loss, scrap, changeovers, overtime, utilities), then fix the constraint driving it. Sometimes that's automation, sometimes a tooling change, and sometimes a scheduling change that costs nothing.

Do you work outside Colorado?

Yes. We're based in Arvada, in the Denver metro, and build nationwide. Recent work spans Texas, Nebraska, Florida, California, and Illinois, plus a federal production contract shipped from our shop.

Ready to Build Production You Can Count On?

Tell us what you're up against. A real engineer will respond within one business day — no pitch, no pressure.

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