Manufacturing engineering is the study of manufacturing processes and includes tool and die, formability, metal stamping, and more. It examines the machines that create parts, the processes that keep them efficient, and the people involved. The Phoenix Group typically works with automotive and other manufacturing companies to improve processes and drive cost savings. Common issues they help with include high scrap rates, quality control problems, and high machine maintenance costs. The principal motivator for process improvement is increased productivity for employees, processes, companies, customers, and professional development. The Phoenix Group provides value by helping identify solutions to complex manufacturing problems and improving manpower utilization and cost reduction.

1. Q&A:
Manufacturing Engineering Process
Optimization
What You Need to Know

2. What is Manufacturing Engineering?
Manufacturing Engineering Process Optimization 2
Manufacturing engineering is a
branch of engineering that
includes manufacturing processes,
such as tool and die, formability,
metal stamping, and more. It is the
study of the machines that create
parts, the processes that keep
them efficient, and the people that
do them.

3. What Types of Companies Do You Typically See Requiring Manufacturing
Engineering Services?
3
We work with a lot of companies in the automotive space – both OEM’s and
suppliers. For example, GM has assembly parts plants and stamping plants. We
work with all of these plants to drive improvement in their manufacturing
capabilities. That being said, we work with companies in all sorts of industries,
including canning, aerospace, and medical supplies. Basically any organization
that is doing a lot of volume in a manufacturing capacity.
Manufacturing Engineering Process Optimization

4. How Can an Organization Tell if They Would Benefit From Leveraging a 3rd Party
Manufacturing Engineering Consulting Company?
4
Production cost issues are one of the leading indicators of a need for a 3rd party consultant. High
scrap rates, for example. Most metal forming companies have scrap that comes from a flat piece of
stock. When the metal encounters too much pressure, it splits. This piece of metal is now useless.
One of our skills is helping improve the process so the metal doesn’t split. Quality control issues
could be a recurring theme as well. Wrinkles, warped metals, etc. These types of quality control
issues turn into rework, more sorting time, and increased costs for the manufacturer.
On the other side, high machine maintenance costs are common. Often, we’ll find that tradespeople
that have very specific knowledge experience difficulty transferring that from one person to another.
This falls under the umbrella of operational costs, where a manager might be asking the question,
“How do I make my department run more effectively?”. Traditionally, this would mean just adding
another employee – a higher cost. Now there’s an opportunity to get more from what you already
have.
Manufacturing Engineering Process Optimization

5. What’s the Principal Motivator Behind Manufacturers Leveraging Process
Improvement at Their Organizations?
5
The drive to make your people,
processes, and company more
productive. Whether you’re looking
for a big win to move up in the ladder,
are at the director-level wanting to
drive significant cost savings in your
department, or are getting pressure
to improve manufacturing quality, it’s
all about getting better. For the
employer, the customers, the
department, and your professional
self.
Manufacturing Engineering Process Optimization

6. What Value Do You Feel an Outside Party Like The Phoenix Group Provides to
Companies Looking For Opportunities to Improve Their Processes?
6
We help identify solutions to complex problems. There are over 1,000 variables
that go into forming metal. There are also four different tradespeople that touch
those variables independent of each other, without considering how one thing will
impact the other. We break through the confusion that goes into this and bring
process control to the operation.
We also help with manpower utilization and cost reduction. Often, plants will know
that they have an issue, but they wont know how to identify it exactly. Otherwise,
they would have fixed it themselves. Our solution starts with identifying the cost,
then resolving it.
Manufacturing Engineering Process Optimization

7. What Are Some Common Misconceptions That You Often Experience With Senior
Leadership Teams? How Do You Overcome This?
7
Leadership doesn’t believe that there’s an alternative to the status quo. There’s a
sense that whatever problems an organization is facing is “just the way it is”. At
the same time, leadership is getting pitched on the next greatest idea all day long.
This leads to fatigue and lack of interest.
Often, people hear that The Phoenix Group is a training company, then they tell
us that training doesn’t work. The thing is, training is just one component of a
holistic systems installation. In fact, training without a systems installation is a
waste of time - people work the way they do because of the systems they operate
in.
Manufacturing Engineering Process Optimization

8. How Long Does it Take Before an Organization Can Expect to See Results?
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It depends heavily on the
problem we’re trying to solve.
Generally, we build our
deliverables to deliver short term
and long term results. We do
that because we know we need
to be hitting interim results and
goals in order to reach the long
term goals. We’d expect to be
constantly hitting targets on our
way to achieving long term
success with an organization we
partner with.
The Phoenix Group drives millions in savings on downtime cost, cert cost, scrap
cost, and overall cost during a 4 year partnership with an OEM.
Manufacturing Engineering Process Optimization

9. Request a Free Consultation With The Phoenix
Group to See the Value We Can Provide For Your
Organization