Optimation Blog

Process Monitor (PM) has a long-term track record of eliminating production variability and saving manufacturers millions of dollars a year.

“The core principle of the latent defect theory is that variation in manufacturing processes is the main culprit for defects, and eliminating variation will help eliminate defects, which will in turn eliminate the wastes associated with defects, saving money and increasing customer satisfaction."

As we continue business operations, Optimation has been actively working on fabrications for manufacturing COVID-19 related medical equipment. This has been a boost in our pride of American manufacturing and its continued comeback over the past few years. Measured, steady, and decisive. This is what we’ve told ourselves at Optimation throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic. From the very beginning our team is thinking critically about preventing the spread of COVID-19; all while maintaining business operations vital to our clients and community. We have more than accomplished our primary goal of keeping our teammates and their families safe. There continues to be different perspectives on COVID-19 response and what the best option is when considering all stakeholders and complicated issues. This is a healthy debate and will likely allow us to strike a good balance on decisions moving forward. As an Environmental, Health and Safety professional, I must look at risk from the perspective of what is, or is not, an acceptable level. Optimation is a supplier of industrial fabrication, construction, and engineering services to critical infrastructure such as food production, pharmaceuticals/medical devices, and aerospace/defense.

On several previous occasions I have been given the opportunity to blog about one of my passions; capital project execution and the application of a Phases and Gates methodology. As we have previously articulated, Phases and Gates is a shared approach to achieving a business goal, usually involving installing or upgrading manufacturing assets, shared between an end user (the owner) and the chosen solution provider. The beauty of working under a method where the project objectives, technical exploration, definition, and then execution are scripted, and the individual steps with respective deliverables or work product are described as part of the contractual agreement, is that the work process framework promotes clear communication, crisp expectations, and a means to collaborate and manage project risk.

My passion for all things mechanical and engineering go back to my early childhood. Whether it was trying to sell my mom on the idea that modifying a borrowed moped to go just a few MPH faster really was a good idea, or, convincing my brother to convert his skateboard into a street luge; I’ve been tinkering with things, and getting buy from others, from the start. The reason? Growing up with two competitive brothers who both have a similarly strong mechanical interest. It was a boiler room of ideas, where the best ideas, or the most persuasive brother, won out.

Photo by Josh Hild on Unsplash" width="300" style="width: 300px; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;">Heroic Aptitude.

I’m a handy guy.  I can build a table from scrap wood, maintain my car, and drywall a room pretty darn well. Even so, I fail as an innovator of physical products and designs.  Case in point, about 10 years ago my friend Sam was over for a family party and used our 2^nd-floor bathroom.  Later he mentioned to me that he’d be back the next day because he could fix my shower curtain rod.  He was right - the weird rod around the shower in my 1929 Tudor was sagging because it was a right-angle bend that was unsupported.  The weight of a simple towel could bend it badly and though I’d tried a few ideas, I’d not solved the problem in the five years we’d lived there.  Sam shows up with a short steel cable, a turnbuckle and an eyebolt.   Fixed in 5-minutes FLAT. He connected the bend point to the ceiling 

with expert skill as if this was his job.  In fact, it was to a degree:  Sam is a CNC Machinist.

My wife called him MacGyver and offered him a slice of pie.

Whether it is for hand sanitizer, shampoo ingredients, a medical additive, or any of a thousand other process steps in a thousand different industries, producing chemistries and other products in a modular platform is increasingly the norm. More and more frequently we at Optimation are seeing requests, and opportunities, for modular or skid-based production and manufacturing process projects. These are condensed application sets embodied in a well-controlled and highly-engineered custom configuration.  Clients come to us for these skid systems, or we propose them, based on an understanding of the process requirements. These technologies are ideal to make the most efficient use of space, or to optimize and simplify set up and installation, and/or to produce repeatable systems that can be transported or installed virtually anywhere.

There are HUGE opportunities for re-shoring and creating American jobs!

This is an ideal time for venture capitalist and entrepreneurs to band together, identify needed items and invest in the factories that will manufacture these items here in the United States.

Photo by iMattSmart on Unsplash" width="590" style="width: 590px; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;">It has been an interesting several months of attempting to service our clients under the pandemic related constraints. At Optimation, we have observed many of our clients who have, out of necessity, had to scale back their operations, including things like pursuing needed capital improvements to their manufacturing equipment. One market segment that we participate in, that we have observed struggling with factory shutdowns and limited personnel access is the industry that relies on roll to roll manufacturing methods and machinery to produce their products.

We  announced a new Chief Operating Officer this week. Wendy Smith, with over thirty years’ experience in plant operations and design and engineering services management, is excited to take on the challenge.

We have new heroes to follow. Crew Dragon and the Falcon 9 rocket launched Saturday May 30th, and the Lunar Optimized Starship and the Artemis program will be here in the near future!