Case studies / Power Equipment, Generators and Batteries
Case studyImported component planning for a generator and battery maker
A power equipment maker in three countries planned imported components against real lead times, set deliberate buffers and standardised configurations, ending most shortage stoppages.
Overview
A regional manufacturer of diesel and gas generator sets, uninterruptible power systems and battery storage cabinets, with assembly plants in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam serving data centres, hospitals and industrial sites.
Scale. Three plants and two regional warehouses, around 4,500 orders a year with many configurations per order, and engines, alternators, controllers and cells imported from Europe, Japan and China, delivered as a phased, multi-location programme.
The challenge
Assembly lines stopped because a part had not arrived. An engine was stuck in customs, a batch of controllers was three weeks late, or a cabinet was half built when someone noticed the circuit breakers had never been ordered. Each stoppage left skilled assemblers idle and pushed delivery dates for customers who had bought the equipment precisely to avoid downtime.
Most critical components were imported, with lead times from six weeks to five months. Each plant planned them differently, some from spreadsheets, some from memory, and none used reliable lead-time data. Buyers placed urgent orders by air freight to recover, which ate into margins.
Orders were heavily customised. Sales engineers configured each unit almost from scratch, so the same customer requirement could produce different bills of materials in different countries. Quoting took days, and planners could not forecast components for configurations nobody had defined.
Operating in three countries added further variation: different import documentation, currencies and tax treatment, and no single view of stock or commitments across the group.
The solution
Sales engineers now configure units from a catalogue of standard designs and approved options. Each configuration carries a defined bill of materials, so a quote can be priced and its components planned the moment it is issued.
Component planning works backwards from customer delivery dates using measured lead times for each supplier and route, including typical customs clearance. Long-lead imports such as engines and alternators are covered by planned buffers sized to their variability; buyers can see which orders depend on which inbound shipments and act before a gap appears.
Common processes handle multi-country operations: import documents, inter-company transfers and local tax rules follow the same steps in each plant. Shared master data for parts, suppliers, configurations and customers gives the group one view of stock, orders and commitments, and group reporting shows shortages, buffer levels and freight costs side by side.
The engagement
- Eight months
- Six specialists, with planners, buyers and sales engineers from each country
- Process mapping, configuration standards, lead-time-based component planning, buffer policy, multi-country processes, shared master data, pilot and phased rollout.
Integrations
- Plant systems and machine data
- Supplier and customer EDI
- Engineering and product data
- Group reporting
How we delivered it
- 01
Map the work across plants
Six weeks
We followed orders from quotation to dispatch in each country with sales engineers, planners, buyers and assemblers, recording where shortages began. With the leadership team we agreed scope and the measures that would define success: shortage stoppages, quote time and air-freight spend.
- 02
Design common processes and integrations
Eleven weeks
Sales and engineering agreed a set of standard configurations covering most demand, with controlled options for the rest. Planning moved to actual supplier lead times, measured from history, with deliberate buffers for the longest and least reliable imports. Common processes were set for import documentation and inter-company transfers.
- 03
Pilot in one plant
Seven weeks
The Malaysian plant went first. The pilot exposed lead times in the system that were badly out of date and options that sales engineers used under different names. Both were corrected and the plant's teams trained on live orders.
- 04
Roll out in waves and track results
Ten weeks
Thailand and Vietnam followed. Leadership reviewed the agreed measures monthly, along with buffer stock levels, to make sure safety did not drift into excess.
Results
- Planned buffers reduced assembly stoppages
- Standard configurations cut the time to quote
- Teams worked from the same data across three countries
- Leadership reviewed results monthly against agreed measures
Planned buffers sharply reduced stoppages. Shortages still happen occasionally when a supplier fails badly, but they are seen weeks ahead and rarely halt a line. Air-freight spend for recovery has fallen with them.
Standardising configurations cut the time to quote from most of a week to a couple of days, and sales engineers spend more of their time on genuinely unusual projects. Customers receive firmer delivery dates.
Teams in all three countries work from the same data, and stock can be moved between plants when one runs short. Leadership reviews results monthly against the measures agreed at the start, so there has been no debate about whether the programme worked.
We agreed on day one what good would look like, and every month since we have been able to see whether we are getting there.
What made the difference
The client standardised configurations and cut the time to quote. Agreeing measures at the start made success easy to recognise, and kept every later decision tied to them.
