Introduction
Simio co-founder and long-tenured employee David Sturrock is an accomplished industrial engineer and sought-after volunteer business expert. David provides pro bono consulting for small businesses through award-winning nonprofit Bpeace (Business Council for Peace). To date, he has volunteered his skills working with 19 projects in Guatemala, El Salvador and the United States.
Following an engagement with David via Bpeace, Claudia López Urizar, who leads Uniko, a family- owned designer and manufacturer of custom cabinets in Guatemala, recently shared:
We were at the point when you start thinking, will we be able to continue? Then we started working with David Sturrock who was amazing because he brought so much light to our problems. We had bottlenecks that we couldn’t identify where they started. David taught us how to use [Simio]software to plan ahead for our production processes and to detect those bottlenecks on time and not when they had already become a huge problem. The action plan David helped us create is like our North Star for every decision.
David’s introduction of simulation through Simio brought extraordinary value to Claudia’s business, and the numbers back that up. Claudia’s company has created 13 new jobs and increased revenue by 168% since working with David in the Bpeace program.
Simio supports the nonprofit Bpeace organization (https://www.bpeace.org/) whose mission is to foster peace and prosperity in disadvantaged areas. Bpeace provides high-quality customized business consulting by connecting volunteer business experts with carefully vetted small and medium-sized companies.
Details
This case study was the result of Uniko’s partnering with David Sturrock. An initial assessment of Uniko resulted in identification of high-level needs and opportunities, and the expertise that might be required to meet those needs. From there, David worked with Uniko to explore their growth and business objectives. The result was an action plan that identified and prioritized 12 actions/projects that could help Uniko move toward their growth objectives. Once work on implementing the action plan was underway, David introduced the team to Simio’s Risk-based Planning and Scheduling software product (Simio RPS), which proved to be a perfect fit for solving some of their highest-priority problems.
David leveraged the unique capabilities of Simio RPS to develop a comprehensive data-driven Digital Twin simulation model to address Uniko’s system design, planning, scheduling and CTP needs. As a result of this project and David’s efforts, Uniko has experienced significant growth in its business, which has enabled the company to hire additional staff and invest in new pieces of equipment to support the rising demand for their products and services.
In support of the bPeace mission and to ensure Uniko continues to benefit from Simio’s technology for promoting business growth and operationalefficiency, Simio has donated software licenses to Uniko.
Company
Uniko is a Guatemalan company founded in 1999 and dedicated to the creation of unique spaces to share with family members. Uniko manufacturesarchitectural finishes and wooden, melamine, and MDF furniture for kitchens and other spaces. Uniko employs a team of professionals to develop proposals, build, and install the requested enhancements.
Market
Local and regional demand is growing steadily for kitchens, closets, and pergolas. The company is expanding and modernizing to meet this demand.
Challenges
Uniko was facing several challenges ahead of their work with David Sturrock and Simio, including increased product volume and market demands, as well as new manufacturing techniques all stressed their existing infrastructure. As a small company, most employees had developed multiple skills which made staffing assignments difficult. Uniko had previously used a spreadsheet- based system to estimate order completion dates and to make day-to-day management decisions in staffing and prioritization. The introduction of new equipment provided opportunities to improve their production but with so many concurrent changes it was hard to visualize how to maximize their production by using the most efficient assignment of resources.