A Fortune 50 manufacturer of large, highly engineered durable goods operated a complex global manufacturing network spanning dozens of facilities. The company had already been transitioning to a modular product architecture, but leadership recognized that the full strategic value of modularity had not yet been realized. They sought to determine how modular design could be more deliberately leveraged to improve cost, efficiency, flexibility, quality, and risk across their global manufacturing footprint.
We partnered closely with senior executives and a cross-functional operational core team to re-think the manufacturing network from first principles. We defined the critical tradeoffs the network needed to balance—cost, quality, risk, and flexibility—and translated those into a rigorous, fact-based decision framework. We then assembled and validated a comprehensive set of global inputs, including product structures, labor and production costs, tariffs, exchange rates, logistics costs, and component and raw material supply economics.
Using this foundation, we designed and built a multi-variant optimization model capable of evaluating a wide range of manufacturing network configurations. We developed and iteratively refined a set of target scenarios, modeling both the financial outcomes and the broader operational implications of each option. This analysis enabled leadership to clearly understand the consequences of alternative network designs, including the role of deeper modularization and shifts in plant responsibilities and geographic footprint.
The work culminated in a recommended global manufacturing network configuration which balanced cost and flexibility, and a pragmatic roadmap for implementation, including identification of specific modules to pilot as the first wave of change.
The resulting manufacturing strategy—now being implemented—is projected to save over a hundred million dollars in annual operating costs, while significantly increasing network flexibility and reducing operational risk. The optimization model itself has since been adopted by other business lines, extending the impact of the work well beyond the original scope.