Provided amongst other bespoke business consultancy services that aim to increase efficiency, improve productivity and optimise manufacturing processes, they are offered as part of the company’s mission “to be recognised by our customers as being a dedicated partner providing complete solutions for the metalcutting industry”.
DCR is intended to benchmark customers’ existing machining process, as opposed to an examination of their entire manufacturing process.
With its aim to save cost, DCR specifically focuses on tooling and cutting data (for example, time in cut; time out of cut) and cost information such as cost per part, including amortised hourly rates and variable costs, output per hour, tool use and tool consumption, and so on.
Proprietary software, in-depth discussions with the customer and observations made of the existing process enable Seco engineers to help design, test, recommend and ultimately prove out alternative solutions.
Seco states that its formal documentation supporting the service demonstrates that it is prepared to back up its claims; it also keeps customers’ individual DCR reports for future reference.
The other service, Productivity and Cost Analysis (PCA), takes a wider view of a customer’s manufacturing methods. As it covers not only the cost of tooling but also the total cost of production, a PCA helps to identify where and how cost savings can be made across an entire manufacturing process. Their scope and scale is tailored to fit the customer’s needs.
Concludes Seco: “With more and more manufacturers embracing lean manufacturing and implementing continuous improvement programmes across their operations, it seems likely that demand for Seco’s range of services will increase.”
