JOBS DONE
The jobs in this list are selected examples of the work Optimal Solutions delivers.
With some exceptions, completion time-frames and other measurements of goals
are omitted for brevity.
The jobs in blue are services rendered by OS in its three areas of Special Services.
Go to the Special Services page to see OS´s special services summarized.
(4) Integrate a more effective (stronger and more motivated) organization
in manufacturing management, packing and shipping, maintenance and
equipment setting up for changing styles.
(5) Make three several-years-old manufacturing plants reach their production
volume records in less than three months, without overtime. Efficiency was
acceptable for 2 of the 3 plants, but it increased substantially for the three
plants -7%, 11% and 26% respectively.
(6) Design a project for optimization of use of floor space. Cost reduction
was US $ 3.3 million per year, with an investment payback period of less
than nine months.
(7) Define and induce improved expectations for more challenging goals
in efficiency, employee turnover and other basic manufacturing factors.
(8) With emphasis in one plant, promote discipline and enthusiasm and guide
the staff to focus on priorities, which resulted in a stable delivery of scheduled
production.
(9) Recruit and provide leadership to a large management staff and to key
supervisory, technical and administrative staff. These persons integrated
as teams of responsible persons, eager and capable of carrying out very
profitable operations.
(10) Supervise the construction of several manufacturing and administrative
facilities and expedite several phases. Also, create large redesign proposals
to improve functionality of the facilities.
(11) Exceed budgeted goals, for several apparel manufacturing facilities -in
operator levels, efficiency, worked hours, units produced and other indicators;
in spite of a labor market characterized by full employment, very high employee
turnover and tough competition with long established non-apparel companies.
(12) Establish second shift operations early in the development of a cutting and
laundry divisional complex and begin third shifts. Achieve cutting and finishing
autonomy as to terminate need for outside assistance in just a few months.
(13) Manage to secure the following for a jeans sewing plant:
- More-than-average speed of operator buildup.
- Make flexibility feasible, with 27 production units and 68 styles daily.
- Less than average level of finishing repairs.
- High employee satisfaction. Employee turnover was decreased from 85%
to a 40% in one year, while in a full-employment labor market.
- Set initial conditions for reaching top efficiency in three years from start
of operations.
- Create the basis for the development of a strong supervisory team.
- Make the mechanical staff achieve long-term goals for machine trouble
- Reduce cycle time from 4 weeks to 6 days in less than 2 years. Two days
of sew work-in-process (WIP) was achieved.
(14) Plan and implement cost-effective training programs for all business
functions.
(15) Develop an international purchasing department as a model department
and training location.
(16) Make several facilities achieve outstanding results for security and safety
in one year.
(17) Establish a cost-effective employee benefit program –as to make it to be
regarded as more attractive than competitors’ in the labor market while being
much less expensive than competitors’.
(18) Design, negotiate and coordinate the creation and development of optimal
outside services -security, cafeterias, medical services, ground maintenance,
employee transportation, and international and local cargo traffic. Those
outside services, in 3 locations and 3 shifts, soon became mutually satisfactory
operations.
(19) Plan and generate extra-savings for about a million dollars per year.
(20) Direct the preparation of annual budgets coordinated for several facilities
and negotiate the budgets with Corporate Finances.
(21) Deal with Mexican Government agencies on: sales tax (IVA) refunds;
income tax parameters; duties and taxes waiving for importation of construction
items, furniture, equipment and operating supplies; expedite customs procedures;
construction permits and technical support (in building a gas pipeline); federal
investment volume incentives and local and State tax incentives.
(22) Set standards to create a good image in the four communities of operations
of a company, as well as before local, state and federal government agencies.
(23) Create a synchronized shuttle system for optimal trucking of production
flow, between (a) a cutting facility and parts plant, to (b) several assembly
factories and back to (c) the finishing and exportation facility, with facilities
working different numbers of shifts per day and days per week.
(24) Create a system for optimal administrative control and financial reporting
for a US corporation’s first operation overseas.
(25) Develop a foreign operation into a training place for managers, engineers
and other US and foreign personnel.
(26) Hire and substantially contribute to the development of several individuals
expected to become plant managers or functional division managers.
(27) Create the conditions and the management tools that fostered a solid
and permanent culture of quality in two plants, which allowed to make them
second-to-none in world-class quality.
(28) Create conditions for consolidating outstanding performance as a result
of leadership and work in two areas:
-Enthusiasm, responsibility, efficiency and other work ethics of
the personnel.
-Enhancement of the best work methods and techniques the
experience of the Company could provide.
(29) Develop permanent results for two manufacturing plants as follows:
- Making of 100% of production schedules, without overtime.
- Best quality among several dozens of plants, including lowest customer
- Lowest cost per minute ever in the Corporation.
- Top production efficiency, including (1) optimum cycle time –less than 2
days of WIP in sewing, (2) 'minimum' cost per standard dollar (CSD) –
negligible machine trouble CSD and no-work CSD, for example, and (3)
constant 103-104% overall manufacturing efficiency.
- Best results on surveys of employee satisfaction.
(30) Make plans and save several millions of dollars on maritime freight costs,
warehousing, capital expenditures, exchange rates, cash flow management,
inventory controls (including machine parts management) and maintenance.
(31) Make the analysis and present the proposals to convince a US
corporation to design and build its first own facility abroad.
(32) Create the concept, lead the design and substantially participate in
the supervising of the construction of a building to be the model for the
construction of new facilities overseas.
(33) Survey and prospect the localization of several manufacturing facilities
in two countries.
(34) Design, test and implement software for optimal machine parts purchasing,
with control levels, usage by technician and machine, and other items.
(35) Design, test and implement software for controlling quality with upper
control limits by worker, supervisor, manufacturing areas and with weekly-
updating of 13-week periods.
(36) Design a system for controlling export-quota visas’ requests, issuance,
pay and custom validation, without disrupting export operations for nearly 200
manufacturing plants. Designing a one-page multiple-user form for each
factory’s visa request and using fax back and forth between the factory and
the visa-issuing entity were keys for the optimal solution of this problem.
(37) Plan, organize, carry out as the director of the mission and report on the
first European markets mission of a national manufacturers association.
(38) As a response to a nation-wide, 60%-of-time electricity shortage in
Honduras, feared to last 2 years, create a system for allocation of electrical
power in order to make each participating company able to operate as many
hours as possible. Negotiate implementation with affected parties –18
companies, Electricity Company, labor unions, banks and public transportation
companies. Our system allowed for 44 hours of work weekly to each participant
by working on Saturdays and Sundays on a 7-week rotatory basis, with the
participants in 3 groups. This system was adopted by other industrial and
commercial groups.
(39) Develop the first export project involving three US companies and three
Honduran companies, for a private sector institution financed by the US
Agency for International Development (USAID).
(40) Plan, organize, direct and control five institutional development projects,
including their political and financial viability, for:
- Honduras Exporters Association (ANEXHON)
- Honduran-American Chamber of Commerce (HAMCHAM)
- Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Cortes (CCIC) –including a
proposal which secured financial resources from USAID
- Private Sector Council of Honduras (COHEP), the umbrella private
sector organization in Honduras –including the design and coordination
of a general national assembly to reach agreement in recommended
institutional changes which were implemented
- Government of Honduras (in export and investment promotion areas)
(41) Elaborate position papers on economic policy, and evaluation of several
projects and studies for ANEXHON, CCIC, COHEP, Government of Honduras
and the USAID.
(42) Advise the Government of Honduras (GOH) on the preparation of a
negotiation position for a new system of access levels of textile and
apparel products into the US market.
(43) Lead the preparation of the Export Promotion Law and the Temporary
Import Law, and the designing of mechanisms for the efficient implementation
of these two laws.
(44) Participate in designing a scheme for channeling two
financial funds in US dollars and local currency, for export
promotion under an USAID's program; and analyze the
problem of pre-investment financing in Honduras.
(45) Advise both private sector and GOH on US regulations on 807 operations.
(46) Advise the GOH and participate in lobbying missions to Washington, D.C.
to oppose establishment of 807 quotas by the US Trade Representative (USTR).
Honduras was not established quotas.
(47) Evaluate the project for the development of export industrial parks in
Honduras and collaborate in the preparation of the corresponding law and
in the promotion of the project. This project was basis for the development
of the maquila industry in Honduras, which resulted in the simultaneous
operation of about 200 new apparel plants in Honduras.
(48) Provide individual counsel to representatives of US companies
considering establishing operations in Honduras.
(49) Participate in the organization of the country’s counterpart activities in a
Korean prospective investment mission to Honduras –participating basically
in the selling of the attractiveness for foreign investment in Honduras. This
forum leaded to the establishment of several dozens Korean companies in
Honduras.
(50) Lead two investment promotion missions -one to the USA and Mexico
and the other to Europe.
(51) Design a quantitative procedure for the screening and classification
of clients and potential clients of a US-financed private sector institution.
(52) Analyze the monetary and foreign currency exchange systems. Policy
changes by the GOH allowed the growth of the maquila industry.
(53) Elaborate the first-year work plan of a GOH's agency for foreign
investment promotion.
(54) Integrate several committees and task forces made up by Government
and private sector representatives; and participate in the delegations of
Honduras to several international meetings.
(55) Act as the Country Coordinator of the US Caribbean Basin Initiative. This
included the preparation of Honduras’ request for eligibility, working plan, food
plan, as well as promotional efforts. An important acceleration of the growth of
the economy was registered.
(56) Design policies, strategies and measurements to solve problems
concerning the Country’s supply of petroleum and oil fuels.
(57) Perform financial analysis of the operations of the refinery and distributors
of oil fuels in Honduras, in order to set adequate prices for gasoline, diesel and
other products –as to permit the economy of the Country to continue growing
in difficult times without adding disruption to the supply during the second world
energy crisis.
(58) Conclude favorable negotiation of contracts with Venezuela for the
supplying of reconstituted petroleum to Honduras.
(59) Coordinate the National Energy Committee which was integrated as an
answer to the second world oil crisis. Duties included:
- International technical and financial cooperation
- Alternate sources of energy and energy conservation
- Organizational and institutional changes in the energy field
(60) Perform financial and operational evaluations of companies producing
or distributing products under price control by the GOH and elaborate
recommendations.
(61) Design a special system for control of prices of medicines during
difficult times in the economy of Honduras, making the control effective
in all the Country in spite of freight costs differentials, while decreasing
negative effects on investment and supply.
(62) Elaborate a study on the effects of price control on the inflation rate
in Honduras.
(63) Perform economic studies in important production sectors
and companies: sugar, cement, transportation, fuels, meat.
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(1) Propose the basics of our scheme for the development of Honduras,
aiming for plentiful peace and prosperity for all, by means of ethics and
productivity -with two key elements: economic pragmatism and management
excellence.
(2) Per our proposal to the board of directors of a national development bank,
immediately increase by 100% the efficiency of the audit department –in
operations for more than 50 years; directing and motivating the personnel
adequately, and optimizing the coverage regarding periods of time, auditing
subjects and frequency of works. This achievement, with no precedent in that
bank, also satisfied the requirements of national authorities, external to the
bank –of both (a) the comptroller authority (which gave their maximum grade)
and (b) the banking policies authority as well.
(3) In three months, increase by more than 50% the yearly quantity of loans
granted by the agricultural state bank of Honduras; since, due to a massive
use of corn for fuel in USA in 2006, for 2007 and 2008 it was expected that
severe inflation would affect several food products in Honduras: chicken,
meat, pork, milk, eggs. However, inflation resulted to be almost imperceptible,
partially thanks to that massive increase in financing of corn production; which
required a marketing campaign to potential producers (who had abandoned
corn production in Honduras) and effective organizational and operative work.
Besides, yearly loans to other items were doubled; while loan default was
decreased by a 50% in loans with own funds and by nearly 25% in loans with
other funds.
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The jobs done listed above are selected examples of the work
Optimal Solutions delivers. With some exceptions, goal dates and
quantities are not included for brevity.
The jobs in blue are services we have rendered in OS' three areas of
Special Services. Go to the Special Services page to see the special
services summarized.
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