Small Batch Experts
What does it take to establish a viable business out of serving small batches of custom electronic assemblies exclusively? After all, aren’t these products the very ones that your traditional CM struggles with? And how many times have you been told by your CM that your small batch work is critically important to them… only to discover down the road that when the larger volumes do not materialize that they were either unable or unwilling to welcome and support these “opportunities”?
The truth is that ongoing small batch work is, at its core, a completely different animal than large batch work. When embraced and executed properly and professionally, small batch work is not a means to a large batch end… it is an end unto itself. Recognizing this difference and fine-tuning our Job Shop accordingly enables RBB to offer unique value to high technology companies.
| Unique Challenge of Small Batch Work | How RBB addresses it |
|---|---|
| Efficient (LEAN) manufacturing | RBB “swarms” our people and other resources to where the work is temporarily heaviest. As the daily situation changes, we reconfigure and reallocate resources once again. |
| Highly unpredictable demand needs. | Customers often get very little advance combined with planned regular warning of end user needs. We runners understand this, try to anticipate issues when possible and waste no time when the call comes. |
| Flexible capacity management | Our shop floor system is organized to be in a state of perpetual changeover to accommodate the next order, the next change, etc. There is no such thing as a “steady state condition” at a well run Job Shop. |
| Quality Systems | Documentation control and ECN procedures are critical and tightly managed since often there will be exactly one chance to build something. |
| Employee hiring & development | Dedicated and fully engaged employees thrive on the excitement and constant variety of this business. They would be bored stiff working elsewhere. |
