Hayward Tyler, one of the world’s leading suppliers of electric motors and pumps for the oil and gas market, as well as the nuclear, industrial and chemical markets, uses predictive simulation to plan an ambitious business growth strategy, as well as to familiarize its employees, customers and investors with its vision.

Ambitious Growth Plans

In order for Hayward Tyler to be able to fully grasp the opportunities offered by many interesting markets, it acknowledged that it is necessary to undergo a business transformation focusing on:

  • Maximizing efficiency
  • Adjusting capacity to the demand
  • Increasing profitability

After a significant increase in turnover from its Luton operations – from £18 million in 2011 to £26 million in 2014 – the time has come to develop a plan that would double the size of Luton’s operations in order to significantly increase the number of units this enterprise is capable of producing.

The Limitations of Enterprise Planning in Microsoft Excel

In the past, Microsoft Excel used to be Hayward Tyler’s primary planning and modeling tool. Considering the scale of the changes that had to be made to meet the ever-increasing demand, the management team concluded that Excel could no longer help them create and communicate an accurate and credible plan for growth.

The company needed to be a little more prudent to get an idea of what the enterprise could look like in 5-10 years, what opportunities it could create in the future and how its activities would develop during that period. However, most of all, they needed to understand what the best timing for their key investments would be.

Comprehensive resource and process options, including new equipment, people, assembly unit processes, cranes, forklifts, internal policies, and workflows, have to be considered.

Transition to Predictive Simulation

As Hayward Tyler realized that Excel would not be a suitable tool, it focused on how predictive simulation can be used to create a virtual, dynamic factory. After evaluating a range of solutions, the management team chose WITNESS, because it is capable of performing detailed scheduling planning in a fast-paced and user-friendly environment.

“We are an extremely dynamic company and therefore, we needed solutions that can be put into operation very quickly,” said Martin Clocherty, Hayward Tyler’s Production Systems Director. “When we saw the level on which the predictive simulation is capable of figuring things out, we immediately purchased the WITNESS software, installed it and created a meaningful model, thanks to which the creation of our primary plan was only a question of several months.”

“WITNESS is a very powerful tool that can generate a full-year simulation in a matter of seconds, giving us a clear idea of what business processes and resources are needed in order to meet future demand.”

Virtual Factory

Using WITNESS, Hayward Tyler managed to create a “virtual factory” that was a clear image of how its manufacturing processes will evolve over the next 5-10 years.

The model pointed to the specific requirements needed to meet the demand and maximize profits. The simulation has taken several factors that could affect the factory’s capacity and performance into account, including its distribution, equipment requirements, shift changes and potential growth and decline in demand. The model also included key milestones and product mixes and was able to pinpoint what processes and resources would be needed for each milestone in order to keep up with the anticipated demand.

Thanks to WITNESS, Hayward Tyler created a model of the year 2022 that shows which direction it should take in its activities to complete its plans as efficiently as possible. In a visual form, the virtual factory model demonstrates what their business will look like in 2022 – and at any point between that date and today.

“It’s great to see where our investments in our equipment will take us,” says Martin Clocherty. “This model tells us when the spare capacity runs out, when it will be necessary to upgrade the machines or change the shifts.”

Investors Acceptance and Support

This detailed insight into the problematics has given Hayward Tyler a robust and accurate plan that allows allows them to predict business changes, ensuring high productivity and minimal costs. It also means that it has a highly credible plan to show their investors – both internally and externally.

WITNESS has quickly become an indispensable tool for communicating with Hayward Tyler investors. It shows the stability of their master plan to their key banking partner, while providing transparency, demonstrating team competence and strengthening trust.

The plan was presented in parallel to the employees and subcontractors and significantly helped Hayward Tyler engage with internal investors, motivate them and secure their purchase. This will help ensure a successful transition to new operation methods.

Closer Insight and Integrity

“This model is dynamic, thus we will continue to update it and add more details and market changes as we see them,” says Martin.

“The proof of our success is that our CEO has ordered for the simulation to be used as a basis for planning for our other devices as well, so we’re going to extend the scope of predictive simulation to the entire organization – starting with our operations in America.”

“During the 20 years of using various software, nothing has impressed me this much. The level of insight we have gained with WITNESS, as well as the productivity improvements that it brought us, are proof of software integrity and team professionalism. It is very impressive that we have been able to achieve this in just a few months. ”

“WITNESS fulfilled its promise and provided us with the insight needed to transform our business and exponentially increase its profitability.”