Independent operations advisory · North America
Capacity is lost in places nobody is measuring.
Cadence Industrial works with mid-market industrial manufacturers on the operational questions that resist a spreadsheet answer: where throughput is really lost, what a supply interruption would actually cost, whether the footprint still matches demand, and why last year's improvement quietly reversed.
Illustrative only, not client data
Practice register
All expertise- 01Throughput & flowThe plant is busy, the schedule slips, and nobody agrees on where the constraint actually sits.
- 02Supply networkContinuity of supply is managed by expediting, and the exposure is only visible after a line stops.
- 03Footprint & capacityDemand has moved, the plants have not, and a capital request is being written before the question is settled.
- 04Operating modelImprovements were made, then quietly reversed once the attention moved elsewhere.
Scope of the practice
A narrow practice, deliberately.
Who we work with
Mid-market industrial manufacturers, typically single-site to small multi-site networks, where an operations decision is close enough to the leadership team to be acted on quickly.
What we work on
Production flow, supply continuity, footprint and capacity, and the daily management system. Four connected questions rather than a catalogue of services.
How we are engaged
Scoped, time-boxed work with a stated question and a planned hand-over. Fees are set per engagement after scoping; we do not publish rate cards for work we have not scoped.
What we do not do
We are not licensed advisers and do not provide legal, tax, accounting, investment or engineering-of-record services. Where a question requires those, we say so and stop.
Sector context
Operating conditions differ more than the vocabulary suggests.
The four environments below are where this practice is focused. Each has a different dominant constraint, and improvement designed for one of them tends to fail in another.
- 01Metal fabrication and precision machiningJob shops and contract manufacturers running mixed-model, high-variety order books.
- 02Industrial equipment and engineered componentsAssembled products with engineered content, long lead-time purchased parts and configuration.
- 03Building products and materialsContinuous or semi-continuous processing with seasonal demand and freight-sensitive economics.
- 04Packaging and convertingConverting operations serving consumer and industrial customers on short reorder cycles.
Engagement sequence
Read the approach- S1Short
Framing
We agree the question before the method. What decision is waiting, who owns it, what evidence would change it, and what is already known. Where we are not the right practice for the problem, we say so at this point.
- S2On site
Observation
Time on the floor and with the data as it exists. We work from what is observed and from the client's own records, and we distinguish clearly between measurement, estimate and assumption in everything we hand over.
- S3Bounded
Analysis
Findings are built with the client's operations and finance leads rather than presented to them. Assumptions are listed, attributed and open to challenge. Where the evidence does not support a conclusion, the conclusion is not drawn.
- S4Alongside
Implementation
Changes are sequenced so the first ones are reversible and observable. We work alongside the plant team rather than in parallel to it, because a change the supervisors did not build will not outlast us.
- S5Planned
Hand-over
The management system, the measures and their definitions transfer to named owners. The exit point is agreed at the start of the engagement, not negotiated at the end of it.
Notes
Short written positions on operational questions we are asked repeatedly. No proprietary research, no survey data, only reasoning we are prepared to defend.
All notes- N-01 · PerspectiveThe constraint is rarely where the complaints are loudestAttention gathers at the noisiest station. Capacity is usually lost somewhere quieter, and earlier.
- N-02 · NoteWhat a capacity number should be able to surviveA capacity figure that cannot be traced to an observation is a negotiating position, not an input to a capital decision.
- N-03 · PerspectiveWhy operational improvements quietly reverseThe change was real. What was missing was the management system that would have noticed it slipping.
Enquiries
Describe the decision you are trying to make.
The most useful first message states the operational question, the site or product line it concerns, and the date by which it has to be settled. We will tell you whether this is work we should take, and if it is not, we will say what kind of practice fits better.