Capacity & Resource Planning

What do you do when orders are through the roof but raw materials and people are in short supply?

With exceptional demand continuing, supply chain allocations and covid-related staffing issues stalking the construction sector (and much of UK manufacturing) for nearly 2 years, Robinson Manufacturing’s Head of Production, Jamie Wilkins has had his work cut out.

RML has also grown rapidly – it is three times the size it was just 6 years ago! Making sure RML deploys its large-scale manufacturing capacity effectively in the face of these challenges has required a nimble and adaptive approach.

The resulting innovations have not just allowed RML to continue to service its customer base through difficult times but have improved how we operate across the board.  

• Newly introduced Capacity Planners work closely with all departments to make sure capacity is being utilised across the country.
• To allow us to service as many sites as possible each week, an individual site’s weekly floor call offs might be limited to what they can use

As the business has grown and the pandemic has thrown in additional challenges, weekly cross functional team meetings have been introduced – easily facilitated by the video call technology that few had even considered using 2 years ago:

• Production Overview meetings across the business deal with the proactive measures needed to meet delivery targets around the UK, including our Scottish factory in Fife.
• Transport Planning meetings to make sure our in-house fleet is fully utilised covering call offs for each factory.
• Business Development and Operations joint meeting to continue to engage all areas of the business and ensure we are delivering effectively to customer and business needs.

“Some of the challenges are very much ongoing, so our teams continue to re-plan and review where required, particularly as we react to the supply allocations we are still experiencing,” explained Jamie, continuing: “However, I’m confident that the measures we have put in place as a leadership team, the exceptional commitment of our people and our proven ability to take a nimble approach have put RML in the best possible position moving forwards.”