Advanced Metrics Can be Applied to More than Sports
The 2003 book and subsequent 2011 movie, Moneyball, is about famed Oakland A’s manager, Billy Beane utilizing sabermetrics to maximize his team’s talent with a limited player budget. By valuing players differently, the A’s won the 2002 American League West title, despite having only having a payroll of $41 million. For comparison, the New York Yankees (who won the same amount of games as the A’s) had a payroll of $125 million. Beane’s approach has had a tremendous impact on the sports-world since. A Forbes article from 2014 states,
“The Oakland A’s changed the way the game of baseball, and all professional sports are played. They transformed an entire industry forever by using math and statistics to choose players and make decisions.
Science over 150 years of art.”
I think similarities can be found in the injection molding realm. Although incredible progress has been made in the past 40 years regarding a more scientific or methodical approach to injection molding, the industry is too large and and too encompassing for a “one size fits all” methodology or approach. This industry “variation” makes training difficult, especially as it pertains to your unique needs. The variables in making a small gear out of acetal and an interior car door out of polypropylene are quite substantial.
At Birchmeier Plastic Solutions, our approach is a bit different. We want to make your team exceptional problem solvers that are motivated by data to maximize efficiency and flexibility. I will show your team how to cross-qualify a mold in multiple machines or multiple materials. In addition, we will identify “production dimension” that are easy to be monitored press-side to ensure production surprises are minimized.
If you are trying to utilize more sustainable resins but don’t know how to understand or handle the variations, I can provide your team with the tools to do so.
I’ll also work with your management team to identify how to measure the right things to effectively monitor your business and to maximize your existing equipment. In addition, I can provide guidance to the latest and greatest injection molding technologies that can be impactful to your business.
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Much like Billy Beane and baseball, I think injection molding can be approached differently. There are some amazing mathematical relationships found in molding variables and molding parts. The problem is that these relationships aren’t usually broad, they are specific to the polymer and mold built for the application. That’s the approach I take, I treat each combination of factors as a mathematical equation that needs solved. First we identify the main elements of the equation, screen to the more important factors, and optimize your variable to achieve your targets. Whether that’s improved cycle time, reduced scrap, or qualifying sustainable resin, you will get a solution to that equation specific to your scenario.
One of my favorite quotes from Moneyball is,
“You won the exact same number of games that the Yankees won, but the Yankees spent one point four million per win, and you paid two hundred and sixty thousand.”
I like to approach molding in the same fashion. Your goal needs to be to maximize the value of your investments and understand the value of each piece part that is made by your machine. I’ll help your team to understand how to measure and manage your facility in such a fashion. Your competition may be making parts too, but if they need to do it at 3x the cost (like the Yankees), they won’t be your competition for long.
Let me show you how data can drive your business and let Birchmeier Plastic Solutions mold your capability.