Laser Marking Study

What it costs to move parts just to mark them.

The problem

Heat-treated parts were being trucked to a second plant to be laser-marked, trucked back for coating, then trucked out again for assembly. Each shipment also meant forklift moves at both ends. Nobody had priced the whole journey.

The approach

I followed the parts, timed the trucks and forklifts on the floor, and built two scenarios in a workbook: the logistics as they are, and the ideal with marking next to the heat treatment line. The difference, per day, week, month and year, is the loss that a marking machine would remove.

What the numbers said

The study put the avoidable loss at about 1,440,000 TL a year, and a new marking machine reached break-even in under five months. It went to the management meeting.

Try it yourself

This is the same idea rebuilt as a small model. Change the volume, the truck size, the prices or the machine, and see what it does to the yearly loss and the pay-back time. Trips are rounded up, so one extra pallet can add a whole truck trip. Inputs tagged Study were measured in the study; the ones tagged Estimate are placeholders.