Full 3P implementation on a new production line — Seven Flows analysis, 7-Ways workshop, moonshine prototyping, continuous flow design, and complete physical line standup. Delivered alongside simultaneous new line construction.
An aerospace and defense manufacturer needed to stand up a new production line. The challenge: the traditional line design approach would have locked in inefficiency from first production. Once the line is built, the layout is fixed, the flow is fixed, and the cycle time is fixed — for years.
The client needed to design the right line before breaking ground. That requires a methodology specifically built for that problem. Nextep deployed 3P — Production Preparation Process — the only tool designed from first principles for exactly this situation.
Client details are withheld per ITAR regulations. All metrics disclosed are consistent with what has been publicly discussed.
3P starts with a clean sheet. It forces the design team to question every assumption about how production should flow before any physical infrastructure is committed. Seven Flows analysis maps all flows through the process — people, material, information, machine, process, quality, and safety.
Then the team generates seven alternative production concepts for every major step. Seven — not two or three. The discipline of generating seven forces creative thinking and surfaces options that conventional design never considers.
Moonshine prototyping builds cardboard and PVC mock-ups to test flow, reach, and ergonomics before spending a dollar on real equipment. Problems found in the prototyping phase cost almost nothing to fix. Problems found after installation cost everything.
The 3P-designed line delivered a 65%+ reduction in cycle time compared to the conventional design baseline. That gain is permanent — it's built into the line. Every unit produced from day one captures the full cycle time improvement. This wasn't a one-time event. It was the foundation every future unit is built on.
3P is the right methodology for exactly one moment: before a new line is built, or before a radical process redesign is committed. Once equipment is in place, once the layout is fixed, once production is running — you're optimizing around inherited constraints. 3P eliminates those constraints before they exist.
If you're planning a new production line, adding capacity, or redesigning a process from the ground up, that's the moment for 3P. Nextep has led full 3P deployments in aerospace, industrial manufacturing, and packaging. The methodology works wherever flow matters — which is everywhere.