Industry: Custom Metal Fabrication & Light Assembly

Location: Wichita, KS

Company Size: 22 Employees

Engagement Length: 3 Weeks

This case study represents a simulated engagement created to demonstrate Core Support Solutions’ operations consulting framework and delivery approach.

What PrairieLine actually does

PrairieLine Fabrication produces:

• custom welded frames

• brackets and mounts

• small production runs of assembled components

Typical workflow:

Customer order → quoting → engineering check → cutting → welding → finishing → QC → packing → local freight or customer pickup

 

Team structure

Owner / President

• Started as a welder

• Still involved in scheduling and problem-solving daily

Operations Manager

• Former lead welder promoted 2 years ago

• No formal ops training

Office Manager

• Handles invoicing, purchasing, payroll, and customer updates

Production Floor

• 14 welders / machine operators

• 2 finishers

• 2 shipping/receiving

No formal team leads.
 

Current situation

PrairieLine is busy.

They are not healthy.

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Work orders regularly stall on the floor

Symptoms:

• jobs wait for engineering clarification

• material is missing when production starts

• no one owns the job once it leaves scheduling

Reality:
➡ handoffs are unclear
➡ ownership disappears after release

1. Quoting and production are not aligned

Symptoms:

• quotes promise 5-day turnaround

• production needs 8–10 days

• rush jobs constantly bump planned work

Reality:
➡ quoting has no feedback loop from the floor

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2. Tribal knowledge everywhere

Symptoms:

• only one person knows how to set up certain jobs

• only the office manager knows certain customer rules

• training is “watch Joe for a few days”

Reality:
➡ no SOP system
➡ no role clarity

3. The owner is the bottleneck

Symptoms:

• must approve schedule changes

• must resolve job conflicts

• must handle customer complaints

Reality:
➡ decision authority is undefined

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4. Logistics and shipping cause expensive rework

Symptoms:

• wrong packaging

• incomplete shipments

• delivery commitments made without freight coordination

Reality:
➡ logistics planning is reactive

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What leadership is worried about

PrairieLine leadership says:

“We are busy but cash is always tight and everything feels chaotic.”

Their real fears:

• adding more customers will break the shop

• losing one senior welder would cripple production

• the owner cannot step back at all

 

Pieces CSS Managed

Operations Snapshot + Systems Roadmap

Timeframe: 2–3 weeks

We reviewed:

• order intake process

• scheduling process

• production handoffs

• engineering clarification flow

• purchasing triggers

• shipping & logistics coordination

• leadership decision flow

We interviewed:

• owner

• operations manager

• office manager

• two welders

• shipping/receiving lead

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Systems Roadmap Creation

You identify 5 core operational risks:

1. No single owner for jobs once released to production

2. No standardized production readiness checklist

3. No feedback loop between quoting and real capacity

4. No escalation path for job blockers

5. No structured logistics planning window​

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✔ Process Map: Order → Ship

• a swimlane workflow showing:

  • sales

  • engineering

  • production

  • logistics

  • billing

Highlight:

• handoff points

• decision points

• blocker escalation

✔ Job Ownership Model

We introduce:

Job Owner (per work order)
Responsible for:

• readiness

• materials confirmed

• engineering clarified

• shipping requirements known

✔ Production Readiness Checklist

A simple gated checklist:

• drawings approved

• materials staged

• tooling confirmed

• finish requirements clear

• ship method confirmed

✔ SOP System Structure

We design:

• SOP categories:

  • production support

  • order handling

  • logistics & shipping

  • customer rules

• ownership per SOP

• review cadence

• version control

✔ Logistics planning workflow 

We design a simple logistics flow:

• ship method defined at order entry

• packaging requirements captured early

• freight scheduling window

• delivery confirmation ownership

✔ Leadership operating rhythm

We introduce:

• daily 10-minute floor huddle

• weekly production & backlog review

• weekly issue log review

• escalation path

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Expected outcomes

After 60–90 days of implementation:

• fewer stalled jobs

• reduced rush job interruptions

• clearer job accountability

• fewer shipping errors

• owner no longer involved in daily scheduling conflicts