Our customers frequently say to us "I just want help to plan better, make better decisions and to be confident that the solution I come up with is a good one".
We are accustomed to sophisticated computer programs performing tasks that either they can perform more efficiently than humans or that people cannot do at all. Yet, when it comes to most planning, operational or management decisions, it is often assumed that this should be done by brainpower alone, or perhaps with the aid of just a spreadsheet or Gantt charts. Of course, in many areas, there is no substitute for human judgement and experience, but we all know that there are many areas where using this alone is unlikely to achieve the optimum result.
This is where a computer model can help you plan and make dramatically better decisions.
It's easy to assume that we work in an environment or face challenges too complex and uncertain to model. But the problem is not that we don't understand or can't estimate the inputs and uncertainties when planning - industry professionals are pretty good at this. It is the sheer number of variables and the way they interact that makes it just too difficult to plan with confidence of the result or to properly understand the sensitivities of the outcome(s) to various factors. That's where a model comes in - it encapsulates your expertise and applies it to the problem, under your direction. A model also speeds the evaluation of options so many more can be considered and compared and the best selected. You can experiment without fear of failure.
In some cases, we will use sophisticated tools to dynamically model complex processes, perhaps with many discrete, but interacting and interdependent 'events'. In most cases the performance of these processes can't be accurately forecast simply from the theoretical capacity of each of its components.
In others, the modelling task is relatively simple, but it's the sheer numbers of inputs, outputs and scenarios, and the need to constantly test options and re-plan that have to be considered, that make a computer model an essential ally.
In all cases, Paragon’s unique ‘Information Manager’ allows you to organise and trace all the scenarios, input data and results, and enables you to compare and contrast the key performance indicators of every option.
A model is also a useful objective tool, allowing people with different functions and priorities to work together closely on a project across traditional professional and departmental boundaries. It can demonstrate that your plans will work, and that you have evaluated and compared all options and planned for contingencies. Imagine knowing that your plan will work before implementation.
Ibstock Brick used a Paragon model for the first time when planning the refurbishing of one of their facilities. Ibstock Production Director Keith Morton described it as: “One of the few right-first-time implementations I’ve ever seen”.
So why not talk to us about what can be achieved through modelling? You have nothing to lose - and perhaps a great deal to gain.
about Modelling
"The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them."
Sir William Bragg
