5 Ways to Instantly Improve your Manufacturing Process
If you run a manufacturing company, chances are one of the things keeping you up at night is stress over whether or not your manufacturing process is running as smoothly and efficiently as it should be. Below we will provide you with a few simple tips that you can easily implement and then sit back and watch as your factory becomes more efficient, productive, and – most importantly – profitable.
- Engage your Employees – any manufacturing plant is only as good as its employees. As the people responsible for the day-to-day activities and overall output of your factory, it is in your best interest to make sure all of your workers are well-trained. Make sure they are up-to-date on the latest trends in manufacturing, teach them how to use the newest technologies, and encourage them to share their experiences and ideas gained from their time on the manufacturing floor. You can learn from your employees as much as they can learn from you, and the more everyone in the company is engaged in the shared mission and feels ownership over their work, the more successful the company will be.
- Organize Everything – an organized workspace is a productive workspace, and this holds true for manufacturing companies too. Consider the way your factory floor is laid out and see whether there are any simple changes that can be made to make the whole manufacturing process run more efficiently from start to finish. For example, if items need to move from machine to machine as part of an assembly process, make sure there is a direct line from one machine to the next – it may sound silly, but if you can cut out even 10 unnecessary footsteps you will end up saving a ton of time overall. A well-designed assembly line can increase efficiency by as much as 10%.
- Schedule Preventative Maintenance – you are probably well-aware of the dangers of unplanned downtime, and how a broken machine can throw an entire manufacturing plan off kilter. But did you know that 70% of manufacturers do not necessarily know when their machines are due for service? You can be ahead of the curve if you put yourself in the 30% of people who are on top of their machine’s maintenance by having regularly scheduled checks and tune-ups for your whole assembly line. By doing this, you will minimize downtime, extend your manufacturing equipment’s lifespan and reliability, reduce your operating costs, and maximize your efficiency.
- Evaluate your Suppliers – the same way your customers rely on you, you rely on your suppliers. If you are constantly chasing down inventory from one particular supplier, it might be time to find a replacement for that particular part. Take a few minutes and review all of your suppliers and their performance over the last quarter . When you are manufacturing a product that requires lots of other parts, knowing that your inventory will always be well-stocked due to reliable players all along your supply chain is a huge time-saver and stress-reducer. You do get what you pay for, so the cheapest supplier is not always the best supplier.
- Gather and Analyze Data – remember that we are in the age of Industry 4.0 and there are plenty of technological tools designed to help increase productivity, efficiency, and profitability for those in the field of manufacturing. You can easily collect real-time data and analyze every part of your manufacturing process at the click of a button. Armed with this information on topics such as where you are experiencing bottlenecks, which machines are breaking down, and even who is responding to maintenance issues, you can immediately get to work addressing issues that you find and making concrete improvements to your manufacturing process.
There you have it. 5 simple yet powerful steps you can take to see immediate changes in the efficiency of your entire assembly line and manufacturing process. Keep in mind that seemingly small changes can quickly add up to huge gains in productivity and profitability.