With developing technology, there are always new ways of improving workflow and productivity. As a result, production can be more cost-effective, wear and tear costs can be reduced, and worker satisfaction can rise as targets are more easily met. Here are a few ideas to help find new ways you can improve from https://mattsharplaw.com/practice-areas/personal-injury/ .
Review Current Workflow Pattern
Plot out and inspect the different processes that make up your workflow. Discuss how much labor, what equipment, and what steps are needed to complete those patterns with the people in charge of overseeing those processes. You may quickly spot means of reducing the time and resources that different parts of the workflow require.
Check Equipment Regularly for Proper Function
A lot of your operational efficiency comes down to how effectively your equipment can fulfill its functions. It’s important to check equipment routinely for any signs of wear and tear or malfunction that can affect productivity now, or lead to serious damage in the long-term. This can help you provide the necessary maintenance early rather than having to pay for expensive repairs down the line. It can also reduce interruptions caused by faulty equipment.
Remember the “Lean Manufacturing” Principles
Take the time to research and memorize the lean manufacturing principles, also known as the 5 S’s. To summarize them briefly, they are as follows:
- Sort: Sort materials and equipment, only keeping essential items.
- Set in Order: Ensure all essential items are accessible and kept where it is most logical.
- Shine: Establish protocols to keep workstations safe and orderly to make work more efficient.
- Standardize: Establish formal standards for processes, to make them easier to learn and repeat.
- Sustain: Audit protocols and measures to improve productivity on a regular basis.
Routinely Train Employees
Employees must be regularly trained on new technologies and processes to be able to implement them effectively and efficiently into existing work patterns. Otherwise, they can end up using them incorrectly or even ignore them, making your investment into them effectively worthless.
Take Advantage of New Tech Trends
Manufacturing is an industry consistently driven forward by new technologies, whether it’s research that alerts workers to changes in their working environment that should be addressed, or automation that can speed up production by eliminating the role that human error often plays in interruptions. Adopting new tech trends early can be expensive, but the right solution can make all the difference.
Optimize Your Space
Take a top-down look at the floor plan, plotting out space, as well as how much of it each workstation, piece of equipment, and other assets take up. Not only can you organize them to better enable foot traffic, but you can have spaces that are next to each other in workflow orders set next to each other physically to reduce transfer time and effort.
Regularly Stock Up on Inventory
Your inventory levels must be managed carefully. While you don’t want to overstock on materials, taking up storage space and costs, you want a continuous supply to ensure interruptions due to shortage don’t happen. Modern manufacturing inventory management systems really help improve your inventory processes.
Faze Out Old Machinery
Old machinery is more prone to malfunction and more likely to lead to defects, causing both loss and down-time. Know when it’s more cost-effective to replace rather than to repair, and be decisive when old equipment is becoming problematic.
Consider a Manufacturing Business Loan
Many of the measures mentioned above do not come for free. You need to invest real money into improving equipment, processes, and standards across the board. To that end, lacking the funding you need can hold your business back from critical improvements, and a manufacturing business loan can help.
Communicate Effectively
If you don’t establish effective and consistent means of communication between team members, they can work while lacking critical information that affects their productivity. Standardize the methods of communication so that your team can be heard and be notified more reliably.
Implement New Safety Measures
The fewer safety incidents and the more effectively you can deal with and recover from them, the fewer worker interruptions you have to contend with. To that end, implementing a visual analytics system like those from VersaCall can alert your team to safety incidents more quickly, providing greater management, and quicker accident mitigation in the workplace.
The above tips can help improve manufacturing productivity considerably, so start considering how you can implement these tips as soon as possible for the best results.