Every manufacturing operation has room for improvement. If you want to have the most efficient operations in your manufacturing facility, then you have to focus on a few key factors. Below are three top ways you can improve your manufacturing operations.
Selecting Supervisors
One of the best ways to improve manufacturing operations is to find the right supervisors to manage your team. A top supervisor will focus on three top tasks: They spend significant time monitoring to ensure safety, to ensure product quality, and to evaluate and improve work processes. Ideally, you should be able to promote a supervisor from within your current manufacturing ranks. If you want to hire a supervisor from outside of your company, then you should select a candidate that has worked in your industry. A top supervisor should have experience in your field while still being dynamic enough to work with changes in your industry.
Stream Mapping
In the manufacturing process, there is always room for small improvements. A simple way to improve the manufacturing process is through a process called stream mapping. With stream mapping, you create a visual interpretation of the process by which a product is manufactured to the point that it reaches the customer. The purpose of stream mapping is to reduce waste in the process. There are seven types of waste that you can identify through stream mapping. They include faster-than-necessary pace, waiting, conveyance, processing, excess stock, unnecessary motion and correction of mistakes.
Automation
Perhaps the biggest trend in manufacturing is the automation of the entire process. Even if you are a small operation, there are probably opportunities to automate a part of your manufacturing. Automation can reduce labor cost, increase labor productivity, mitigate the effect of labor shortages, improve worker safety, improve product quality, eliminate manual routine tasks, reduce manufacturing lead time, and accomplish tasks that cannot be done manually. Over the years, the cost of automation has gone done significantly. Therefore, it is a smart idea to start automating parts of your manufacturing operations today. Automate one small part of your operations and go from there to improve overall manufacturing efficiency.
Your manufacturing operations can always find new ways to improve. Focus on training your supervisors to get better while looking for ways to optimize, streamline and automate your operations. With continuing progress, your manufacturing operations will stay one step ahead of the competition.