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Manufacturing Process Management: Tips, Examples, and More

Bhagyashri Kambale | February 25, 2022 | 1060 views
MANUFACTURING PROCESS MANAGEMENT
Improving manufacturing efficiency and enhancing business revenue is the ultimate goal of every manufacturing business. Effective manufacturing process management may help businesses grow and discover innovative manufacturing processes. Facts and data fill the days of plant managers and engineers. However, it appears that many firms are still unable to devise a strategy for resolving long-standing challenges in their organizations.

“If you define the problem correctly, you almost have the solution.”

– Steve Jobs

In this article, we will see the five ultimate ways of manufacturing flow management. Additionally, we will also see three industry leaders' examples and understand their processes for production management. So, let’s get started first with tips to improve production efficiency.

Five Ways to Improve Production Efficiency


Recognize and Eliminate Waste

Waste is a cost that should be minimized in the manufacturing business. Additionally, waste is a broad term in this industry since it involves labor hours, energy use, and material consumption, to name a few. However, material waste is typically the most significant worry in the industrial business. When looking for strategies to decrease waste, you must rely on the results drawn during the evaluation of your manufacturing line.

When identifying waste, keep in mind that each operation on your production line generates some trash; finding the procedures that generate the most waste is the most effective strategy to minimize total waste. However, you may reduce trash by recycling or reusing garbage rather than discarding it. If you are unable to eliminate the majority of your garbage, you should consider selling it to a company that can properly dispose of it.

Evaluate the Production Process

In a manufacturing business, the production line is at the heart of how the business operates, and hence, production line efficiency improvement is critical. When reviewing the production line, one must also consider the often overlooked elements, for example, the loading dock bumper and other necessary loading dock equipment. While sourcing and maintaining loading dock bumpers, you can rely on top industry service and equipment suppliers.

This will guarantee that your production line is equipped with everything it needs to operate properly. Another critical statistic to examine is throughput. This metric is used to determine the average number of units produced within a specified period. You must have high-quality equipment to ensure that your production line runs smoothly. Analyzing throughput can help spot difficulties in the production line when throughput is not quite up to pace.

Another aspect of production line efficiency improvement is capacity utilization, which determines your factory's overall output capacity. This enables you to monitor the functioning of your production line at all times.

Determine Bottlenecks

While discovering any flaws in your manufacturing line, you will unintentionally locate your production's major bottlenecks. Bottlenecks are breaks in your manufacturing line, supply chain, or any other business activity that obstruct the performance of another operation.
For instance, a certain machine may require repair at a plant, necessitating a half-day shutdown.

Any procedure that needs the operation of that particular machine is subsequently rendered inoperable. That machine becomes the bottleneck at that point. There are other types of blockages. Another instance is when an administrator who is required for approval falls ill.

Once you've identified your most frequent bottlenecks, you may work on reducing them and increasing productivity by decreasing bottleneck-related downtime.

Enhance Training Practices

The way your workers work ultimately impacts the productivity of your entire organization. Lack of training equates to inefficiency, and vice versa. To achieve optimal employee performance, each team member must be empowered throughout the production process. This isn't as simple as writing a pamphlet from which someone can be taught. Highly effective workers need to be taught on the job by someone who is watching them.

However, you must first establish uniform standards throughout your organization, starting from the top. This approach will help your employees understand that they will get organized or informal training to upgrade the skills and knowledge necessary to work successfully during the change's implementation. Training may take the form of a series of online microlearning modules or a blended learning method that includes face-to-face training sessions as well as on-the-job coaching and mentoring.

In addition, PWC is of the opinion that workers should ask the following questions to help them be more efficient in the long run:

  • Is what I’m doing now adding value, or am I just doing it because this is the way I’m supposed to do it?
  • If I were the customer, would I pay money for the activities that I was engaged in?

Allow your staff to generate suggestions for efficiency improvements on their own. After all, no one knows their operations better than they do.

Calculate and Organize Your Workspace

You can optimize production efficiency if your staff can perform their duties in a well-organized work environment. Hence, it is critical to prioritize measuring and organizing the workplace. It is critical to quantify each aspect of your business first, as this will provide you with a clear picture of what works and what does not. After that, you'll need to make sure that everything in the office is in order so that your employees can work efficiently.


Three Companies That Redefined The Innovative Manufacturing Processes

Ford

Henry Ford delivered to the world far more than simple automobiles. His company was the first to integrate a full production line process, paving the way for contemporary mass manufacturing. He devised a moving conveyer belt assembly line, which represented a radical departure from traditional industrial procedures. While his production procedures were restricted by current standards—they only allowed for limited customization—he laid the groundwork for modern manufacturing and a new way of thinking about processes.

Toyota

The Toyota Production System illustrates a deeply embedded cultural and managerial concept. This concept emphasizes the continuous improvement of work processes and systems. This approach focuses on identifying and resolving issues and ensures that every business action adds value to consumers. Dr. W. Edwards Deming and writers James Womack, Daniel Roos, and Daniel Jones brought it to the American public’s attention in the 1980s and 1990s (in "The Machine that Changed the World"). It was, and still is, a radically different management style for the great majority of organizations. Most people are familiar with Toyota Production System tenets like "just in time."

GE

Under former CEO Jack Welch, GE promoted the use of Six Sigma in business operations and provided a blueprint for adoption in the corporate setting that practically everyone sought to copy (at least for a while). Welch made Six Sigma training a pre-requisite for every employee who aspires to higher levels of leadership inside the business, and he enforced its implementation at all levels. The "GE Workout" is an extremely concentrated session (typically over many consecutive days) that evaluates business difficulties and suggests solutions. GE created it as a spin on the Six Sigma toolbox.

Final Words

To accelerate the overall growth of your manufacturing business, you must have innovative manufacturing processes that help improve manufacturing efficiency. You may consider the above mentioned ways to improve production efficiency and get the most out of your production set up. Giving employees new tools is probably the quickest method for managers to change a production process. Moving ahead, finding factory-direct manufacturers that can deal with each company's unique circumstances is also encouraged. Identify and avoid problems so you can then look at current data and waste to develop new and better ways of doing things.

FAQ


What is manufacturing efficiency?

Manufacturing efficiency aims to make products at the lowest feasible overall cost. It's all about maximizing the use of limited resources while minimizing the waste of time, materials, and energy.

What is a manufacturing process flow system?

The manufacturing process flow system shows the granular activity-level stages that must be completed to manufacture finished items from the moment raw materials are delivered to the manufacturing facility until they are transformed into finished goods.

What are the four manufacturing components?

Below are the four components of manufacturing:
  • Production equipment as well as tools, fixtures, and other relevant hardware.
  • A material handling system.
  • A computer system to coordinate and/or control the preceding components.
  • Human personnel to run and manage the system.

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