How to Achieve Efficiency When Running a Manufacturing Business

Running a production facility is all about trying to squeeze the most efficiency out of systems and people. Profits in manufacturing come from when the ratio of efficiency to production can be altered significantly. Here are a few tips for manufacturers looking to implement efficiency-boosting protocols and processes in their facilities. All of these tips require long-term strategic planning. If you are ready to start making positive changes to your manufacturing business in terms of efficiency, keep reading. 

Cut Down On Waste

All waste is detrimental to manufacturing efficiency. Waste products are regulated very strictly by government agencies. More often than not, manufacturing will be unable to dispose of waste products without paying a very large amount of money for the privilege of doing so. This is reasonable: waste products are sometimes very labour intensive to get rid of or recycle. The only way of making a company significantly more efficient in terms of waste disposal is to reduce the amount of waste that is being produced in the first place. Find appropriate uses for waste products in the production chain, use biodegradable materials, and seek out processes that create very little unusable waste. All manufacturing processes create waste, but some are far more efficient than others. 

One common cause of wastage that can be significantly changed for the better is the use of water. Water is used in a great many processes in manufacturing. Many modern manufacturing facilities are now equipped with systems that reuse a great deal of the water being pumped in. Wash water, for instance, can be used several times or even reused as coolant. The regular maintenance of valves and seals helps to reduce the amount of water that is inadvertently spilled during the production process. 

Invest In Process Automation

Since the beginning of the industrial revolution in the 18th century, manufacturers have sought to incorporate more and more automation into processes. Automation – the creation of systems that require very little human input – is seen as a key profit-increasing tactic in pretty much every area of production. It should be noted that not all automation is helpful. Factory owners still need to treat people as their greatest asset. 

Digital technology and machine learning algorithms have opened up new pathways towards automation in many industries where tasks were completed almost exclusively by human beings. Machine learning has been an especially important tool in the creation of intelligent manufacturing systems, especially when used in conjunction with industrial cameras to analyse high resolution imaging data in a matter of milliseconds, thanks to the data transfer rates achievable in modern GigE cameras and AI systems. Such technology setups can allow manufacturing lines to remove defected or inadequate products from a product line and send updated calibration figures to machines in a production line, in order to correct any errors. This is all without the need for human supervision and monitoring that would slow down the production process.

Invest In Staff Happiness

Manufacturing workers are quitting their jobs in record numbers. This wave of resignations is part of a much wider trend across many industries that has seen people voluntarily leave their jobs in massive numbers. It has been dubbed ‘the great resignation’ by the press and is being seen as a huge challenge to the industry. Manufacturing businesses have been losing their staff for several reasons. When a company offers bad pay, bad conditions, zero-hour contracts, and the constant threat of automation, then it is easy to see how workers might reconsider their commitment to the cause. 

In order to retain staff, manufacturing businesses need to listen to worker unions, offer training and health benefits, offer proper contracts and look after the physical and mental health of their employees. Losing employees is obviously a huge threat to efficiency. A quitting worker will take all of their training and expertise away with them, and the training of new staff is incredibly expensive and time-consuming. Consider the proper treatment of your employees like a very wise investment. It might cost a little more to provide workers with everything they need, but it will always pay off in the future. If you treat employees right, then they will treat you right. 

Offer Efficient Customer Service 

Manufacturers offer a service. They are also subject to all kinds of feedback from retailers and customers. Managing customer service efficiently is an immensely important part of running a lean production business. Luckily, a degree of customer service automation is now possible. Companies like servicegeeni.com offer software solutions for manufacturing service managers. Customers – especially large retailers – are unlikely to stick with a manufacturer if they are unable to communicate with them quickly and clearly. 

Ultimately, good swift customer service will enable a manufacturing business to concentrate more of its resources on the creation of streamlined production processes. Responding efficiently to feedback will enable a company to work out what parts of a process need to be changed in order to generate the highest level of customer satisfaction. It will also help a company to develop a reputation as a responsive and responsible organization that is open to suggestions from stakeholders and customers. 

Outsource Sales And Marketing 

Manufacturing experts should play to their strengths. Developing highly efficient production processes and creating the best possible products (as Dyson does, for example, having grown to become a leading manufacturer of critical fasteners), is all they should be concerned with. Outsourcing marketing and sales departments to third-party organizations can help to reduce the amount of staff needed within a manufacturing concern. Outsourcing is not always the most efficient model, however. Sometimes, internal sales teams and marketing experts can do a far better job than disinterested agencies.

Cellular Manufacturing

Cellular manufacturing methods are all the rage at the moment – with proponents claiming that it improves efficiency and reduces product recalls. In a cell type manufacturing facility, workstations (or cells) are arranged so that individual parts can be added to a product, which can then be moved on to another cell with the minimum amount of transport. This method enables for a high degree of automation and a minimum amount of wasted energy. Cells are connected together in such a way that only minimal worker input needs to be given. Workers can shift focus away from machine operation and to the prevention of mishaps. Each worker is typically responsible for more than one machine in a cellular system – differentiating it from traditional production lines in which each worker was only responsible for a single machine. 

Standardise Maintenance Protocols

Manufacturing companies cannot allow maintenance to be done as and when a problem arises. This can lead to huge maintenance bottlenecks and reduced productivity on a large scale. Instead, an efficient manufacturer will have maintenance plans and maintenance standards carefully planned out in order to reduce the amount of corrective work that needs to be done. 

Regular predictive maintenance needs to take place regardless of the state in which a manufacturing facility is in. All machines with moving parts are liable to wear and tear, and digital systems are vulnerable to the development of data silos and storage issues. Maintenance plans allow a company harmonise their production strategy with their maintenance schedule so that production is never halted entirely due to correctional work. 

Maintenance plans should be broken up into annual, monthly, weekly, daily, and correctional sub-categories that dictate exactly what kind of work needs to be completed. The efficiency of a manufacturing facility rests heavily on the ability of that facility to continue operating without major breakdowns and breaks in service. 

Tighten Up Health And Safety procedures 

Everybody and their dog seems to moan about health and safety, but it is extremely important. Although tight health and safety procedures and training have the obvious benefit of preventing unnecessary suffering, they can also serve to make a manufacturing business more efficient. Accidents in the workplace are very expensive. Companies spend money in three main ways when accidents happen:

Compensation And Benefits 

Damage To Equipment 

Accidents at work hurt people, but they also damage equipment. Specialist equipment can be immensely expensive to replace, so the minimization of accidents helps to create a financially efficient workplace. 

Onboarding New Staff

Injured staff cannot be expected to come into work and must be paid adequately while they are off the job. This means that a company that has seen an accident occur needs to find new staff to fill in the place of injured team members. Onboarding new staff takes lots of time and costs a great deal of money under nearly every circumstance. 

Invest In Comprehensive Training 

Staff are only going to be capable of offering efficient service if they have been trained correctly. Training is one kind of investment that never goes to waste. Good training not only allows staff to complete manufacturing processes efficiently: it also enables them to identify potential changes that need to be made within processes to make them more efficient. During training programs, staff will learn about compliance with company policy and competence in company-sanctioned processes. Training should also be considered as a way of investing in the development of staff. Companies should offer their staff the opportunity to gain nationally-recognised qualifications during training so that they can advance their careers. This improves company efficiency in the long run: allowing a business to recruit for senior staff positions internally instead of going through a long and expensive recruitment process. 

Traditionally, manufacturing staff have been expected to learn their trade on the job. This is no longer the case. Manufacturing workers have to be adequately trained before they are allowed to control any dangerous machinery or sensitive chemicals. On-the-job training is great, but it is a slow and inefficient process when not paired with a formal training program. 

Identify Choke Points 

All manufacturing companies need to identify the chokepoints that are likely to occur after onboarding any new factory process. Manufacturing chokepoints come in many forms. In recent years, some of the most prominent chokepoints have been the unavailability of specialist parts and disruptions in the next-day supply chain. Many modern manufacturing concerns rely upon parts being delivered to them overnight in order to cut down on warehousing space needs. This is all well and good, but external influences can cripple the next-day supply chain. In the United Kingdom, next-day supply chains have been seriusly damaged by the knock-on impact of the country’s split from the European Union. This has left many manufacturers standing still: unable to complete consignments because of a lack of deliveries. 

Potential stumbling blocks with things like supply chains need to be identified ahead of time. Although companies strive for efficiency by cutting out warehousing, a failure to plan ahead can lead to huge backups. Make sure this is a priority and plan in advance to make handling any problems easy.