Manufacturing efficiency goes beyond just churning out products on the production line. It’s about creating the most possible value with each product while reducing waste materials, energy, and time.
In contrast, productivity measures the number of goods produced over a certain period of time. However, it doesn’t necessarily indicate that your business is using its resources effectively.
Identifying Bottlenecks
Just like a fleet at sea moves only as fast as its slowest vessel, your production line can be held back by the performance of your least efficient machines. It’s important to be able to identify bottlenecks in your workflows and take steps to alleviate them, whether that involves hiring more workers, implementing overtime or upgrading equipment. But a better strategy is to avoid bottlenecks altogether by being prepared and planning ahead. Moreover, you can actually calculate OEE to know better.
The first step to identifying bottlenecks is mapping out your entire production process. This allows you to visualize each step and analyze the timelines, efficiencies and capacity of each machine or resource. It’s also essential to consider dependencies between different steps and look for areas where the process is slowing down.
Once you’ve identified a bottleneck, the next step is to analyze why it exists. A common technique is to use a fishbone diagram, which is an organizational tool that helps teams to identify the root causes of problems and work towards a solution by iterating through each possible cause until you reach the core of the problem. Another effective method is to utilize a matrix chart that scores each potential cause of a bottleneck based on its impact. The cause with the highest score is the one you’ll want to focus on improving.
In addition to analyzing the flow of work, it’s also important to evaluate production data such as cycle times, throughput rates and inventory levels to identify bottlenecks. Comparing these metrics against benchmarks can help you to recognize consistent inefficiencies or performance variations that may signal the presence of a bottleneck.
Short-Term Bottleneck:
A short-term bottleneck occurs when demand spikes or a production step suffers an unexpected delay. This type of bottleneck can be caused by a variety of factors, such as a machine breaking down and needing repairs, an employee being on leave or an unexpected delay in moving designs into the MRP stage. Fortunately, these types of bottlenecks tend to be more manageable and can be quickly resolved by implementing preventative measures such as improving communication or creating an emergency backup plan.
Reducing Waste
Production waste is a significant contributor to manufacturing inefficiency, and it can take many forms. It may be raw materials or energy wasted during manufacturing, defective or unusable finished products, or even unnecessary movement of materials during production (known as ‘waste of motion’). This can all be overcome by implementing production efficiency enhancement measures such as streamlining processes and workflows, optimizing equipment performance, eliminating bottlenecks and improving overall productivity.
The first step in reducing waste is to understand where it comes from, which can be achieved by getting employees involved in assessing production processes and seeking suggestions for improvement. Once this is complete, companies should set measurable goals for cutting waste and creating an action plan to achieve them. This will help teams stay focused and motivated to drive down costs and improve quality, which in turn will benefit the bottom line.
One of the most common areas of waste is raw material, with the most serious being manufacturing too early or in excess, which can lead to stockpiling and storage issues. This can be solved by refining production processes and establishing strong relationships with suppliers to cut down on delivery times and reduce inventory levels.
More long-term strategies include incorporating design principles such as value engineering and design for manufacturability to reduce material requirements, and utilizing a range of recycling programs to cut down on landfill and environmental impact. This can also be a cost-effective strategy, as metals that are unable to be used in manufacturing can often be sold on again, generating a revenue stream.
The other major area of waste is in the form of time, which can be reduced by implementing production scheduling systems and training staff to work smarter not harder. It’s also important to make sure that the right resources are in place to support manufacturing, rather than attempting to cut costs by sacrificing productivity or quality.
Streamlining Workflows
Workflows are the routes job tasks take to get done. Streamlining workflow processes allows businesses to automate repetitive steps, eliminating redundant or unnecessary tasks in the process. This increases productivity, reduces errors and gives employees more time to complete high-priority goals.
The first step to streamlining workflows is documenting the current business processes. This helps managers identify areas that can be improved. It also enables them to determine what impact the changes will have on workers, customers and the bottom line.
It’s also important to understand the cost of each process and what resources are involved. For example, if a specific workflow is costly because it requires expensive machinery or software, it may be necessary to invest in that technology. However, in most cases, cost-efficiency is achievable without investing a lot of money.
In many cases, a simple tweak to a workflow is all that’s needed to make it more efficient. Changing the order in which tasks are completed, for instance, can reduce overall processing time and the number of errors made. This can be done by eliminating steps that aren’t required or by adding new, simpler steps that can be performed in the same amount of time.
Streamlining workflows can also improve organizational resilience by making it easier to train new hires, re-assign work responsibilities or even find information when someone is out sick or quits unexpectedly. Documented processes are also more secure because they don’t rely on institutional knowledge that lives in one person’s head and can be lost when that employee leaves the company.
Using automation to streamline workflows can help companies achieve their efficiency goals without sacrificing quality or customer service. For example, a customer support call center used AI to provide personalized self-serving interactions for their customers and streamline their internal process at the same time. This helped them deliver a better customer experience and saved them significant amounts of money on training costs. By improving ways of working, businesses can increase productivity and win more business. This is especially important in the manufacturing industry, where every dollar counts.
Increasing Productivity
Increasing productivity is the goal of most manufacturing businesses. After all, it translates into higher potential profits and an ability to meet customer demand without adding personnel or resources. But achieving this is easier said than done. Boosting productivity requires a holistic approach that addresses both the efficiency of an assembly line as well as the effectiveness of employees. This can be achieved through factory efficiency enhancement techniques like synchronizing inventory and workflow, reducing waste and improving overall operations.
Productivity is a metric that measures how much output a production line can create in a certain time period. For example, a factory may have been designed to produce 200 finished products per day or 50 of a specific part per hour. This is the standard output rate and serves as a benchmark against which actual production rates can be measured.
Efficiency, on the other hand, focuses on quality and ensuring that only necessary output is produced. It is often measured as a percentage with 100% being the ideal score. This is why it is important to accurately determine the true performance of a factory by comparing its actual output against the standard output rate.
By identifying bottlenecks, eliminating waste and enhancing employee skills, manufacturers can maximize the productivity of their assembly lines. However, it is important to note that simply boosting productivity without also improving the quality of work can have adverse effects. To ensure that workers can perform at their best, it is vital to re-train them, improve communication protocols and implement technology to reduce human error.
When an assembly line runs efficiently, it is able to keep up with customer demands, reducing the amount of raw materials and labor needed. This ultimately translates into lower costs for the manufacturer as well as shorter delivery times for customers. Moreover, minimizing the amount of unnecessary materials and labor can help businesses stay competitive by allowing them to offer products at a lower price point. In addition, a well-synchronized operation can minimize stock holding costs while freeing up capital for other investments. This way, companies can deliver better quality goods while keeping up with market demands and retaining a loyal customer base.
