- Evaluate your workflow
If you’re seeking ways to enhance productivity in manufacturing, the ideal way is to start by determining which areas of your workflow are missing. Going over all the processes in your manufacturing business implies considering a few factors, such as the employees, the specific hardware they use, and the physical action of production. You may need to consider other variables as well, such as the variety of resources required to complete tasks (electricity, raw materials, etc.), level of communication all through the workplace, and so on.
- Ensure equipment work efficiently
Replacing manufacturing equipment can be pretty costly, which is why maintenance should be one of your greatest concerns, particularly in manufacturing productivity. In general, business equipment loans are useful in covering these costs. Although it is essential to keep machines operating at full capacity, so is ensuring that employees are competent operators of those specific machines. For those employees who are unable to troubleshoot for bugs and/or readjust the equipment correctly, enhancing productivity in the manufacturing process will be much harder.
- Consider “lean manufacturing” principles
You do not have to come up with your distinct manufacturing process improvement ideas. Generally speaking, one of the most common is called lean manufacturing, which is regarded as “an approach to manufacturing that deals with low inventory, reduced waste, and efficient systems.”
The origin of lean manufacturing stretches back to the Toyota Production System – it actually adopted several manufacturing methods from Henry Ford’s assembly-line concept. The “5 S’s” can summarize the principles of lean manufacturing.
The 5 S’s of Lean Manufacturing are:
- Seiri. Sort tools, components, and instructions according to their necessity (needed or unneeded)
- Seiton. Organizing tools and components so that they’re easy to recognize and apply
- Seiso. Keep a tidy work area
- Seiketsu. Come up with a schedule to perform seiri, seiton, and seiso daily
- Shitsuke. Recognize the first four S’s as an order that you have to follow at all times
- Make use of manufacturing tech trends
One of the ideal ways to enhance productivity in the manufacturing industry is to keep up with the latest manufacturing tech trends. Read more in this article from Harnham. Because of the constant growth and change in digital technology, it is crucial to stay alert if you want to remain competitive. Some of the technological trends that are presently popular in the industry are augmented reality, machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), etc.
- Train employees constantly
If your employees have not been well-trained on how to work with the latest tech trends, then utilizing them is virtually useless. And because technology develops at such a fast rate, you should consider constant training and education of the workers in your business – it is vital for manufacturing productivity. This is also a great technique to include in your strategy if you’re planning to overcome labor shortages in the manufacturing industry.
