How to Improve Production Tracking in Manufacturing
The production line has many points and joints that all fit together, to make a smooth transition from one stage to another when creating a product. As you may already know, each of these points is niche in their own right, so integration is the key to running your business without a hiccup.
It’s far easier said than done though, as the slew of small details that stack up and up, ends up having a big impact on your business. Get a couple of wrong and it’s not the end of the world, but if you get multiple small issues wrong, it can massively affect schedules and work delays. So here is how to improve your manufacturing production tracking.
Communication between stages
The main reason why production lines get lost in translation is the miscommunication between different stages of production. Things such as not registering a customer’s order or perhaps, not fully realizing that sales for a particular product have increased and thus, more stock is required to fill the demand, etc.
This is usually fixed with good internal communication between employees, supervisors, and managers. The real work is done in enterprise resource management software, so regardless of whether or not the finer details are spoken and discussed, simple orders of stock, repairs required and tasks yet to be completed are all accessed easily. By digitizing your tool inventory, it helps to forecast requirements for jobs and prevent hiccups.
Know your priorities
It must go without saying, but far too often we need it repeating; you need to set your priorities from the outset. Every week, discuss which jobs need to take precedence and thus given more attention. For small business owners, this might be difficult because knowing which jobs need to be prioritized isn’t always quick. However, you should go by the core principles of the most valued customer or client, the most profit achievable, and the most rewarding in terms of experience.
Manage risk
Lean manufacturing is great at providing solutions to businesses that seem to waste a lot of time or have problems with managing risk. One of the risks that need addressing is natural disasters. Whether it’s an earthquake, tornadoes, or flooding, using superb visual analytics will help you to perform a more accurate risk assessment.
Start with a vulnerability test. You’ll probably find that the main risk to your production line is the property itself. So go through the list and see which assets will be most affected by physical damage and how will that affect production. It won’t be that difficult to see what you need to do next.
Overlapping training
There’s no getting around it, you need employees to be able to cover for one another. Running a business requires you to have employees that can perform each other’s roles to some degree in the event of the man numbers depleting or if you’re a small business without much capital to hire new staff. So cross-training is vital for employees who are not familiar with the manufacturing execution systems you use.
If you would like more information on how to improve your production tracking in manufacturing, contact us with any questions you may have!
