Manufacturing facilities are essentially the backbone of many product-based companies; that said, manufacturers must meet deadlines to maintain accounts with companies. To ensure you’re meeting and exceeding your client’s expectations, you must operate at peak efficiency as much as possible. Some manufacturers operate rather quickly, but some inefficiencies are less obvious than others. Read our guide below if you’d like to learn the possible reasons for manufacturing inefficiencies.
A Lack of Training
Most manufacturing facilities provide training during the onboarding process, but that’s the last time a worker receives training. If that previous scenario describes your facility, you’re asking to be inefficient. Regardless of an individual’s experience, tenure, and skills, you should regularly offer training—worst-case scenario, you reinforce best practices among employees. The frequency of training programs varies by company, but offering quarterly training sessions is a good rule to follow.
Unclear Communication
Have you ever had a boss who barked orders but never made deadlines clear? Hopefully, that’s not happening in your facility. Communication is vital to worker productivity and efficiency in every industry, but especially in manufacturing. It seems like everything in manufacturing is automated these days, but someone still has to operate and monitor the machine. If workers don’t know when they’re supposed to have their tasks completed, you can count on falling behind.
Faulty Equipment
While the manufacturing machinery does the majority of the work nowadays, you have to actually maintain the equipment too—crazy, isn’t it? In addition to maintaining the machine itself, you also need to maintain the machine’s components, specifically its motor. The majority of machines run off an electric motor because they typically require less maintenance, but that doesn’t get you off the hook. Everyone in manufacturing should know the common reasons an electric motor might fail, then you can ensure you’re doing everything in your power to prevent downtime.
You probably expected us to tell you one of the possible reasons for inefficient manufacturing is your people, but that’s usually not true. Your people obviously play a vital role in the success of your business, after all, and you wouldn’t make it very far without them. If you implement our suggestions into your facility, you’ll likely begin to see an uptick in efficiency and output.
