How to improve the workflow around your manufacturing site

It can be a juggling act to try and get your workflow around your manufacturing site to its optimum speed and quality output. However, for those that have managed to do just that, the working days are reasonably stress-free, and the deadlines are regularly hit.

Although you may find that not all the options are that easy, they will all bring results in their own way, either as a group or individually.

Reorganize working station layout

As time goes on, you may find that the original layout of your factory is not working as well as either it should, or it can. This can be due to product changes or making use of areas within the factory that were set up for now-discontinued products, rather than reformatting your areas for the new lines you are currently running. It also is because your workforce has either swollen in numbers or has reduced due to product demand changing.

You may feel that it is a bit of a headache to get the layout changed. However, you should weigh this against the increased output that your site could have as well as the speed and other advantages that the change could produce. For instance, it could free up areas that could be used to produce other items which your site could then sell on or give you an area within your site that you could hire out to other businesses that cannot afford a whole manufacturing site of their own but would gladly pay a monthly amount to hire out one line worth of space.

Cut down on the amount of handling

Cutting down on the amount of product handling is a very good idea within itself anyway as this will reduce the risk of injury to your members of staff and risk of damage to your products. Cutting down on the amount of handling that takes place within your manufacturing site can be done either by amalgamating production stages or by introducing and installing a custom conveyor belts system or a mixture of both.

By taking advantage of an established conveyor solutions specialist such as fluentconveyors.com, that also make bespoke conveyor belts as well as supply any replacement parts that could be required within the lifespan of your conveyor or upgrades for that matter, you could have all your employees at their benches working and having their workload fed to them, therefore keeping them working and not wandering around.

Get your procedures running smoothly

Take a really good look at your procedures to make sure that they do not need updating or that there are no unnecessary stages in place. You may find that by looking at your procedures and speaking to the members of staff that regularly perform the tasks that there are time-saving initiatives that could be put in place which could ever save your employees time during manufacture or just provide a better way of carrying out the tasks in question.

Using the information and comments from those that regularly carry out the procedures is something that most businesses should take advantage of. Too regularly are procedures written by those that do not or have no intention of actually carrying out the task, and never are those that have to do the tasks asked if there is a better or easier way of the tasks being completed.