Improving the manufacturing process is an obstacle that many productions facilities are trying to overcome - but it is not impossible. Improving the manufacturing process is extremely beneficial to not only your operation, but to your consumers as well.
As you are growing your operation, the amount of waste you produce should not be growing as well. Producing more waste means that you are missing out on significant revenue. Identifying various areas of waste within the operation such as defects, overproduction, inventory, or transportation is only the first step, but it enables the operation to develop a thorough plan for waste reduction. Waste elimination is one the most advantageous methods to improve your manufacturing process.
Employees are only as strong as management, therefore properly training management on how to improve the production process will be passed on to employees. Developing a thorough understanding of production improvement methods and how to identify them will ensure for a much more smooth and efficient production flow.
Turning to your consumers for answers will enable you to understand what they do not value in your product. Over-designing costs more money and is considered wasteful, simply because consumers can really do without it. To do this, you can utilize a process called value-stream mapping, which identifies various steps within the process. This permits consumers to identify the step (or steps) in which they do not consider valuable, ultimately permitting you to eliminate the step. This is how you can properly locate areas where you are wasting productivity.
Having the mindset that small production improvements are insignificant will hold production back. It is important to recognize even the small attributes that can enhance your operation, because every small improvement can eventually lead to one major improvement. Encouraging other areas of management and employees to locate improvement methods is extremely advantageous to your operation and will provide thorough insight.
Advanced planning and scheduling (APS) software can efficiently optimize your manufacturing process. Advanced planning and scheduling (APS) software offers as an extension of your modern-day ERP and MRP systems, filling in the gaps that those systems do not account for. Various capabilities of APS include the following:
For more information on advanced planning and scheduling software (APS), click here!
Key takeaways from this video:
Turn Process Improvement Methods into a Better Production Plan
Waste identification, training, consumer-focused value-stream mapping, and mindset shifts are powerful manufacturing process improvement methods. But they only deliver lasting results when they are reflected in your production plan and schedule—how work is sequenced, how capacity is used, and how responsive you can be to change. That is where Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) turns improvement ideas into real operational and financial gains.
Download our one-page “The Money Is in the Planning” infographic to see how better planning and scheduling can help you:
Share it with your operations, planning, and CI teams as a quick, visual guide to connect manufacturing process improvement methods with the planning and scheduling decisions that truly move performance.