One of the most important aspects of building up your business is understanding the areas of productivity where you need to improve. Workflow is vital, and in the manufacturing industry where there is a focus on the practical aspects of production, the workflow can be a concept open to interpretation. But with this in mind, are there any ways for you to improve manufacturing productivity? Is it all about changing the layout, is it minimizing the processes, or a combination?
Examine The Current Workflow
To solve any problem, we have got to see if there is a problem and admit to it. We need to look at the workflow of our factory, and gauge the current state. Examine individual components such as workbenches, and see if there are individual components that are holding up the entire process. If, for example, workers are too busy fiddling with air fittings, when it can be achieved by automating this process, putting the stops in place to make this a reality can take some time. But when you look at how much effort will be saved, so workers can focus on other tasks, it becomes necessary. The current workflow needs a stringent examination. Only then can you improve.
Acknowledgement Of Your Employees
Collaboration is a difficult process to implement in a factory environment. After all, people are working individually, but when we look at the bigger picture, this can encourage collaboration. But we also have to remember that we need to collaborate with our employees to get their opinions. Ultimately, they are on the floor, not you. They will have better insights than you on developing a more efficient workflow. This could very well be to do with something like the culture, working practices, or it could be something to do with the technology. A lot of workers are reticent of automation because they may feel they are being put out of a job. This is your responsibility to highlight that automation is designed to aid the employee rather than to take over them.
Invest In Preventative Maintenance
If technology is a barrier to increased workflow, is it because the equipment keeps breaking down? Preventative maintenance could very well cause issues in the short-term, but when you look at the impacts of workflow over time, it may be essential to invest in planned maintenance, despite downtime, to ensure that the equipment does its job. We only have to look at how a manufacturing operation can falter when one piece of equipment breaks down. It could very well shut down operations for the entire day.
Improving the workflow can also be done by encouraging accountability, as well as managing expectations. In a factory setting, where people feel like they are pieces of a puzzle rather than a whole unit, employees need to be encouraged to have more accountability so they are taking more responsibility for their work. But this means we have to implement a culture that can encourage people’s ability to speak up when they see inefficient actions. This is easier said than done in an environment that is perpetually noisy.
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When you’re running a factory or a warehouse area, you need everything to be like a well-oiled machine – pardon the pun. If everything is flowing correctly, then you’ll have a better chance of hitting targets and creating lots of output. You might be able to get away with a little leniency and looseness, but that will eventually catch up to you in the end.
How can you create a smooth-running operation then? Well, fortunately, there are loads of different things you can do that will affect all aspects. The environment will obviously need to be on point, for starters. You’ll also need to get the workforce firing, too – they’re pretty integral to the way the entire business performs! Here are a few specific ways you can get all these kinds of things sorted out:
Make A Plan And Stick To It
Without preparation, you’ll probably falter at some point. Some businesses like to be fluid and free-flowing when it comes to all aspects. The majority need to have more of a cautious and collected approach to things. If you know exactly who’s going to be doing what, and exactly what’s going to happen, then you’ll have a clearer view of the future.
Create a plan for the week again, but be sure to outline your vision for the upcoming months, too. The long-term is just as important as the long term.
Create A Certain Way Of Operating
This might sound a little totalitarian to some people, but having a particular set of steps might make everything a lot slicker. Sure, autonomy is nice, and nobody likes being shackled by a certain style, but it’s a great way of getting things done smoothly. If your workers have a style drilled into them, then they’ll systematically fire through their jobs with little time for stalling and overthinking.
Make Sure You Have Everything You Need
This is pretty basic, but so many businesses don’t check themselves on a regular basis. If you don’t have certain parts or the right equipment, then you’re going to struggle to get things done. At the beginning of each week, be sure to take stock. You don’t want to have everything ready, then realize you’re missing a few swivel eye bolts, or that a particular machine is malfunctioning.
Hire The Right People
We mentioned before that the team is kind of important to the productivity. Well, if you have competent, efficient, and hungry staff, then they’re going to be more motivated than most. When you have active workers, the entire system will flow better. Unmotivated and sluggish people will always bring the rest of the team down and slow everything up.
Be sure to regularly train the staff, too. They will always need a kick up the backside because they’re human. New techniques and methods regarding all aspects of work are surfacing, too, so they’ll need to be up to speed.
Safety First!
Make sure everything is completely safe and good-to-go in the workplace. If things are looking a little ropey, then that’s only going to hinder the productivity and the flow. Errors will probably be made during the day, and the staff might be on tenterhooks throughout.
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There are many pillars upon which a competent business rests. See how even the most successful business operates with only 20% of its staff turning up for work, or only 20% of its IT systems functioning that day, and you’ll see just how quickly even the most titanic corporations can lose value quickly.
This is why it’s important to never take those pillars for granted. Included in this definition, often forgotten, is the network of suppliers you use. No business can function without a supplier of some kind, even the most self-reliant and self-sufficient firm that seems to construct most of their output themselves. Even those businesses that craft raw materials for other production capabilities will need to rely on tools, security, IT infrastructure and more from a separate source, and this applies to your business also.
This means that it’s important to consider the value of your suppliers, and to understand just how to build that business relationship effectively. This can help you both isolate the best and worst suppliers you may have to use, and that can be important.
Consider the following advice:
Customized Services
The best suppliers offer customized services to help you realize your ambitions as a firm in the best manner possible. This is because over and above the normal applications your firm may have for their product line, applications such as metal stamping, plastic moulds and storage solutions can add or subtract from your final product depending on how you use certain implements. When you realize this, you can hold onto those suppliers that are familiar with your firm and are willing to work with you to the best solution.
Loyal Goodwill
There’s a sense of goodwill that develops when you continue to use the same services. Perhaps this may even run two-ways. If you are known as a client that pays their invoices within a matter of days, if you have clear and consistent communication and you’re also forthright about your needs surrounding a new project, then you are both an exciting and dependable client to work for. If you appreciate your suppliers in return and practice goodwill from time to time, they will return that, potentially even placing you at the top of their priority list.
Supporting Your Local Businesses
Supporting your local businesses can be a worthwhile stance to take in itself. Sure, blindly supporting the businesses around you without any consideration for how they treat their customers or clients is not the way forward, but at the same time, if you have the choice between two suppliers and one is local and smaller and can fulfill your orders just fine? It may be worth utilizing them, to bond with the strength of community, and to abide by ethical business practices that may just return back to you. You never know just how this web of complex mutual support can truly improve and raise a local economy, and help you craft more thorough business ties.
With this advice, we hope you’ll never take your suppliers for granted.
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In contrast to startups, which often experiment until they gain their footing in the market, established businesses are notoriously slow to change.
This is unfortunate because we’re currently experiencing the biggest global upheaval of any time in history since the industrial revolution.
In order to adapt to a climate charged by automation, market shifts, and globalization, companies need to evolve to meet changing priorities and conditions.
That’s how you maintain your competitive edge.
It’s the essence of agility.
Why Agility is Important for Your Business
Agility is defined by McKinsey & Company as “… the ability of an organization to renew itself, adapt, change quickly, and thrive in an environment characterized by rapid change, ambiguity, and turbulence.”
This is often driven by necessity during a major paradigm shift, but the need is also present during market fluctuations and other upheavals, major and minor.
It’s no longer the domain of tech companies, as industries from manufacturing to finance are entering a tech-driven phase.
These transformations are shaped by:
The introduction of disruptive technologies
Fast-evolving business environments
Rapid information democratization and digitization
Competition to find and recruit new talent
When a business prioritizes adopting an agile business model, they’re better able to weather business downturns and see challenges as opportunities for growth and innovation.
In order to become a lean, flexible company that can rise to the top of your market, you must be willing to take a critical look at procedures and enact change, infuse staff with the ability to take ownership of successes and failures and embrace a new corporate mindset.
If you want to improve your company’s level of agility, ask yourself the following questions:
Where are we struggling, and what can we do to change this?
How do we implement an agile mindset to incorporate both sides of the productivity equation?
How can we embed a more customer-centric focus on our corporate culture?
How can we empower our employees to take greater accountability for outcomes?
Part of this process takes a bit of self-awareness and honest assessment.
The rest can be gleaned by mirroring companies that have successfully achieved greater agility.
Factors That Contribute to Business Agility
While 90 percent of the most successful enterprises feel that agility is critical to their success, only 26 percent of corporations feel that their company has achieved the level of necessary flexibility.
What’s more, a survey conducted by Korn Ferry for Focus found that only 74 percent of the respondents who felt agility was critical incorporate it into the hiring/promotion process. This number drops to 66 percent of peer, non-WMAC enterprises.
What are the traits that define agile corporations?
You’ll find that the best of them exhibit the following characteristics.
#1 They Support Employee Engagement
Transform your workforce from a team of individuals who wait for orders to a cooperative force that acts proactively to make decisions.
You should obtain feedback and involve staff members in the decision-making process.
When staff feels invested and involved in the success of the enterprise, they’re better able to align themselves with the company’s goals and mission.
#2 They Use Advanced Technology to Enhance, Rather Than Replace, Human Productivity
Between fatigue and inattention brought on by boredom or redundancy, core business functions are prone to human error.
Using automation not only makes your business more efficient – and core processes like cost accounting more accurate – it also saves time and money.
Take inventory management, for example. Overstocking is an issue for many businesses because keeping the right balance of goods-on-hand to meet demand is often a guessing game.
If you don’t have a product in-stock, your customers will find another supplier. Too much inventory, and you’ll end up marking items down just to get rid of them.
Inventory management software offers data-driven automation and takes the guesswork out of ordering stock while freeing inventory and production managers to focus on more critical activities.
#3 They Model Non-Traditional Corporate Structures
There was a time when executives liked to refer to their companies as well-oiled machines.
In a report conducted by McKinsey & Company, the concept of a modern, agile enterprise likens them more to dynamic organisms than static, rigid structures.
The focus is on rapid forward movement without losing stability and working within cross-functional teams rather than adhering to a strict top-down hierarchy.
#4 They Focus More on Developing Leadership Than Managing Staff
Change begins at the top.
In order for an agile corporate culture to flourish, managers have to become more than just middlemen and women who pass on and enforce orders from the decision-makers to the rank and file.
You need to give those under your direction purpose and a vested interest in successful outcomes. This can be achieved by recognizing and developing talent as well as giving staff a higher level of autonomy.
Engage in continuous employee management activities that foster growth and career development. There’s even performance management technology that’s designed to aid leaders through employee training and education. However, nothing beats the personal touch of human-to-human interaction.
Final Thoughts
We’re experiencing a sea change in how business is conducted in the 21st century.
If you want to remain competitive, agility is essential.
Developing even a few of the above characteristics will increase efficiency and return a great ROI in terms of time and money.
About the Author
Joe Peters is a Baltimore-based freelance writer and an ultimate techie. When he is not working his magic as a marketing consultant, this incurable tech junkie devours the news on the latest gadgets and binge-watches his favorite TV shows. Follow him on @bmorepeters
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Suppliers provide the crucial goods and services that you require to successfully run a business. This is why it is important to create a good relationship with them. Often businesses can fail because they haven’t worked on establishing a good working relationship with their suppliers. It’s best to think about what each supplier offers rather than the cost. Of course, you need to think about managing costs overall however building a good relationship and having an excellent level of understanding between you and your supplier is just as important.
Suppliers can provide quality materials and help you acquire what you need. If you have great communication levels between you they will often have a quick turn around. Meaning that Gasket Seal that you need pronto to complete a job is more likely to arrive promptly. In order to meet deadlines and targets, you will find that you sometimes have to ask them to go the extra mile and having a relationship with a supplier can go a long way into making this possible. Just like when creating a client base, you need to create a solid record of professional and timely behavior combined with the added personal touch.
Have a look below at some of the ways you can help to create a good relationship with your suppliers:
Pay On Time
You have to remember that your supplier is also a business, and this means that they want to earn money and get paid just like you do. If you know that you might have problems meeting your obligations, make sure this is worked into the contract you have between you before signing. It’s always best to be upfront when experiencing problems with payment. So, give your supplier a call as soon as you know of a problem and reach out to them in order to arrange a payment date. This is a much better working practice than leaving it and waiting for them to chase you for payment of overdue accounts.
Make An Effort To Know Them
It’s far to easy to keep things online and via email nowadays however phone calls and face-to-face go a long way in business and should be considered as important. Although everything can be done with emails it’s best to get to know your suppliers and catch up once in a while. Try visiting their office or inviting them to any company functions. Coffee or lunch is a great none pressured way to network with existing and potential suppliers, it enables you to build a personal rapport.
Make It Easy For Them
You should aim to give your suppliers adequate lead time and always communicate your needs. Crises can’t always be avoided, however, your suppliers won’t appreciate your custom if your their client that always rings last minute for supplies. Your suppliers aren’t going to be able to anticipate your needs although on occasions they may be able to supply at last minute. What you order may need time to prepare, and sometimes they need to order in parts themselves. Work with suppliers closely and make sure they understand what your future needs may be. The more they know the better.
These are just three ways that you can help to create a good relationship with your suppliers, do have any others that you can share in the comments section below?
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