How to improve production in manufacturing [ 10 Easy Steps ]
- November 13, 2024
Category : Production monitoring systems
Dasarathi G V
Director in Leanworx
Dasarathi has extensive experience in CNC programming, tooling, and managing shop floors. His expertise extends to the architecture, testing, and support of CAD/CAM, DNC, and Industry 4.0 systems.
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There are two options to improve production in manufacturing:
- Increase the number of machines by buying more machines.
- Improve the capacity utilization of the existing machines.
Buying more machines is the more obvious answer, but the bad answer. It will increase the capital expenditure (CapEx), the interest costs on the CapEx, increase manpower cost, floor area required, power consumption, and a variety of indirect costs. The net result is a reduction in profits.
The better method is to improve the productivity of the existing machines by the following actions:
- Reduce machine downtime for setup change, breakdown, inspection, raw material shortage, etc.
- Reduce part rejections.
- Reduce cycle times and part unload-load times.
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How to improve productivity in manufacturing
Improving productivity means producing more parts and more good parts with the same number of machines.
- Produce more parts by reducing downtime and cycle time.
2. Produce more good parts by improving quality and reducing rejections.
The key to improving productivity is to have data from machines that is accurate and timely. This data will tell you the extent to which you are losing production capacity, and what are the causes. E.g., data like this:
- Get accurate data on the downtime incidences on each machine – the duration of each incidence, and the reason for the downtime. Determine the top reasons, focus on them and reduce them.
- Get accurate data on the part rejections on each machine – the quantity of rejections, and their causes. Determine the top causes, focus on them and reduce them.
- Get accurate data on the cycle time and part unload-load time for each cycle. Analyze if the actual times match the standard times. If the actual times are more than the standard times, reduce them by improving the tooling, fixturing, or operator training.
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10 ways to improve manufacturing productivity and efficiency
1. Reduce Late start, early ending in shift
2. Reduce machine downtime due to extended breaks
3. Reduce downtime for setup change
4. Reduce downtime for first-part inspection
5. Reduce downtime for tool change
6. Reduce downtime in machine breakdowns
7. Reduce time to attend to machine breakdowns
8. Reduce or eliminate incidences of ‘No raw material’
9. Reduce part rejections
10. Reduce part rework
The first 2 points in this list relate to work ethics issues that result in machine downtime. These are easy to fix, take very little time (typically a few weeks) and typically require no investment.
These can account for upto 30% of the total downtime. Points 3 to 10 are system-related issues that need more time to fix, and generally require some investment.
1. Reduce Late start, early ending in shift :
Production starting late at the start of the shift and ending early at the end of the shift is a very common problem. It easily results in a downtime of 1 hour per 8-hour shift, or 12 % of the available time. This means 12% reduction in production quantity. Reducing or eliminating this will involve.
2. Reduce machine downtime due to extended breaks
This is downtime caused by personnel taking more time than allotted for breaks – tea, lunch, etc. This too is a common problem, and can account for upto 5 % of the available time.
3. Reduce downtime for setup change
Setup time can be anywhere between 1 hour to many hours depending on the complexity involved. It varies from part to part and machine to machine.
It can vary between operators based on their skill levels. It can be reduced by operator training to improve skills, improving fixturing, using quick change or modular tooling.
4. Reduce downtime for first-part inspection
First part inspection and approval are necessary after a setup change or after a tool change. This is done by the operator or a QC inspector. If the latter, it can take time because the inspector is busy with other tasks.
The downtime can be reduced by improving measuring instruments, shifting to inspection by the operator instead of by a separate inspector, etc.
5. Reduce downtime for tool change
Tool change needs to be done in case of tool breakage or due to wear. The time taken can vary between operators based on their skill levels. It can be reduced by operator training to improve skills.
6. Reduce downtime in machine breakdowns
To do this, the number of incidences of breakdowns as well as the time to repair need to be reduced. The number of breakdowns can be reduced through preventive maintenance and autonomous maintenance. The time to fix a breakdown has two components that can be reduced by better equipment and training of personnel.
7. Reduce time to attend to machine breakdowns
The time to attend is how long it takes for maintenance personnel to reach a machine after getting a report of a breakdown. When there is a breakdown, the operator needs to report the issue to the supervisor or a maintenance person. Searching for and locating the person takes 10 to 15 minutes, the ‘time to report’.
There is a further delay by the time maintenance personnel collect the necessary equipment and arrive at the machine. This can be reduced by rapid alerting in case of a breakdown, via an Andon board, hooter, or mobile phone alerts from an Industry 4.0 machine monitoring system.
8. Reduce or eliminate incidences of ‘No raw material’
This could happen because there is no raw material available from:
– An external vendor
– An upstream process because that machine is under-producing or has a breakdown.
The downtime can be reduced by better supply chain management, and better machine maintenance to reduce breakdowns.
9. Reduce part rejections
Part rejections can be reduced by focusing on these typical causes of rejections:
- Poor raw material.
- Poor operator skill level.
- Poor tooling or fixturing.
- Poor process capability of the machine
10. Reduce part rework
Part rework is considered a downtime, and can be reduced by fixing one of these causes:
- Process capability of the machine is poor
- Operator’s skill level is low.
- Fixturing or tooling is poor.
These 10 ways to improve manufacturing productivity are just a quick summary. There are of course other causes of poor productivity like unnecessary movement of parts between machines, unnecessary setup changes, etc.
How Leanworx can improve production in manufacturing?
Production is improved by reduced waste on the shop floor – waste of machine capacity, material and human skills. To reduce waste, you need to measure waste, analyze it, and take action to reduce it. To take action, decision makers in the shop floor need accurate and instant data. Decision makers can be anyone from the supervisor to CEO.
The current manual and paper-based data collection system cannot provide accurate and instant data. Each day’s data reaches managers the next morning, around 10 AM.
- The data is inaccurate because it is manipulated and depends on people’s memory.
- It reaches people too late to make any decision in case there is a situation that requires a rapid response.
Leanworx is a machine monitoring system that gives you accurate and instant data from the machine electronically. It gives you reports on production quantity, part rejections, downtimes, OEE, and other key data on your laptop, tab or smartphone, wherever you are.
If there is a situation requiring immediate action like machine breakdown, production below target or abnormal rejections, you are alerted on your mobile phone. So you can take immediate action in crisis situations, and analyze historical reports to improve systems in the long term.
Increase your profits automatically. Use Leanworx to get accurate and instant data 24/7.
