Thanks to digitization and e-commerce, consumer demand is at an all-time high, forcing manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to streamline their supply chains and tighten shipping processes to keep up.
Managers in these areas usually have the best intentions when creating their touch points throughout the production and distribution process, but having too many can lead to bottlenecks and eventually cause delays in production. Too many chefs in the kitchen spoil the soup, and indeed, there’s a cost for too many touches in manufacturing, which often result in reduced throughput and decreased customer satisfaction.
Read on to discover how too many touches in your production line are costing you.
Poor Employee Training
More isn’t always better, especially as it relates to how many frontline team members are involved in the production process. If your throughput hasn’t improved with an increased number of frontline workers, you may be facing an issue of improper employee training. The frontline employees have a huge impact on the manufacturing process, and delays are created when they lack the necessary training to make small changes that can positively impact the entire production line.
Parts Rejection Rate
Quality checks are vital to the production process, but when you’re dealing with a high parts rejection rate, those quality checks could be slowing you down and drastically affecting your throughput. Identifying and remediating the elements in your production process that create deviations from your production tolerances will speed up quality checks while improving your overall parts rejection rate.
Lack of Automation
Implementing manufacturing automation could make the difference in reducing the number of touches through your production process. Automation is a dirty word in manufacturing, but it doesn’t always have to translate to position loss for your employees on the production floor. Even the best workers get tired after hours of manual labor, which makes you run of the risk of reduced output, increased chance of injury, and lower consistency. Having the right tool for the task could improve product accuracy and frees up workers for more cerebral tasks on the floor.
Low Standard of Safety
Think the biggest cost for too many touches on your production line is lower throughput? Not so fast. While overall product accuracy takes a hit, safety standards also falter when it comes to overstaffing and undertraining. Manufacturing comes to a screeching halt when a worker is injured, leading to the potential loss of skilled worker, floor closures, workman’s comp claims, and damaged production equipment, just to name a few. The production delay is the least of your worries.
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Accuracy matters when it comes to manufacturing and production, and having more people involved in the process doesn’t always lead to better throughput. That’s where Acción Performance comes in. Our team is skilled in managing your production process from start to finish, leading to higher throughput results, less time wasted on projects, and a better overall return-on-investment for your business.
What are too many touches in your production process costing you? Contact Acción Performance today to discover how we can help you streamline your process and save your bottom line.