When you’re not aware of what’s going on on the shop floor in the manufacturing industry, you could be suffering tremendous losses with regards to efficiency and production output.
Do you have data to compare and review machine output, employee productivity, or system downtime?
If you’re not getting insights, you’re missing out on tremendous progress. Keep reading as we explore 8 key metrics to assess the effectiveness of your manufacturing process while ensuring total industry compliance.
Why Are KPIs So Crucial To Effective Manufacturing?
In the manufacturing industry, efficiency and productivity are paramount. To make improvements regarding efficiency and output, companies must review the numbers, identifying progress and potential drawbacks. When you implement reporting for your KPIs, your manufacturing operations and business insights will be boosted in the following ways:
- Measurable progress: When implementing new methods to boost manufacturing efficiency, you can rely on KPI data to track this progress and ensure that the results align with ROI and business growth.
- Identifying blocks: When you have clarity and visibility on your KPIs, you can identify blocks more easily, seeing where progress is being lost to identify faulty or defective machines.
- Reviewing performance: When you have user-friendly KPI reporting platforms, you can review the performance of your employees more easily, reviewing output based on shift rotas and working hours. Should you have employees failing to meet their targets, while others are performing adequately, this may indicate a need for more employee training resources or motivation initiatives.
8 Key Metrics To Watch For Your Manufacturing Process
Let’s explore the 8 key metrics to watch for, effectively assessing your manufacturing process and where there may be room for improvements.
1. Machine Downtime
Machine downtime can be a severely harmful roadblock in your manufacturing process, leading to losses in both efficiency and client trust. Should machine downtime impact timely delivery of goods, your business’s reputation will suffer as a result. By identifying machine downtime for each machine in your manufacturing plant, you can identify the machines that may require replacement.
2. Machine Output
Machine output is an important metric to follow alongside downtime. Downtime isn’t all that happens when your machines are faulty or outdated, as your machines could be operating less efficiently due to faulty parts or aged hardware. By monitoring machine output, you can perform proactive maintenance, reviewing machine health and replacing parts before the issue evolves, potentially resulting in machine downtime.
3. Output Based On Employee Rotas
Employees are pivotally responsible for productivity and output in your manufacturing options. Monitoring their progress closely thus becomes essential to drive positive progress and consistently uphold output standards. By implementing productivity monitoring tools, you can integrate your timesheet software and identify productivity levels for individuals. This kind of visibility will allow you to make changes to your team or implement training initiatives.
4. Inventory Data
Efficient tracking of inventory data is essential for smoother manufacturing operations. If you run out of raw materials, your production will be at a standstill. By implementing inventory management software, you can ensure reorder points are established based on your BOM and sales order data, ensuring your inventory levels never reach zero.
5. Sales Order Forecasting
Sales order forecasting is vitally critical to your business staying on top of changes in demand. Recognizing and predicting demand patterns can inform your inventory management process and staffing decisions, ensuring you’re rightly prepared for busier seasons.
6. Yearly Comparisons
Do you know how well your business is performing when compared to last year? If your business is stagnating or falling behind compared to last year’s data, you need to take action. Yearly comparisons let you know that it’s time to invest in production innovations and new technologies to drive business growth.
7. OEE
OEE stands for overall equipment effectiveness. OEE calculation provides a pivotal manufacturing metric based on three primary components: availability, performance, and quality. It offers even more insight than simply measuring machine output, ensuring you understand any product deficiencies caused by your machines also.
8. Takt Time
Should your planning measures fail, Takt Time metrics could spare your business from letting clients down. Takt time refers to the maximum amount of time you can take to manufacture a product while still meeting the client’s deadline. By knowing this figure, you can navigate production downtime with specific deadlines in mind to ensure you still meet client expectations regardless of a hitch.
Summary
If you’re not making use of data reporting for manufacturing KPIs, you are stumbling in the dark when it comes to process improvement. Consider the cost of implementing manufacturing data software, and the potential ROI you could gain from having more knowledge and insight. Now could just be the right time to take a step forward for your business.
