Downtime is never a good thing in any business, but it’s particularly damaging in relation to manufacturing. When a manufacturing process is brought to an abrupt halt, finances are lost on a second-by-second basis. You need to get up and running as quickly as you can, but that’s not always as easy as it sounds. The best way to reduce downtime is to prevent it, and we’re going to look at a few ways to do that.
Regular Monitoring & Categorising
You should always be monitoring your manufacturing processes extensively. By doing this, you can ensure that processes are running as intended. Also, it can help to identify potential issues before they become a catastrophic incident. In terms of categorising, this is where you should look to identify past issues of downtime. Categorise each one, and you’ll get a clearer picture about why downtime continues to occur.
Process Evaluations
Monitoring is great as a preventative measure. Yet another way to incorporate preventive behaviour in your processes is to evaluate how you carry them out. Sometimes, downtime is thoroughly preventable. It might occur as a result of a lack of training employees or pushing equipment too hard. While preventative monitoring is effective, a big evaluation of everything you do can make a real difference.
Top-Quality Equipment
There are far too many manufacturing companies out there that rely on old equipment that has done them well in the past. Of course, manufacturing equipment is often expensive, and no business likes to dip into their pocket. However, top-quality equipment will help to prevent downtime in the long run. And, they come with other benefits. Piston compressor systems, for example, can reduce maintenance costs and energy costs. Brand-new slicing systems might just speed up your food-related processes, too.
Image LinkExtensive Employee Training
It’s not always your equipment or your processes that result in manufacturing downtime. Employee errors are common in this environment, and it doesn’t take much to bring everything to a crashing halt. They’re only human, after all. The best way to get around this is to simply employ better training methods. This might require an outsourced solution, or online training material to utilise. The better trained your employees are, the less likely they are to make a mistake. That’s just the way it is!
Have Experts On Hand
Alright, so preventing downtime isn’t always possible. It can happen out of the blue, despite all the preventative measures you’ve put in place. In an instance like this, you’re probably going to start panicking on the inside. This is where experts can come in very useful for assistance. You might outsource this responsibility for emergency reasons. Also, think about customer support in relation to the equipment you buy. Have you got phone numbers stored in case of an emergency? Making an acquaintance-or-two in this line of work can’t hurt either. They might just come in very useful!
Every manufacturing business will potentially suffer from downtime eventually. But, with preventive measures and clever reactions, it shouldn’t be too damaging.
