Maximize Production in your Plant
Detect those bottlenecks that delay the manufacture of your products and win the game against your production stops.
If you have been following our publications, you are likely close to achieving operational excellence in the process industry. In previous articles, we have learned about the importance of good quality management in your factory, and how adequate traceability helps us avoid stumbling over audits and strict regulations. As our next challenge, today we will look at what methods exist to maximize our performance. Will you join us?
First Step: We Detect What is Failing in the Plant
If we delve into daily operations, we will find a multitude of problems that can greatly harm our results, either with economic losses or with a smaller number of batches available for the market. Specifically, the vast majority of plants suffer from the famous bottlenecks, quite serious setbacks for companies. Next, we will discover what types there are and how to solve them.
Bottlenecks, Star Enemies of Manufacturing
By definition, bottlenecks are those processes that function inefficiently or at a low level of productivity. As a result, they significantly slow down operations and limit, in turn, the rest of the stages of a production chain.
While there are some occasional events that cause them, such as a specific power outage or a machine breakdown, there are other recurring ones that are much more difficult to detect and more harmful.
Imagine, for example, a packaging line that consists of a filler, capper, and labeler. In most cases, the default bottleneck in these operations is the filler, since, apart from producing at a lower speed than the rest, it causes more stops in product changes or due to setbacks in precision. As it is a line, the entire process is affected by this inefficiency, and, therefore, the speed also decreases for the rest of the machines.
In the specific case of the filler, the bottleneck is clear, but in most cases, it is hidden among various causes such as repetitive stops in a machine, very long format changes, etc. Factors that, beyond the default speed of the equipment, condition production, and if they are not given adequate visibility, we would be incorrectly analyzing the performance of our line.
How to Deal with Them?
Knowing the efficiency of our machines will save us more than one important inoperability. With the calculation of the OEE, which in addition to performance, will tell us the availability and the consequent quality of the results, we will know the reason for the stops. From there, we can solve the avoidable failures that delay production or deliver it defective, redirect the timmings for each machine, and balance a constant speed for all.
Not all Bottlenecks are Equipment-Related
Outside of the machines, if we take a look at our plant, we will find many other types of bottlenecks, ranging from defective materials to out-of-time deliveries, incorrect programming of processes, or a shortage of labor.
No matter how much we resolve the delays in a filler, recovering the previous example, if we do not focus on the rest of the inefficiencies, we will still not obtain optimal production.
At Becolve Digital, we not only have tools to optimize your machines, but we also help you attack the rest of the bottlenecks. With our MES/MOM system, you can focus one by one on the problems and prevent harmful delays for your factory:
In Planning and Programming
In a plant, it is quite common to make an imprecise planning and programming of manufacturing orders. Many times, the department in charge of these functions is disconnected from the rest and does not have the exact inventory levels or the real state of production, which causes the planning to be done on the theoretical.
Therefore, once the delays of the machines have been identified, the next thing is to plan with contextualized and real data. If we know that one piece of equipment produces slower than the next in the chain, we will program the work orders in such a way that both coordinate and go hand in hand. Equally relevant is, likewise, reducing the update or cleaning times of the systems.
On the other hand, without materials there is no production: if the initial step does not receive the raw material it needs to manufacture on time, the process cannot be started. We need to keep good inventory control and minimum stock, as well as an optimal forecast of orders and shipping times, to calculate how much we need of each raw material and for when.
In the Staff
It is also useless to have enough staff if they are not prepared to perform certain specific tasks in the plant. In addition to ensuring the presence of enough operators to cover the pace of demand, it is important to facilitate guided manufacturing during the production process. The worker must have easy access to the necessary documentation and be able to train.
In Communication
Qualified workers and optimized machines, let’s unite them. With our communication solution, you can obtain field data from all systems and put them together in one place, to then facilitate access to information to all departments.
At this point, we have few steps left to be able to fully identify our hidden factory. We look forward to seeing you in the next article, a little closer to the goal!
