Up and Running Right Back Again: 4 Clever Ways to Reduce Downtime in Manufacturing

As a manufacturing business, you’ll already understand the importance of why downtime in your company needs to be minimized. If production lines are down, nothing is being made, and this is costing you both time and money. The trick is to keeping everything running smoothly.

That’s why you’re here, right?

Today, we’re going to take a quick but detailed look into four of the critical ways to keep your manufacturing lines up and running and overall reducing your downtime.

1 – Get Organised

The absolute first step you need to take when optimizing your manufacturing lines is to get a plan together, create a schedule, and then work to it. Everything from core material processing to maintenance schedules should be planned in such a way that everybody knows what is going to happen and when.

This way, you know exactly what is happening and when, and if something goes wrong, you have a plan in place to cover it to ensure everything continues to run smoothly.

2 – Optimise Machinery

Your production lines will only be as effective as the machines you’re using, so you need to make sure they’re running at their full potential. Every aspect of your machines should be well maintained, and well looked after. If something is breaking, it should be repaired as soon as possible to ensure no further damage is sustained.

For this, you’ll need to make sure you’re getting the best parts. While it can save on budget to get cheap parts, they’re not designed to last. You’ll want to look at specialist manufacturing parts like Dynatect Manufacturing to ensure you’re investing in the right precision equipment and parts for the job.

3 – Enhance Communication

Communication is the key to success in any business, and a manufacturing company is no different. You’ll want to aim to improve communication in all areas to maximize efficiency. This includes the team in your head office, all the way through to the people working on the shop floor and, of course, your customers.

You’ll also want to encourage an honest and open attitude to everything that’s going on. Whether you do this through meetings, through noticeboards, or through training sessions, there are lots of options available to you.

4 – Set Goals

Perhaps the most important step to think about on this list is making sure your manufacturing plant has set goals on what it wants to achieve. This can be in the form of daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly goals. With this clear in the minds of everyone, you know exactly what you should be doing and when.

This way, you’ll also know if you’re behind, and what needs to be running and how long for. Not only does having goals, and perhaps even an incentive, motivate your employees, it allows you to stay entirely organized and on top of everything.

Summary

As you can see, there are some clear ways in which you can reduce the downtime of your manufacturing plant. Of course, every business is different, which means you need to be proactive as a company to see what strategy and techniques work for you.