Increasing throughput in manufacturing is essential if you want your business to thrive. You need to be able to meet consumer demand when it strikes. 

In this post, therefore, we take a look at some of the proven methods for increasing the amount of goods that your manufacturing outfit can produce in a given period of time. 

Tip 1: Audit Your Workflow

Companies often think that they have achieved the pinnacle of productivity, even when they haven’t. Sometimes, obvious or glaring mistakes are holding them back and preventing them from achieving the true level of throughput their plant and machinery is capable of. Focus on things like the physical action of production and the quality of communication of people in the workplace. Take a look and see how people are investing their time and energy and whether they are making sensible use of it. 

Tip 2: Keep Your Equipment Working Properly

The best manufacturing outfits don’t wait for equipment to break down before servicing it. Instead, they put it through a “lifecycle” which allows them to plan, predict and prevent failures before they happen. 

Whether you have a shell and tube heat exchanger or a conveyor belt, always have a plan in place for servicing it. Do your maintenance preemptively and on a rotation so that you can resolve issues before they cause unscheduled interruptions in your production processes. 

Tip 3: Train Employees On A Ongoing Basis

Many companies train employees at the start of their tenure and then simply assume that they know what they are doing from that point onwards. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Employees tend to lose skills over time and can fall into bad habits. 

That’s why top manufacturing firms continually train their people. It allows them to keep everyone safe and churn out a higher quality of product. 

Tip 4: Boost Communication

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Some factories are utterly silent all day long. That’s okay, but it can make developing new ideas and effective communication a challenge. Usually employees on the ground will be able to provide you with insights about your productivity and how you can improve it. Therefore, increasing communication opportunities is vital. 

How you do this depends very much on your circumstances. Some businesses will benefit, for instance, from having regular morning meetings at the start of shifts. Others may require in-house communication radio communication systems to allow workers to share information in real-time. Whichever setup you choose, be sure to create something that will allow you to keep information flowing in your business long-term. 

Tip 5: Improve Your Floor Plan

Your floor plan has a massive influence on how much work both you and your people can get done in a given space of time. If workers have to walk for miles every day across the factory floor, that takes away from usable labor time, increasing your wage bill. 

Improving your floor plan can have other benefits too. For instance, it can help to keep workers safe. And it can make their jobs more enjoyable.