Don’t let equipment breakdowns make you crack under pressure. Here’s how to keep track of production processes.
At peak season, with the huge volume of orders coming in the door, things can unravel really quickly when equipment fails. Particularly when operating in a 2- or 3-shift pattern with less skilled staff working than usual.
All it takes is something simple like a partially blocked nozzle in a binder affecting a large production batch and things go really wrong.
- Batch rhythm is lost
- Volume begins to pile up
- And lost units increase.
When plants lose their production rhythm, I’ve seen them revert to a reprint approach. This destroys your profit margins – a far better approach is to have the command and control to track current and affected production with perfect oversight.
What can you do to adapt?
- Make sure you have systems in place to manage every item of production down to every single process stage
- Hint: using strict, barcode-driven workflow with scan stations at every process stage will help you make sure you’ve got absolute visibility of every single individual unit of production and fine grain control of things
I work with customers whose technology gives them a safety net when things go wrong. They don’t have to panic because they know exactly where every single unit is and how it’s tied back to their batches.
The great thing is even when they do get out of production sequence, it’s easy to restore their rhythm.
And the biggest benefit? Operating margins are protected.
Does this sound like something you’d like to explore before your next peak season? Bookmark this post and let’s talk again when things are quieter.
Personalization, expanding out to new areas
Balancing efficiency during peak times is crucial to maintaining productivity. The 75% rule helps businesses avoid overloading systems under high pressure.
