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Staying competitive is complex. You must cultivate leads, convert them into sales, and maintain an ongoing business relationship with the customer. However, getting and staying ahead of the competition also requires optimizing workflow efficiency in the warehouse to minimize waste, mistakes, and late orders. This is where lean manufacturing techniques for pallet production companies could be helpful. What does this look like?
The set of principles comes from Taiichi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo at Toyota. They were looking for production strategies that cut waste and maximized customer satisfaction. Ohno and Shingo outlined five principles for developing a lean approach.
In simplest terms, lean manufacturing means improvements in product quality and shop productivity. Cutting waste is a big deal. But what does waste refer to in lean manufacturing? After all, to improve pallet manufacturing efficiency, it is critical to identify and remove it. Typically, manufacturing waste refers to the overproduction of goods, the underutilization of worker skills, and the acceptance of downtime spent waiting for raw materials. Other types of garbage focus on impractical shop setup that requires additional steps in manufacturing and avoidable errors in product design, production, and shipping.
Where do you start implementing lean manufacturing techniques for pallet production companies like yours? Reducing waste and improving production will not happen in one step. Instead, prepare for a lengthy and ongoing process of identifying supply chain problems, raw material waste, and cost reductions.
Only produce the numbers and types of pallets customers order. Although it is tempting to produce ahead of incoming orders, using lean techniques here lets you cut down on inventory space, raw material expenses, and work associated with products that have not yet been ordered.
You cannot improve standard operating procedures without determining whether changes have positive or negative outcomes. In pallet manufacturing, key point indicators (KPIs) include sufficient raw material availability, error-free manufacturing processes, and acceptable time spans for filling customer orders. Ideally, you measure these KPIs every time you change any aspect of the manufacturing process.
Improved efficiency of the production line results in reduced operation costs. When discussing lean manufacturing techniques for pallet production companies, operational costs include:
Reducing costs may mean investing in the business. For example, if your workflow is hindered by malfunctioning machinery, it is time to repair or upgrade the technology. Interestingly, bottlenecks can also occur because employees are only trained in one specific step rather than related manufacturing processes. Here, investing in improvements would refer to employee training, so workers can step in and relieve bottleneck situations.
We have already discussed how overproduction is contrary to lean manufacturing techniques. However, you might feel that working ahead is a good idea because it allows you to fulfill some orders as soon as they arrive. Lean manufacturing proponents argue that overproduction hides and triggers other types of waste.
For example, if you produce pallets that are not immediately needed, you tie up capital in inventory and materials allocated to labor or innovation. Excess inventory leads to a need for additional storage, which can result in increased costs. Besides that, overproduced products may become obsolete or damaged.
Interestingly, lean manufacturing suggests that overproduction increases the time it takes to respond to customer demand because the excess inventory must be moved and managed. Employees could use this time to fill customer orders. Overproduction must be stopped for a lean manufacturing process with a pull system.
There have been plenty of calls to computerize the manufacturing process when feasible. You may have resisted so far. However, eliminating waste and freeing workers to do their jobs safely sometimes requires technology. Granted, you may not want to go out tomorrow and buy many new machines to take over the production and inventory processes, but you might start small. For example, you might begin with computerizing inventory control.
If you follow the lean principles, proponents say you will increase productivity, reduce operational costs, and eliminate waste. Additionally, you boost warehouse efficiency, workplace safety, and capital you may be able to use elsewhere. Because the continuous improvement tenet involves all employees, you empower workers to look for waste and devise solutions for overall improvements, which boosts employee morale.
What other steps could you take to boost productivity? Is there a way to improve overall supply chain management? Our friendly pallet business marketing company would love to discuss these questions with you. Contact us today!
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