Right First Time

With increased pressure, through regulation or competition, the manufacturing landscape has changed significantly in the last 15 years. Owing to customer demands, competition and regulatory requirements our customers are seeing increased complexity in their manufacturing process. An increase in the number of products, or even the same products with different packaging requirements, is leading to more likelihood of error and less efficiencies in processes. When these errors occur at best there is a cost for reworking although more often there is scrap and dissatisfied customers through extended delivery time and possibly a financial penalty and certainly damaged brand value.
 

Another aspect of the introduction of complexity within a manufacturing environment is the increase of stress and overloading of employees. Imagine the impact on an operator, who has been working for many years in a manufacturing environment where they have developed value add working practices, to the introduction of multiple changes without the correct infrastructure to support them. Add in possible regulatory compliance or market led demands and it is easy to see why the additional pressure will lead to errors or absence.

The solution is often seen as introducing new procedures each time a change is required. These require design, training, implementation and adoption in an environment that requires increased flexibility. Often the overhead created by a procedural change will result in the initial business benefit not being achieved.

By working with all of the stakeholders within a company we have been able to provide solutions that not only allow for flexibility and operator support but are able to give visibility across the manufacturing process allowing for a reduction in rework, scrap, product recalls and improved regulatory compliance, customer satisfaction and bottom line profit.

When you make changes to your process or introduce a new product would it help if your operators were given immediate access to easy-to-follow instructions with check points at each critical stage in the process allowing you to reduce errors, reduce scrap and rework, increase customer satisfaction and improve your bottom line? Additionally that information was made available throughout the whole process in real time to allow you to analyse and improve your existing manufacturing process to ensure that you are able to realise the profitability?