When downtime occurs in your manufacturing facility, you know it has a snowball effect on many other operations. As a result, it takes much longer to get certain tasks done, ultimately costing you time and money. Since you don’t want to be dealing with such a scenario on a regular basis, it makes sense to take certain steps to decrease the chances of downtime will happen in your facility. To get some ideas on how to accomplish this, implement these steps as soon as possible.
Train Production Line Employees
Since it is your frontline employees on the production line who keep your facility running smoothly on a daily basis, it is essential you have them as well-trained as possible on all aspects of your manufacturing operations. Should workers not be clear on how to operate equipment or perform other duties, mistakes can be made that lead to equipment breakdowns and production delays.
Upgrade Manufacturing Equipment
If your facility’s equipment is starting to become outdated, upgrading to the latest state-of-the-art technology will pay big dividends in helping you avoid downtime in production. By having equipment in your facility that uses automatic lubrication systems and other advanced technology, you can avoid such problems as start-up issues, reduced machine speeds, minor stoppages, and breakdowns that may result from worn-out gears or other problems.
Conduct Regular Maintenance
Whether you have upgraded your equipment or are still relying on manufacturing equipment that has a few years on it, you should set up a regular maintenance schedule for your equipment and make sure your maintenance technicians stick to it regularly. By monitoring equipment for potential problems and conducting regular inspections, you can catch small problems before they develop into bigger ones that result in machinery breaking down and being out of commission for hours or perhaps days.
Listen to Employee Suggestions
When it comes to getting feedback on how your company’s manufacturing operations are working, there is no better source than your own frontline employees on the production line. Therefore, if your company has been experiencing frequent downtimes, it will benefit you to listen to your employees and their suggestions for improvements. Since they work with the machinery each day, they can often alert you to potential problems that can be easily corrected.
Since time is money to both you and your customers who are relying on you to be timely in getting their products manufactured and delivered, taking these steps to decrease downtime will be beneficial to everyone.
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