How to Improve Productivity
Are you looking to improve manufacturing output, productivity and efficiency? If you follow these six-steps and you will be well on your way to better results.
First, complete a project charter to define your project objective and scope.
Second, get armed with data. In order to work on the most impactful causes of downtime and inefficiencies, a pareto of top-line causes is an essential tool.
Third, pull together a team and focus on creative thinking and brainstorming. The 6M's of manufacturing are Machine, Material, Methods, Manpower, Measurement & Mother Nature. Discussing each of the 6M’s as they relate to productivity issues is a great way to get the team's intellectual juices flowing. Use a fishbone diagram to identify the root-causes of the issues.
Forth, be a change leader. Change is scary and employees can put up some resistances. When launching your project you need to use your leadership tact and thoroughly communicate throughout the project in order to gain the buy-in from your employees and support resources.
Fifth, overcome analysis paralysis by using the PDCA cycle. I love the PDCA cycle and it goes like this.
Plan, Do, Check, Act. So first you Plan what improvements you are going to implement. Then you Do implement them. But it doesn’t end there. After you implement the changes, then you Check in on them to see how things are working out. Typically, you need to Act a 2nd time and make some process adjustments to dial-in your improvement activities. What I love about the PDCA cycle is that it assumes you will need to act a 2nd time. You don’t just implement and walk away with things half-baked. When a team understands that there will be an evaluation period and then some later adjustments after the initial implementation, it sets the team at ease and everyone becomes more comfortable with the proposed changes.
Sixth and final step - solidify your results! After implementing an improvement, ensure that you have a control plan in place. Mainly you want to create new documents or update your current process documentation. This may include your process run settings, work instructions, CBA documents, and/or procedures. After all the work you and your team accomplished to improve process efficiencies, you want to ensure that you don’t experience a performance backslide. The last thing you want to do before you "break up the band" is to spend some time developing a control plan to ensure your results are sustainable.
The steps to improve productivity are really simple but there are two difficult aspects. The first challenge for the project leader is harvesting creative solutions and the second challenge is driving the actions to completion. Tools for the Trenches (T4T) leadership training can help overcome both of these challenges. T4T is designed to develop the skills of our manufacturing leaders at all levels of skills and experience. Our "Concepts in Manufacturing Leadership" Course has four levels of training: Foundational, Intermediate, Advanced and Expert. Visit our CML page to learn more.
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