Many manufacturers’ primary focus during production is to increase efficiency and production capacity. These are the main factors contributing to profits and reduced cost. It is often a hassle to unlock new solutions to increase production capacity without needing to hire additional employees or purchase new equipment. The key is to optimize or improve current assets and equipment. One option available would be to use equipment monitoring.
What is Production Capacity?
Production capacity is defined as the maximum output that can be achieved in the production of goods. This value is dependant on time, labor, and resources available; and is generally optimized to match the demand in a market. It can be calculated over a period of time like a day, weeks, etc.
Ideally, any manufacturer would want to operate at full capacity. This generally means that all personnel and/or equipment is utilized at its highest percentage, and downtime is reduced. More finished product in less time results in more profits. There is always a way to increase the maximum production capacity due to the fact that you could establish more laborers, automation, etc. However, if a capacity is superior to that of its market demand, it may result in losses due to underutilization.
Losses in Production Capacity
Equipment
It is important to consider whether or not a piece of equipment is operating at its full potential. Could a machine be operating for longer periods of time? Are there any errors that could be avoided to reduce unexpected or scheduled downtime? Whenever a machine is out of service, it takes away from the time that it could be producing goods. Hence, manufacturers should avoid downtime, or have a way to monitor when downtime is needed.
Materials
Being the heart of most production costs, it is crucial to adequately manage the usage of materials to ensure the flow of production isn’t reduced, or spare materials are not wasted. It is also important to ensure that materials are being manufactured properly and efficiently to reduce scrap.
Labor & Personnal
Being the main operators in a manufacturing environment, laborers contribute greatly towards production capacity. It is important to balance the number of laborers appropriately with the number of tasks. Too few results in delayed production, whereas too many increase your wage cost. Just ensure that there are enough personnel working to ensure operations move forward, and any problems are dealt with accordingly.
Increasing Production Capacity Using Equipment Monitoring
Equipment monitoring provides many benefits to manufacturers. These benefits allow for increased production capacity, and therefore increased profits. As stated above, one of the main factors which reduce production capacity is unexpected errors or downtime with machines.
Essential machines which experience unexpected errors or downtime will cause significant losses. If a machine is not functioning properly, it could reduce or even halt a production process entirely. Not to mention that it can also create incorrect parts or products which will waste valuable materials and add to scrap production. Therefore, it is crucial to locate and troubleshoot the problem as quickly as possible to resume the manufacturing process and stop unnecessary losses.
Rather than having to wait for someone to notice a machine is not operating properly, you can get instant alerts as the issue develops. This creates a faster response time and a faster fix. As a result, a machine will have more machine time and reduced scrap production which means that more saleable goods will be produced.
By eliminating downtime errors, manufacturers save money which allows for a great opportunity to invest in further operations. This could involve purchasing more machines to expand a production line, produce more products for a market, etc. which will, in turn, increase the production capacity.
Clariprod offers an effective way of monitoring equipment systems. Through the use of Clariprod’s OEE Analysis (Overall Equipment Effectiveness), identifying downtime, errors, and inconsistencies is an easy task. With its real-time data and reporting, it is quite effective to ensure any failures do not occur in the future. If you would like more information regarding our Clariprod smart controllers, please visit our product page on our website: Manufacturing monitoring system to improve production | Clariprod