It is said that one learns from their mistake. But this is best achieved when we continuously monitor ourselves. The same goes for manufacturing industries and machinery. Any manufacturing industry is comprised of the following three components: its infrastructure, machinery, and labor. There are different ways to monitor the performance of all these different aspects of a manufacturing industry.

The overall monitoring of these three components is called performance monitoring. It is a key part of any manufacturing industry. It helps industries learn from past data and improve in the future. Even though the process can seem easy, it requires a lot of brainstorming to get it done and achieve optimal results. Usually, industries have a specialized person appointed to such a task. They are known as Plant Managers. But recently, many industries have started to adopt electronic performance monitoring systems. These systems take care of all the tedious work associated with data collection and segregation.

Duties of a Plant Manager

The plant manager is the one who manages everything happening in the plant. That person needs to look after various aspects of the plant in order to make sure it is running without any setbacks and to avoid any major downtimes. The various duties of a plant manager usually are:

  • Tracking the team’s performance

  • Managing financials and risks

  • Maximizing resource utilization

  • Assuring quality

  • Monitoring production

  • Assigning tasks

  • Avoiding downtimes as much as possible

Now, the best thing about performance monitoring is that it accomplishes almost all these things for the plant manager. One might wonder: If so, does it take away a plant manager’s job? The answer is a clear No. In fact, it simply helps make the job easier for the manager. As performance monitoring will do all the tedious work of data collection, the plant manager will be required to transform this data into insights and take action in order to get the best possible outcomes.

Performance Monitoring is Making the job easier for Plant Managers

Performance monitoring provides plant managers with all their plant details in real-time. These assist plant managers in taking the necessary steps to maximize their plant’s output. Having a better connection between every aspect of the industry ensures better calculations and in the end, more precise results.

Performance monitoring provides plant managers with all data from various parts of the plant. This allows them to prioritize tasks according to their urgency, and avoid any major disasters. Here are some ways in which performance monitoring can assist in managing the plant:

  • It forms trends based on the past and current performance of the machinery

  • It gives employees shift schedules and monitors data of the current shift

  • It provides investment trends in real-time

  • It gives trends of leading causes for downtimes or quality issues

  • It gives real-time data with alerts that allow immediate problem identification and correction

All these features, along with many more, help make the job a bit easier for plant managers. Managers can focus more on the actions that need to be taken and base their choices on the data provided by the performance monitoring system. In the long run, it helps in gaining the most out of a limited amount ofresources, and it significantly improves production capacity and operations.

Monitoring critical KPIs can affect an industry’s operations and production. It helps businesses align with their desired business model, but also get the most out of their operations. Performance monitoring and real-time adjustments allow for a better ROI and more income with the same equipment, which in the long run, translates to an upgrade in the operations for plant managers.

In conclusion, even though it is not an obligation, a good performance monitoring system is an amazing asset. Plant managers are still needed as much, if not even more, by their industry as they are the ones who analyze the data provided by the system. So, it is a must for any industry to invest sufficiently in a good performance monitoring method if they want to save huge amounts by reducing the occurrence of setbacks. In short, good performance monitoring not only benefits the plant manager by easing out their duties but in the bigger picture, it benefits the industry itself.

References

  • WorkWiseSoftware, “Performance Management in Manufacturing – ERP,” 26 09 2013. [Online]. Available: https://www.workwisellc.com/blog/performance-management-in-manufacturing/

  • Slotdrain, “19 Skills Every Plant Manager Needs to Be Successful,” 26 08 2021. [Online]. Available: https://blog.slotdrainsystems.com/19-skills-every-plant-manager-needs-to-be-successful

By Published On: September 15, 2021