The Secret to Meeting Every Production Goal

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In the world of manufacturing, hitting production goals is crucial for a successful business. So what happens when your cycle times don't align with the actual performance on your shop floor? Unfortunately, it means a lot of missed goals.

This misalignment isn't just a minor inconvenience—it can significantly impact both job profitability and on-time delivery. The root of the problem often lies in not understanding where and why these discrepancies occur. Let’s talk about what standards are and how to solve discrepancies, so you can start hitting all your goals.

Understanding Standards in Manufacturing

Standards are the established criteria, specifications, or guidelines that govern various aspects of the production process. This can include product quality, safety, and performance. In simpler terms, they are the benchmarks against which you measure your performance.

Consider these examples:

Cycle time: The time it takes to complete a process or produce a part. Automatically monitoring cycle times is essential to ensure they align with established standards. Deviations from target cycle times can be an early warning sign of process problems. These cycle times are also the foundation of your quoting process. Quoting something based on the wrong cycle time can lead to undercharging or overpromising on delivery times. 

Scrap and rework rates: Keeping an eye on the amount of material discarded as scrap or the need for rework due to quality issues is crucial. Monitoring these rates helps assess adherence to standards and identify areas for improvement.

Why Do Standards Matter?

Now that we've covered what standards are, let's explore why they’re important to keep an eye on.

Quality Assurance

Standards ensure that products consistently meet predefined quality levels. When you adhere to quality standards, you can produce goods that meet customer expectations and regulatory requirements.

Safety Compliance

Many manufacturing standards include safety protocols and guidelines to protect workers, consumers, and the environment. Compliance with safety standards minimizes the risk of accidents and hazardous situations.

Regulatory Requirements

Numerous industries are subject to regulatory oversight, and adherence to specific standards is often mandated by law. Compliance is necessary to avoid legal and financial repercussions.

Cost Reduction

Standards help streamline manufacturing processes and improve efficiency. When processes are standardized, it becomes easier to identify and eliminate inefficiencies, reduce waste, and lower production costs.

Consistency

Standards provide a common framework for manufacturing operations. This consistency helps maintain product uniformity and reduce variations in quality.

Competitive Advantage

Companies that consistently adhere to high-quality standards can differentiate themselves from competitors and build a reputation for reliability and excellence.

Continuous Improvement

Standards often evolve over time to incorporate new technologies and best practices. This encourages manufacturers to engage in continuous improvement efforts to stay current with industry advancements.

How Amper Can Help You Align with Standards

Put Accurate Data in Your ERP

Your ERP system may contain a mix of data – some up-to-date, some outdated, and some originally inaccurate. Amper can help you refine this data, ensuring the information in your ERP is accurate. 

For example, if your ERP system provides unrealistic cycle times, it's challenging to meet on-time delivery targets. Amper helps you analyze variations in job performance, so you can keep your ERP up-to-date. For instance, if you notice a consistent deviation from a cycle time target, you can adjust the baseline in your ERP, resulting in better quotes and realistic standards that can be met on the shop floor.

How to Optimize Standards in Amper

You’ll start in Amper's Target Tracker Dashboard to monitor the performance of current jobs. You can see which jobs are currently run, and what ones are up on deck.

To understand your cycle times, delve into Historic Performance by Part. Evaluate whether your cycle times align with your expectations.

Filter the dashboard by part to see all the jobs that have run that part. You’ll see what machine they ran on and which operator was in charge. You can also distinguish whether a variation in performance is a fluke or a trend that indicates a recurring issue. If it’s happening more often than not, it might be time to update your ERP. 

How Ruland Manufacturing Uses Amper for Better Quoting and Accurate Standards

Before incorporating Amper, Ruland's ERP system often struggled with unrealistic standards, resulting in unattainable cycle times. For instance, they might expect a 60-second cycle time when it should really be 90 seconds. Accountability was elusive and the ERP system was never updated with accurate standards.

Ruland’s engineering manager, Dustin Vinci, led Ruland’s ERP integration with Amper. The result? Ruland’s ERP system is now a robust tool that can be used to accurately quote parts. 

Here’s how they do it: When introducing new parts, Vinci is uncertain about the target cycle times, so he sets an impossibly fast target of 1 in the ERP. When the report inevitably shows a deviation, he promptly adjusts the baseline in the ERP.

Transform Your Production with Amper

In the realm of manufacturing, meeting production goals doesn't have to be a blind shot in the dark. With Amper, you can confidently align your standards with reality, making on-time delivery and profitability goals within reach. Let’s leave discrepancies, missed targets, and confusion behind. Ready to I’m meet every production goal with precision and consistency? Let’s talk.