Page 41 - MetalForming August 2019

Driving Improvements
and challenges, serving as the foun- dation for building an effective sales process.
Creating Operational Excellence
Advancements in pressroom automation equipment and software, when integrated with game-changers such as big data, the Internet of Things, virtual reality and artificial intelligence, point to a new era for metal formers and fabricators. Companies must find ways to continuously evaluate tech- nology and opportunities to eliminate waste in all processes, both physical and transactional, and adopt automa- tion that fits their business strategies.
One such practice, capacity plan- ning, measures the maximum amount of work that a shop can complete dur- ing a given time period. Though this can be challenging, capacity planning provides a number of benefits:
• Better on-time performance (fewer missed delivery dates), resulting from understanding the time needed for jobs;
• Mitigation of margin erosion through better management of mate- rials and resources, including predict- ing and filling the gaps, and accounting for quality issues and changeover times;
• Recognition of new-work oppor- tunities by predicting gaps in equip- ment/tonnage and space;
• Improved profitability resulting from effective planning capacity throughout the organization; and
• Effective budgeting for new equip- ment and additional resources, made possible by knowing the shop’s pro- duction capabilities.
The best scenarios integrate capac- ity planning with sales, providing a clear understanding of when and where the shop has open capacity and then working to find jobs to fill those gaps. The more lead time the sales team has, the better the chances of identifying and pursuing the right jobs, whether it’s transfer work or a bigger project.
Finally, shops should consider
implementing task-based manufactur- ing to improve efficiency while main- taining or improving quality. By align- ing roles and responsibilities by task, shops can better leverage the skills set of individual employees and capitalize on their ability to complete a task in the most effective manner. This trans- lates to improved throughput and increased capacity without significant capital expenditures.
Task-based methodology, when not limited to the shop floor, can benefit the full enterprise. While challenging, companies that successfully accom- plish this will see significant improve- ments as they reduce lead times and labor hours.
Moving forward, leadership must be informed and aware of several evolv- ing areas, including the political envi- ronment, economic landscape, auto- motive industry slowdown, Industry 4.0, new technology such as 3D print- ing, the use of big data, and future mergers and acquisitions. MF
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