Are You a Manufacturer? Here are 3 Mistakes You Never Want to Make!

Manufacturer

The world of manufacturing isn’t exactly a breeze, no matter how much experience you have. If it feels like there are thousands of angles to think about; it’s because that’s the reality. 

In most countries, manufacturing counts towards a large portion of their GDP. For instance, manufacturing contributed a whopping 26% to China’s GDP in 2023.  

There are a lot of big players in manufacturing but remember, you don’t get a pass if you happen to be new to the game. This is why you are either on the mark or out of business in this field.

In this article, we will look at three mistakes you want to avoid as a manufacturer at all costs. Let’s get into it. 

1. Failing to Track Metrics

This is one of the most common mistakes that manufacturers make. Say you’re a small business that manufactures dog treats. Odds are that you also have a ton of other responsibilities as well. You balance your manufacturing on the side and as a result, it doesn’t get the attention to detail it deserves. 

This is a bigger problem than you might think because when you ignore metrics, you also lose the chance of a heads-up. The result? Avoidable problems become not so avoidable anymore. 

Metrics like defect rates, machine downtime, and even customer returns are extremely valuable to understand and follow. When you pay attention to them, you ensure that productivity, cost savings, and customer satisfaction stay at a good level. 

If you are curious about the kind of metrics you should be looking at, here are seventy-three metrics that you should check out. Speak to anyone who’s been in the field for some time and they’ll tell you that metrics are something to constantly track

2. Skimping Out On Quality 

The fact of the matter is that maintaining quality is expensive. There’s a reason that so much manufacturing happens outside the country. When you try to maintain high standards, the cost adds up fast. 

There are several dimensions where this occurs. Let’s take the instance of manufacturing equipment and machinery. As Novanta Photonics notes, laser systems are extremely versatile and are great for high-precision operations.  

The advantages of laser processing are obviously many, so what’s the problem? Well, some manufacturers tend to be hesitant when investing in new equipment. They might believe that they can get by with older, less efficient options, but often, it’s not a good idea.

For one, this is an industry where late adopters of modern solutions are at a huge disadvantage. 

However, machinery is just one side of the quality spectrum. If the quality of your equipment is good but you failed to invest in good employee training and raw materials, that’s a serious problem as well. The bottom line? It’s easy to have big ambitions but you really need to temper them with the capital and resources you can invest. 

3. Failing to Create or Enforce SOPs

When things go wrong, you often see everyone trying to shift the blame. But with a standard operating procedure or SOP, you eliminate the very possibility of problems arising in the first place. SOPs are one of the first things you should be looking into before anything else. Why? Because they are often a standard requirement to comply with regulations. 

For instance, maintenance SOPs would reference OSHA standards and in the case of food manufacturing, you would incorporate FDA regulations. What’s important to remember is that the existence of an SOP doesn’t mean that it’s being enforced or followed.

So the real mistake is a lapse in SOP compliance. This often boils down to management and as you can imagine, your supervisors and managers need to be trustworthy.

According to Augmentir, one of the key advantages of having an SOP is that it improves accountability and tracking. SOPs detail who is responsible for a work order and also who is in charge of maintenance and inspections. Over a long-term basis, SOPs ensure that your operations run smoothly without accidents while maintaining product quality. 

Long story short, in a manufacturing context, the margin for error is tiny, and seemingly small mistakes can create huge losses. Moreover, the three points mentioned in this article are but a small sample of the kinds of mistakes that are all too common. 

They may not put you out of business, but in the world of manufacturing, you really want to avoid losses as much as possible.

Article and permission to publish here provided by Daniel Washington. Originally written for Supply Chain Game Changer and published on July 23, 2024.

Cover photo provided by Daniel Washington on Unsplash.com.