TXM finds hidden capacity

Increasing production capacity in a manufacturing business is often costly. It can involve purchasing new machinery, employing additional staff, and renting or buying additional buildings. However, before investing in these costly options, first ensure you are using all the hidden capacity in your factory. Here are three places to find it.

Downtime

I frequently visit factories and see many machines stopped without any clear explanation. While breakdowns can often be a factor, the biggest reductions in downtime usually come from simple process and organizational changes that are quick to implement and cost nothing.

There are dozens of improvements you can make to reduce downtime and liberate hidden machine capacity. The start point is measuring your downtime and analysing the potential causes. You then chart these on a Pareto chart and focus on reducing the top two or three causes to have the biggest impact.

Wasted space

We are often approached by clients who have run out of factory space. They are often considering the difficult and expensive option of relocating to a larger factory.

However, before deciding to move, you need to challenge how your current space is being used. In most factories, less than 50% of factory space is used effectively. Typically, most of the factory will be filled with raw materials, especially work–in–progress materials. Having more inventory does not add value to your customers, but it certainly consumes your business’ working capital and uses a lot of space. Inventory is a function of how your business runs. Applying lean processes like creating ‘one piece flow’ production cells, using ‘kanban’ control of materials and balancing the flow between processes can eliminate massive amounts of inventory, freeing up space and working capital.

Another key space waster in factories is forklifts. Typically a forklift needs an aisle-way at least 3m wide to enable it to travel safely through the factory and maneuver. Mixing forklifts and people in a workplace is also a major safety challenge. Try to eliminate the need for forklifts by bringing processes closer together and using other methods of transport such as trolleys or roller conveyors to move products through the factory.

Non-value-added time

In many processes capacity can be limited by the amount of available staff. Hiring more and more people is a costly way to go, even if you can find them. In Lean, we talk about the eight wastes. To find hidden capacity in your workforce focus on eliminating these wastes. When you do so, you will not only increase your productivity, but you will also probably make the job of your front-line team easier and less frustrating.

Unnecessary motion and transportation of materials are often the easiest wastes to spot.

To measure unnecessary motion I use a simple rule of thumb. Most people have a step counter on their phone. Multiply the number of steps by one second per step and prepare to be shocked!

If you find your operators in the office searching for information or in the warehouse searching for parts, it is telling you that something has gone wrong. Operators should not have to leave their workstations to find parts, tools, or information. After that, look at the design of tasks. Is the walking that your operators do t really necessary? Are things they need every day located in inconvenient places?

The next target is transportation. By bringing processes closer together, reducing big batch sizes and creating a piece flow you can eliminate much of the need to transport materials around your factory.

Summary

For your business to grow, it must increase capacity. Most businesses have hidden production capacity that can be obtained without the need for additional machines, people, or buildings. At TXM, over the past year, we have seen customers increase productivity by more than 200% and reduce factory footprint by more than 50% by applying these simple improvements. Finding hidden capacity can transform your business!

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