Leaning towards a smarter way of working!

Lean Manufacturing – we’ve all coined the phrase and thrown it out there around the board room table while dissecting our businesses and looking to strengthen the bottom line – but do we really understand and adopt the principles behind the phrase?  The definition of lean manufacturing can be long and drawn out but, in a nutshell; it is the elimination of supply chain waste.  As this waste is removed quality improves while production time and costs are reduced.

In the manufacturing industry we hear it a lot – particularly from our customers who want the best machines on the market, those which won’t guzzle energy while working at a rate which mirrors the speed of sound! But as manufacturers, particularly those within the food industry, strive to improve competitiveness the elimination of waste throughout the supply chain and production cycle has become paramount. In particular the energy saving factor - and ultimately cost saving while producing higher product volumes - is factored into about 50% of machinery sales at my company Endoline. 

Although the manufacturing operations for food producers are responsible for a relatively small proportion of the energy used across the supply chain, it is an area where they can most easily make a significant impact through improved performance. Manufacturers need to look at new machines which automatically 'shut down' during product changeovers and waiting periods to save energy. Technical advancements, such as servo-drive systems, can further reduce energy consumption and help manufacturers make significant savings as these machines have the ability to not only reach higher speeds – so delivering the required output sooner – but they accelerate and decelerate during ‘downtime’ periods to keep electricity to a minimum.   We are all of aware of the dramatic uptake in automation over the last few years and while it is helping UK businesses become energy efficient, it can also help to reduce the volume of goods that are imported into the UK to meet consumer demand and through local manufacture British businesses can reduce their carbon footprint. 

But what about the rest of us? We all know that lean manufacturing and energy efficiency is high on our customer’s priority list but how can we introduce some of those principles to our own companies to strip out the waste in our supply chain – while retaining the value and, the best bit, make our bottom line look healthier!

My own team have embarked on their own ‘lean’ journey and the first stop was quality. However any change to this and you could risk both your product and your reputation. If you are supplied with poor quality material from your supplier base, things can take longer to make and ultimately impact on customer delivery dates which can cost your company more in significant overtime to meet these dates. Coming out of a recession, one of the fundamental changes is that every customer wants their machine faster. Previous lead times would be between 12-16 weeks but they are now routinely expecting eight weeks and if anything goes wrong, the only way to keep delivery dates is to put more people on the project. The key principles of the ‘lean’ journey have been applied to our business and the key learning has been to give ourselves more capacity – and don’t use overtime as your get out of jail free card! 

As machinery has becoming more and more expensive to manufacture you have to get this area of your business right to achieve the desired margin.  One key learning was to improve and streamline our partnerships within our supply chain from deliveries to the quality of materials being supplied, many now do line side replenishment, which takes half the time and prevents both over ordering and under supply. This did require a complete change of mindset, from both suppliers and also the team, to put in place standards and expectations that needed to be met but we are now reaping the benefits.

Finally empower the different departments within your business to identify different areas of waste and consider how these could be eliminated.  Lean is a state of mind and it affects every aspect of our business and every department. Some people think lean manufacturing just affects the shop floor but that’s ignorance. Its principles can be applied to any process in any area of the business.

 

Alan Yates, CEO and MD of Endoline Machinery