Originally published online by SBW!RE.  Link to full article here.

According to John Rattray of Financial OEE leader Memex Automation, “Success is increasingly tied to improving manufacturing performance, and improving it quickly. Manufacturers are increasing their focus on the bottom line. This scrutiny is leading to renewed attention on manufacturing, where the most significant assets (plant and equipment) and costs are. Manufacturers need to cut costs, increase cash flow and become more responsive to changing market conditions.”

Rattray insists there are rules that will drive profitability to the bottom line.

1. Synchronize Material with Production – Reduce idle inventories and execute Lean initiatives to achieve operational excellence. By synchronizing material flows across production, warehouse and quality operations you can reduce costs and improve cash flow – get the right materials to the right plant at the right time. Material synchronization means your material flows are in tight coordination with actual demand – finished goods roll off the line based on customer demand, and WIP is “pulled” through the plant to meet sequenced final assembly demands. Cash flow improves from reduced inventory levels. Waste from obsolescence is reduced and facility requirements for storage are minimized.
2. Enhance Lean Initiatives Globally – Lean, demand-driven manufacturers can further reduce idle WIP and inventory buffers while gaining agility to respond faster and more accurately to customer demand. Electronic replenishment and e-Kanban sizing, triggered by actual demand and consumption can help optimize global operations. Costs go down, efficiency goes up and customer satisfaction escalates.
3. Just-In-Time, Sequenced Operation – Applying material synchronization one step further, Just-In-Time, sequenced production can further reduce excess inventories, for a truly demand driven production. Track, view and coordinate the flow of goods from supplier to customer shipment. You’ll need real time visibility and actionable control of your entire material flow – in-transit, landed, WIP and finished goods inventories – to enable precise synchronization of material and production demand.
4. Improve Quality – Best-in-Class quality means building your product “right the first time,” resulting in reduced waste, fewer returned items, lower warranty costs and higher customer satisfaction. Implementing a platform for continuous quality improvement is a way to ensure profitability, achieve regulatory compliance, maintain brand integrity and provide sustainable competitive advantage.
5. Culture of Continuous Improvement – Having an enterprise platform for manufacturing operations real-time Key Performance Metrics such as OEE provides global visibility, across your operations. These capabilities let you easily identify and replicate best practices across your global operations while instilling a culture of continuous improvement across production, warehouse, quality, maintenance and labor activities.

Standardized best-practices reduce cycle and takt times across your operations, helping to ensure On Time Delivery (OTD). Global, real-time visibility that is actionable on a 24/7 basis enables immediate resolution to operational disruptions.