I came across an article by Norah Dick in the Glass Magazine on the 2021 Top Metal Companies, discussing major market headwinds affecting productivity in 2021 & 2022. These included Supply chain issues, Raw material cost/availability, Labor shortages, COVID-related work stoppages or slowdowns, Transportation, and Tariffs. Two of these stood out to me because they can be controlled if you are willing to commit to change.
Making the changes
Although the Covid-19 pandemic has further contributed to the market disruption, rising material costs and labor shortages are not new to manufactures. Both affect you and your competition, however, it’s how you react when faced with these issues that determine your company’s success. Do you remain status quo and fall victim to doing things the same old way, or do you make the changes to give your company a competitive advantage?
I’ve read that world-class manufacturing sites are working at 85% of their theoretical capacity. Yet the average factory is only at about 60%, meaning there’s a lot of room for improvement, and this is where technology can help.
Technology
Technology has improved all aspects of our daily life and has had a huge impact on manufacturing processes globally. When component costs rise, wastage and scrap rates become a bigger factor. When labor costs rise, the labor hours required per unit becomes a bigger factor. So, investing in automation will in fact achieve a clear competitive advantage.
Automation allows manufacturers to reduce the labor hours required to produce each window and door. Above all, automation assists with reducing waste as you optimize your manufacturing facility. There are proven solutions working in manufacturing facilities like yours right now. This technology enables you to easily set up and configure your cutting machines without the need for manual programming. Your machines will have the right data for the job and produce exactly the product your customer ordered, and this is all optimized for efficiencies.
Eliminate errors, increase factory productivity by removing competitive routine tasks, waste less, and produce more. These are all win-win for you.
The rest is up to you…
Today, software automation effectively schedules your people, schedules your equipment to maximize productivity and optimizes your materials to minimize waste, and much more… So, I put these questions to you:-
- How much can you save?
- How much more can you produce?
- How can technology help you retain and attract new employees?
- How can technology help you beat the competition and offset rising costs?
Let’s start the conversation today.
