December 20

Optimizing
Efficiency 2017
There’s always room for improvement in any operation.
Following these seven steps can help you identify areas that
need improving and put your shop on the path to optimal
efficiency, increased productivity, and less waste.
Fabrication
Tips for optimizing your fabricating operation
Operations managers have an important and intricate job. Not only must they ensure a smooth
flow of products in and out of the facility, they also need to optimize the manufacturing floor
layout, promote timely order fulfillment, and maximize the efficiency of all procedures. Toss
into the mix a strong focus on profitability, and operations managers certainly have a lot to
juggle for the success of their business.

In the fabrication industry, some methods for optimizing processes can drastically increase
efficiency and reduce waste. To stimulate success, you need a commitment to productivity and a
willingness to try out new ideas. If you can increase spatial and work flow organization, simplify
your fabrication tasks, and establish guidelines for data collection, your company can begin to
see improved efficiency, higher productivity, and less waste in no time.

Following are the top things you should pay attention to when improving your fabrication
process.

1. Look to Lean Management Principles

One of the most popular ways to improve almost any manufacturing process is to adopt a Lean
management strategy. The ideology for lean management focuses on efficiency-promoting
practices, improving operations continuously, and reducing waste. While these may seem like
overwhelming endeavors, applying lean concepts helps companies provide a quicker turnaround
on jobs.

 Value - Define what your customer sees as "value," and seek ways to enhance this
throughout the manufacturing process.
 Flow - Streamline work flow by simplifying procedures, organizing the manufacturing
floor, and assigning the right people to the right jobs.
 Respect - Foster a culture of empowerment and trust that allows employees and
customers to pinpoint imperfections for the future eradication of problems.

2. Analyze Your Work Flow

It's difficult to optimize your fabrication process without a good understanding of your current
work flow. To get a solid idea of your present operations, identify everything necessary to
fabricate a product, including the processes, people, and technology, as well as the
communication, procedures, and resources necessary throughout the company.
Consider value stream mapping, an exercise that helps you monitor, assess, and identify areas for
improvement. When you document your work flow processes (on paper or electronically), you
can pinpoint areas in which you're losing time or quality. Eliminate processes that don't add
value to the end product.
3. Pinpoint Errors and Correct Them Instantly

Recognizing common sources of problems in your process and correcting them quickly has a
positive impact on the overall process. Oftentimes, in an attempt to improve manufacturing
quality, companies fix the symptoms of a process failure rather than seeking out the root cause.
Properly evaluating recurring issues reduces the risk of costly malfunctions later in the process.
When a mistake does arise — as errors are inevitable in any fabrication process — make sure
employees are trained in fixing issues immediately, rather than waiting for the next shift to take
over.

4. Get (and Stay) Organized

Organize your shop floor to ensure that employees have easy access to equipment and tools. The
spatial organization of materials, tools, and manufacturing space cuts down on time spent
moving and searching for items.
Clear away waste and unnecessary items, and store components in their appropriate areas (these
areas should be within easy reach for those using the components most frequently).
Visual systems, such as job boards that convey instructions, show the status of projects, and
display relevant information to staff, can be useful.

5. Maintain and Upgrade Your Tools

Machinery that breaks down on a consistent basis negatively affects your business. Service all of
your fabrication equipment regularly to prevent downtime. A rigorous inspection process,
including preventive maintenance, will help catch problems before they become too serious.
At the same time, remember that repairing your tools isn’t always the best solution for
optimizing productivity. Outdated machinery slows down the manufacturing process, and
sometimes installing new equipment is the better option. Many companies make the mistake of
servicing broken equipment, even if replacement would be less costly in the long run. Keep in
mind that new fabricating technology emerges every day. Staying competitive requires the
occasional upgrade.

6. Communicate Realistic Goals

Many factors contribute to unrealistic goals and timelines — everything from production
pressures and stringent deadlines to client expectations. Remember that optimizing the process
doesn't mean pushing your workforce to accomplish more than is reasonably possible. You can
boost worker productivity by setting clearly defined goals for quality and timeliness that are
realistic to achieve.
Once you have goals in mind, communicate them properly to all employees. Create an
environment of open and clear communication to promote productivity and reduce the chances
of mistakes being made along the manufacturing line.

7. Frequently Gather and Use Data

Optimizing your fabrication process may not start with buying a new machine or investing in
new employees. It's important to analyze the existing state of your operation; you may not be
running at peak performance to begin with.
Find out which areas of your production process are underperforming, and keep an eye on the
associated metrics. This will help not only to optimize your process, but to keep it optimized in
the long run.
Record, and monitor, the results of upgrading to a new piece of machinery to see what effect it
has on your operation. Keep an eye on your production numbers, especially after cleaning and
organizing the manufacturing floor, to track process improvements. Gathering and using data
gives you the information you need to improve your business for years to come.
From your team to your machines, remember that optimization comes from a comprehensive
evaluation of existing processes and your ultimate goals.
Some of the problems observed on Fabrication Floor and are listed
below:

1. Level of welding

Problem
Due to unclear welding level, welders do welding as they please and lead to low or heavy
(rare) welding,
And it leads to rework in both cases to achieve appropriate quality and time wastage.
Solution
Level of welding should be mention for every component joining through welding.
Details should be in such a manner that it is easily understandable by all contractor as well as
welders.

2. Quality Tolerance

Problem
Nobody knows where quality is most critical & where is less and can be ignored. In mass
production where every time is calculated and nobody know where slightest error is not
accepted, And when error occurs it again lead to rework.
Solution
A list of quality tolerance should be share with quality person and contractor involve in it. It
will lead to better understanding in welding and in quality checking.

3. Level of Checking/Approval

Problem
Bad welding and part missing are major issue face by the quality person and also major cause
for rejection. Right now contractor tendency is to approve there product in any way, whether
product is complete / welded perfectly.
Solution
Quality person can point out the errors but can’t force them to eliminate these errors in near
future but if final approval before quality check is done by floor in-charge, he may force them
to eliminate it in near future and may lead to minimization of rework (again less wastage in
time).
4. Non Functionality of Machines/Equipment

Problem
Some of machine/equipment are not working properly and leads to time lag in production.
Solution
Machine/equipment should be in proper shape to eliminate any kind of time lag and again
lead to efficient productivity. So to do so faulty component should be replace as soon as
possible (should be taken as case of emergency).

5. Functionality Lay-out

Problem
Everyone knows the target which is to accomplish but nobody knows how to achieve it. Work
flow is in random manner with no appropriate/proper layout (i.e., everyone is thinking on
their own not as a group) which will be never in favor of productivity in efficient way.
Solution
A proper layout should be share by management to make work flow with ease and in efficient
way, which will lead to group productivity not discrete productivity.

6. Non Added Processing time

Problem
Everyone is concern about maximization of productivity but nobody care about
processing/transit time in between of site floors.
Transportation of material from/to site floor, quality checking and rework are major time
which is not calculated and consume approximate whole day after a day’s productivity.
Solution
For efficient working one should estimate accurate time to produce a product but one cannot
neglect processing time in it.
To maximize efficiency we should first minimize the processing/transit time.

7. Less skill person

Problem
Lack in skill of work person is nightmare for any company in the time of mass production
because it will cause bad work and ultimately wastage of time or rework.
Solution
Skill of every person who is working for company with any kind of agreement should be
check and it is mandatory that they clear threshold level respective to their job profile.
 8. Fatigue in workers

Problem
If company’s production is running 24 hours a day and if there is only 2 shifts in a day, then it
is alarming situation for long term production. Because by giving 12 hours’ work in a day to
any worker (non-stop) will surely increase productivity but not for long terms.
That is after 10 days workers will start making errors and it will increase dangerously fast as
day passes.

Solution
For long term 24 hours production, company should break shift in 3 i.e., 8 hours shift.
It is mandatory to make productivity consistent and also quality for long term.

9. Shortage in Man-Power

Problem
Due to shortage in man power, especially in transportation of material in shop floor and in
quality checking leads to major time consumption and it also refer as non-value added
activities.
Solution
If possible there should be appropriate man power to increase the efficiencies and to ensure
the product quality in time.

Conclusion
One should never think that you company is working under 100% efficiencies and there is no
requirement/room for improvement.

There is no such thing as 100% efficiencies and will always have rooms for improvement; one
should always look to find a way to increase efficiency to increase productivity.