Tips On Building A Future For Your Factory

Is the manufacturing industry doomed? That's what many people seem to think, but this powerhouse industry is nowhere near as doomed as many naysayers would have to believe. If you’re a factory owner, then you shouldn’t despair. You just need to ensure you’re future-proofing your business by embracing cutting-edge production technology and maximizing factory productivity. 

Looking To The Future 

When people imagine a factory, they don’t tend to have futuristic images in mind. But the manufacturing sector is actually advancing quite well. One of the key elements to this is the use of IoT (Internet of Things) technology. This phenomenon is called Industry 4.0, and you can read more about it at https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2016/06/20/what-everyone-must-know-about-industry-4-0. The question is, will your factory fall behind if it doesn’t follow suit? It can be an expensive move, but the introduction of IoT technologies can see big benefits to your production process. 

Accurate tracking of manufacturing data and automation assistance will certainly help keep your factory around for a long time. Just make sure you are not blowing too much of your budget on an upgrade that may only allow you to reap marginal benefits.

Inspection & Maintenance 

As futuristic as things may be getting in some regards, we’re not quite automating everything just yet. After all, we’re still in the era of maintaining and inspecting equipment manually! Automated inspection and maintenance is probably a long, long way away - so it’s best not to dawdle. Make sure you’re on top of this to ensure your factory can last as long as possible! 

Your equipment should be built to last. If it is not, you will have a lot of trouble keeping the factory afloat. Ensure your factory equipment lasts with frequent maintenance and fixes. If a part needs replaced, or if the addition of a part can help increase efficiency, then get to it ASAP! 

A Focus On Quality 

A focus on quantity over quality isn’t going to help your factory last very long. This is a key concern for a lot of people in the manufacturing business, as there is more and more pressure to produce things in greater quantities. 

Consider what Tesla are going to have to achieve this year with their production of their new car, the Model 3. With a goal of producing over 20,000 cars a month by next year in their factories, there is clearly going to be a lot of concern when it comes to ensuring the sheer quantity meets numerical demand without sacrificing the quality that attracts people to Tesla cars in the first place. Delays could be inevitable and disappointing for consumers.

Some might argue that many factory owners are at the mercy of whatever client they’re working with; they are contracted to produce a certain number, whatever their clients want them to produce, sometimes in a precise and instructed manner. With this in mind, it may be worth being a bit more selective when it comes to clients and contracts. If their quantity orders affect quality, this will reflect on your business as well as theirs. 

Don’t work with clients who are willing to risk your reputation in such a way. Be more like Elon Musk!

I hope you enjoyed this article about how to build a brighter future for your factories and increase manufacturing production. 

Interested in more articles about improving business production?

Read My Posts:

- 3 Critical Steps To Improve Manufacturing Productivity 

- 4 Tips For Lean Startup Team Building

Published by Michael J Schiemer
Owner of Bootstrap Business
Money - Marketing - Motivation
Digital Marketing | SEO | Social Media
Mike Schiemer Builds Better Business

Share This On Social Media: