Production downtime

Downtime is one of the most expensive forms of wasted time. Stopping production is costly, and with each passing hour, frustration in individual departments only escalates.

Production Manager: 'Has anyone ordered an M8x25? Do you know when they will arrive? It's costing us production!"

Production Employee: "Yes, I turned in all the kanban cards for purchase last week."

Purchasing employee: "We haven't received any orders. Are you sure you delivered all the cards to us? Check!"

Production employee: "I'm sure... Wait a minute, wait a minute, maybe they're still in another folder on my desk."

In a hectic work environment, sometimes things can slip through the cracks, things can be forgotten. But when production stops because of a small oversight, it's hard to explain - especially when it's a screw worth a few crowns. Find out how to prevent production downtime!

Traditional inventory management can cause problems in production

As production increases, it is sometimes difficult to keep track of the actual consumption of production parts, especially if inventory management is done mostly manually. Lack of visibility of data from traditional warehouse processes means that there is no automatic alerting when goods need to be reordered and replenished. If production parts are missing, there are large fluctuations in production and cost increases.

If a warehouse worker has to manually write down missing items for the purchasing department or internal distribution department and physically hand over kanban cards for ordering, manual errors can quickly occur, either by not writing down the correct item number or losing the kanban card on the way to the purchasing department.

You might think that one solution to this problem is to order enough items so that they don't run out, but this solution creates a whole host of other problems:

• Overstocking
• Increased cost of ownership (TCO)
• Lack of space
• Unnecessary internal logistics
• Lack of environmental considerations

So how do you solve the problem so that you have the right number - neither too many nor too few - while minimizing time spent on handling, internal logistics and administration? Also, how do you maintain the sustainability of your business?

The answer is simple: automation

Don't waste time and costs with production downtime - automate and digitise your supply management.

One of the most time-consuming processes in production is the handling of C-parts. Low-value items can quickly become expensive if there is no control over reordering and if there is no inventory transparency and complete visibility of how many items are in stock. In this case, the risk of production downtime increases rapidly.

By using automated storage systems like SmartBin, you can avoid both over- and under-stocking. Storage systems digitally detect when items need to be ordered and relay inventory information through an automated process where there is minimal need for human interaction.

Stay tuned to read about other ways to prevent time loss in purchasing, manufacturing and C-parts warehousing, such as internal ordering, external ordering, the replenishment process and how to automate the inventory tracking process.