What are the best ways to compare your manufacturing processes?

1 Define your goals

Before you start comparing your processes, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. Do you want to reduce costs, increase quality, speed up delivery, or enhance customer satisfaction? Depending on your goals, you will need to select different performance indicators and benchmarks to evaluate your processes. For example, if you want to reduce costs, you might compare your processes based on labor hours, material usage, waste, and energy consumption.

2 Choose your metrics

Once you have defined your goals, you need to choose the metrics that will help you measure your processes. Metrics are quantitative or qualitative data that reflect the performance of your processes. They can be divided into two categories: efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency metrics measure how well you use your resources, such as time, money, and materials. Effectiveness metrics measure how well you meet your customers' needs and expectations, such as quality, reliability, and satisfaction. Some examples of common metrics are cycle time, throughput, yield, defect rate, and customer feedback.

3 Select your methods

After you have chosen your metrics, you need to select the methods that will help you compare your processes. Methods are systematic ways of collecting, analyzing, and presenting data. They can be divided into two categories: descriptive and prescriptive. Descriptive methods describe what is happening in your processes, such as trends, patterns, and variations. Prescriptive methods prescribe what should happen in your processes, such as goals, standards, and best practices. Some examples of common methods are histograms, control charts, Pareto charts, and benchmarking.

4 Use your tools

Finally, you need to use the tools that will help you implement your methods and monitor your metrics. Tools are software or hardware devices that facilitate data collection, analysis, and presentation. They can be divided into two categories: manual and automated. Manual tools require human intervention and input, such as spreadsheets, charts, and surveys. Automated tools require minimal or no human involvement and input, such as sensors, cameras, and dashboards. Some examples of common tools are Excel, Minitab, Tableau, and IoT devices.

5 Review your results

After you have used your tools to apply your methods and track your metrics, you need to review your results and compare your processes. Reviewing your results means interpreting the data and drawing conclusions about your processes. Comparing your processes means identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each process and finding the gaps and opportunities for improvement. You can use different techniques to review and compare your processes, such as SWOT analysis, gap analysis, and root cause analysis.

6 Implement your improvements

The last step is to implement the improvements that you have identified from comparing your processes. Implementing improvements means taking action to change your processes and achieve your goals. You can use different frameworks to implement your improvements, such as PDCA, DMAIC, or Kaizen. You should also monitor the impact of your improvements and evaluate if they are effective and sustainable. You can use the same metrics, methods, and tools that you used to compare your processes to measure and verify your improvements.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?