How to Eliminate Downtime for Your Business.
Few things can hamper a business faster than stalled production, a service outage, or a bottleneck in processes. We’re talking about downtime—and not the personal, vegging out kind.
Downtime refers to any period when critical processes for your business come to a standstill. Downtime can be planned—such as for required maintenance or a production line changeover—or it can be unplanned. Both have negative associations, but the latter is by far the more damaging and apt to raise the fear of operations officers, the consternation of plant managers, and the ire of boards of directors.
Business stakeholders understand that brand reputation and relationships with consumers and suppliers can be fragile—they take considerable time, effort, and resources to build but can be brought to ruin by a single negative experience. Unplanned downtime often leads directly to just such an outcome, with consequences ranging from missed shipments to backorders to downed servers: all anathema to running a profitable business that reliably serves its customers.
In this issue of Bytes & Insights, we’ll look at some of the main ways that you can eliminate unplanned downtime, limit planned downtime, and ensure your operation is consistently productive.
Down with Downtime, Up with Optimization
When it comes to business operations, optimization is often treated like the emergency room: you only think about it when the situation is dire, it feels like it takes forever, and as soon as you’re back to the status quo, you forget how valuable it was. But optimization is a powerful tool for improving how you meet the everyday needs of your business.
Show Me Where It Hurts
The first phase of optimization is to stop the bleeding of unplanned downtime. In addition to the losses inherent in a sudden halt of production, the damage from unplanned downtime is compounded by many of its frequent causes, which carry costs of their own. Failed equipment must be repaired or replaced, injury accidents can involve lengthy investigations and insurance claims, and procedural failures may require retraining or hiring new personnel. Manufacturers dealing with a shutdown must adjust purchase schedules from suppliers and may miss out on the best available pricing for commodities. On-demand cloud computing providers that experience even a relatively short period of downtime at one of their data centers may see their customers sail away for perceived calmer waters.
While it’s tempting to entertain sweeping solutions to eliminate downtime with one crushing blow, remember to walk before you run. First, commit the necessary resources to turning unplanned downtime into planned downtime. Identify which of your processes or equipment systems hold the greatest risk of a downtime incident and take measures to prophylactically shore up these areas. This holds immediate advantages. Plan for maintenance and cleaning during non-peak hours and you’ll lessen the negative impact on production. Stock extra equipment components (particularly those most prone to wear and tear) before you near the end of your current equipment’s service life and you’ll avoid extended shutdowns due to supply chain problems.
Optimization Is Ongoing
Once you’ve gotten planned downtime on an even keel, you’re free to explore the second phase of optimization: continuous improvement. Analyze every stage of your processes and look for ways to recoup lost time and resources.
Which stage of production creates the most material waste? How can that waste be refined and put back into the production process? How could it be recycled or repurposed to extract its full value?
Consider bottlenecks: you’re only as strong as your weakest link. What would best solve this problem? An equipment upgrade, more manpower, or perhaps automation? For example, incorporating a clean-in-place skid system for processes that require frequent cleanings can save time and reduce risk for your people. Adding a second or third production system can increase throughput and/or allow production of multiple SKUs without a line changeover.
Finally, devote regular resources and personnel specifically to optimization. With the right tools, your own engineers will know how best to optimize your processes. By massive strides or by degrees, their efforts will impact the long-term efficacy of your operation.
Byte: Daunted by process optimization? A well-oiled machine isn’t built all at once. Start by asking the big questions: where are you wasting the most; which process involves the most downtime incidents; how does the performance of Equipment X or Process Y compare to similar elements used by competitors?
Click here to learn how pet food processors are optimizing operations to fight inflation and protect profits.
Get Comfortable
“When mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.”
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or an obscure ‘90s country music lyric to learn that a miserable workforce is bad for business. Whether through a sudden exodus of talent or the slow drip of productivity loss, an unmotivated workforce will cost you dearly. Let’s look at some ways you can right the ship if you feel the natives growing restless or are already facing a staffing shortage.
We’ll assume that you’re handling the basics—you fairly compensate your people, treat them with respect and gratitude, and don’t demand excessive overtime—but your workforce is still singing the blues. Short of declaring a daily Happy Hour, what can you do? Fortunately, there are plenty of practical improvements you can explore before resorting to desperate measures.
Start by looking at your workers’ physical environment: a workspace that’s uncomfortable, unclean, or unappealing will affect your people’s ability to perform at their best. While industrial environments and even offices are not known for being the lap of luxury, there’s no good excuse for them to be the armpit of austerity. With relatively low investment, you can make your workplace more welcoming for your people and guests alike—and boost productivity as a result.
Set your thermostat to “Goldilocks”
A chilly factory floor or warehouse that passes for an oversized oven is no way to encourage people’s best effort. In spaces that are neither heated nor cooled, consider using high-volume, low-speed (HVLS) ceiling fans. The increased airflow will cool workers in the summer and mix warm air trapped at the ceiling down to where workers need it during the winter.
Let there be light
A dark or dim workspace dampens your people’s energy and impacts their ability to work safely and accurately. A one-time investment in long-lasting, energy-efficient LED lighting with a high lumen output will improve their visibility (and disposition) for years, not to mention your electricity bill.
It’s not the manager, it’s the humidity
A stifling, muggy environment is not only oppressive to work in, but also hazardous to people and property. Excessive humidity promotes the growth of mold and mildew, rusts valuable materials and equipment, and leads to condensation that creates dangerously slick conditions. Improved airflow and ventilation help prevent and mitigate these events. Even better, you can link your fans and HVAC to humidity sensors so they automatically activate once humidity levels approach the dew point.
Cut that racket
Ambient noise is an unavoidable aspect of any work environment, but there are ways to reduce its reach and intensity. When possible, install sound dampening panels and replace old noisy equipment components with quieter, more modern versions. Swapping an AC induction motor with a quiet EC direct-drive motor or upgrading your humming HID or fluorescent lights to LEDs will make an immediate impact. Not ready to squeeze sound reduction onto your budget? Walk with your facilities manager and note any quick fixes: a screwdriver and a can of WD-40 can work wonders for a rickety fan, creaky door, or rattling air conditioning unit.
When in doubt, ask your people what they’d like to change about your space, and show them you’re listening by acting on their concerns. Once these improvements are made, don’t be modest: let people know that you’ve made specific changes for their sake and the news will spread beyond the doors of your facility to the ears of those looking for an employer who cares.
And just for good measure, it won’t hurt to throw a few breakfast bars in the breakroom and put on a pot of the good coffee.
Byte: Creature comforts may seem nonessential, but skimping them can have huge physical and psychological ramifications for your workforce. Follow the Golden Rule and create a workplace where you’d feel motivated to give your best every day. You can thank us later for the bump in your production and employee retention numbers.
Automatic Improvement
At some point, no amount of process engineering or comfort measures will compensate for the losses caused by inefficient, outdated equipment. When you invest in new process equipment, fight the temptation to succumb to sticker shock; capital expenditures are part of the game; if you play your hand well, you’ll put yourself in a winning position in the long run.
Use purpose-built equipment
Off-the-shelf components have their place, but when it comes to the equipment systems that are the beating heart of your operation, you’ll get more bang for your buck by turning to experienced equipment manufacturers who can tailor their products to your specific application. Not only does custom equipment typically work more efficiently and last longer, but these manufacturers are also more likely to provide ongoing support and service when you need it. (For a deeper dive into the benefits of custom equipment manufacturing, check out this article from our team at Anderson Dahlen, Inc.)
Automate when you can
Nothing is more efficient than the job that does itself. Autonomous mobile robots (AMR) and automated guided vehicles (AGV) are increasingly common in a variety of work environments for the advantages they offer in worker safety, overhead costs, production accuracy, and quality control/assurance. Cobots that work in tandem with human counterparts can provide the best of both worlds, ensuring the efficiency and consistency of a machine while offering the flexibility and judgment of a skilled worker.
Work smarter, not harder
If you’ve read this newsletter before, you know that we’re true believers in the power of meaningful data collection and analysis. A trusted system integration (SI) partner can help your business gain valuable insight into your operation. From a human-machine interface (HMI) panel, a controls engineer can analyze real-time data, control set points and parameters, and run historical data reports. Vision systems can improve quality across processes, streamline safety testing, and alert operators about potential hazards and faulty equipment before it becomes a more costly problem. Knowledge is power!
Whatever your approach to optimization, any plan that devotes human, technological, and/or material resources to identifying and correcting weaknesses is on the right track. The best approach will commit all three, allowing you and your people to enjoy downtime on the couch instead of sweating it in the shop.
To learn more about the benefits of process automation, check out this article from the latest GrayWay.