In the past, when a shop lacked capacity or wanted to expand, their easiest solution was to add more capital equipment. Unfortunately, that’s not the case these days. During customer visits, we often see that machine capacity is not the issue. Instead, these shops face another more pressing problem – a lack of…
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In a traditional business mindset, manufacturers stringently limit the extent to which they expose their plans and processes beyond their internal audience. They consult with developers and technicians to select new resources that augment their capabilities, but they make most of their developmental moves as secret as possible to avoid losing a competitive…
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Theoretically, Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) measures capacity versus output to show you how much of the time you’ve allocated to production actually produces the desired result: finished parts that pass quality control. The idea is that you can benchmark OEE to compare shifts, see if you measure up to industry standards or find…
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Optimizing your shop’s operations and approach can refine your competitive edge. How you choose to conduct that optimization depends on many factors, including how much of the transformation you can accomplish on your own. If you’ve realized that your goals and focus point to a need – and a desire – to grow,…
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