Reducing Waste in Manufacturing for Safer, More Reliable Production
In the world of manufacturing, waste can occur in many different forms — and it’s not just about what ends up in a landfill. Time, materials, and even data are all resources that can be squandered, seriously hindering a company's ability to compete in the marketplace and act as responsible environmental stewards.
The issue of waste has always been a challenge for manufacturers, but as our world continues to innovate new solutions for global problems, it’s likely to to become even more pressing. As the hardware of the future continues to evolve to become more complex and technologically advanced, so too are the ways in which we manufacture. Innovation requires adaptation, and new processes are needed for compliance, reliability and most of all — less waste.
So, what do we mean when we talk about time, data and material wastage?
Time Waste
High-tech manufacturing plants contain countless moving pieces – machines, 3D printers, robotic arms, sensors, and highly-skilled teams working around the clock. There is little room for error. When downtime occurs without warning, it causes a cascade of issues that not only halts production but also wastes precious human resources like time, energy, and skilled labor.
Building complex hardware requires assembling tens of thousands of unique parts that need to fit and eventually work together. All it takes is one defective part for all ten thousand to require days or months of rework. Any breakdown can consume significant time as engineers work to trace the root cause, often requiring repeated steps and processes. This diversion of key engineers from other critical tasks creates bottlenecks and drives up costs, compounding the impact of the failure. By keeping things running smoothly, manufacturers can avoid hours of lost productivity.
How Iterative Testing Helps Reduce Time Wasted
We can look to software engineering for an example of how iterative testing can reduce the likelihood of uncovering a quality issue late in the process, which often necessitates a complete rework and the scrapping of materials. One of the key metrics software engineers use to assess the health of their software quality program is mean time to resolution (MTTR). Since bugs are an inevitable part of software, MTTR measures how quickly these bugs can be identified and resolved. Ideally, bugs are caught and fixed early on. By testing individual units at a smaller level, engineers can catch these anomalies and fix them while they’re minor.
If these issues aren’t caught at the unit level, the next best stage to identify them is during the staging phase — before the software goes into production. When bugs do make it to production, the focus shifts to how swiftly they can be resolved, ensuring that there are redundancies in place to prevent system collapse.
The hardware industry is beginning to adopt these principles, integrating iterative testing into the physical world to identify and eliminate problems earlier in the process. This results in significantly greater reliability and consistency in the final outcome. By testing at the unit level, we can resolve issues when they're small and cheaper to fix.
Data Waste
Many manufacturers are sitting on a goldmine of data that’s going untapped, essentially wasting its potential. This creates lost opportunities for optimization and improvement. Poor data integration, inconsistent data collection, or simply not leveraging your data can have a significant impact when all combined.
Manufacturing generates vast amounts of data, more than most industries, but the challenge is accessing it. Getting historical data into a structured format that members at every level fo the organization can use is crucial. From recognizing anomalies and identifying root causes, to uncovering issues that cause recurring downtime, data provides invaluable insights that can both improve the bottom line and enhance product quality.
With the power of real-time data, teams can make informed decisions on the spot, resulting in shorter timelines, fewer defects, and more accurate estimates. Knowing the exact status of an assembly, the percentage completed, and the projected completion date is crucial. Inventory consumption, in particular, plays a significant role in minimizing waste. Without proper visibility, over-ordering leads to higher percentages of scrap material; while under-ordering parts can result in costly downtime waiting for parts to arrive. Both are wasteful.
Material Waste
Material waste is often the most visible type of waste in manufacturing. It includes everything from excess raw materials and scrap to defective products. This not only impacts costs but also has significant environmental implications. And we see it everyday — overflowing landfills, polluting oceans, littered across our entire planet.
One major way to cut down on material waste is to improve how we use information. A lot of materials are either over-ordered or underutilized. Imagine a factory buying a block of metal for machining. Whatever isn’t used often gets scrapped. But what if that scrap could be repurposed for another application in a different department?
Factories often have to order a minimum amount of material to manufacture specific items. Suppose a company only needs five units of something but consistently orders ten. What happens to the excess? All too often, these materials expire or become obsolete, eventually ending up in the landfill. These kinds of decisions are usually made without a complete view of inventory and factory needs, often due to different departments operating in silos.
How Real-Time Inventory Tracking Helps Reduce Material Waste
Software like ION Factory OS can help solve this problem with an integrated inventory management system that aligns orders with actual needs. Manufacturers can track leftover materials and identify areas where those materials can be used for different projects. This not only cuts down on material waste but also lowers costs.
Physical waste doesn’t just apply to materials, either. Think about the amount of time the lights are on, with all of your machines running and employees working. In manufacturing, every second counts. The more time you save, the better you utilize the factory, making the equipment more efficient and reducing overhead costs.
The Reality of Manufacturing Waste
Ultimately, the proof is in the numbers. From energy to materials, there are countless areas where we can reduce needless waste in manufacturing — thereby creating a more progressive and sustainable world.
- 30% of all material in landfills comes from the manufacturing sector. (Statista)
- The manufacturing industry is responsible for about 90% of all waste generated. (Statista)
- Manufacturing is the third-largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. (Statista)
- The price of managing hazardous waste in the U.S. alone was over $21 billion in 2021. (Statista)
- In 2016, the world generated 242 million tonnes of plastic waste, with a substantial portion originating from industrial and manufacturing sources. (Our World in Data)
- It is estimated that globally, industries waste about 40% of their raw materials during the production process. (Our World in Data)
Building Resilient Systems
Addressing time, data and material waste isn’t just about cutting costs. It’s about building a more efficient, sustainable and competitive manufacturing operation. Getting serious about reducing waste translates directly to building better systems that are safer, more reliable and more cost effective. By leveraging modern technologies and harnessing the power of data and analytics, manufacturers can transform these challenges into opportunities for growth and innovation.
Without advanced systems, identifying these metrics requires piecing together data from binders, spreadsheets, disconnected systems, and emails—an inefficient and error-prone process.
Execute at Speed with First Resonance
Integrating data points into a unified platform provides a clear, actionable view of operations, which improves the speed of decision-making that leads to less waste. Modern software applications like ION Factory OS can automatically track and analyze data, recognizing patterns without human intervention. These tools can proactively alert us to issues manufacturers might not be actively searching for, significantly improving outcomes. When combined with AI, the potential for enhancement is even greater, unlocking possibilities we're only beginning to understand.
We're committed to helping manufacturers tackle wastage and build more efficient systems. Our ION platform is designed to provide real-time insights, integrate data seamlessly, simplify complex production, and manage inventory consumption. With ION, manufacturers can create dynamic operations that reduce less waste while accelerating innovation.
Join the Manufacturing Revolution
The future of manufacturing is here. Explore our solutions and see how we can help you optimize your manufacturing processes and reduce waste.
For more information, book a demo and discover how we can revolutionize your manufacturing operations.
As a special gift, we're excited to offer you a free infographic, and an insightful video, highlighting actionable strategies for reducing physical waste in manufacturing and the often-overlooked issue of data waste—where valuable data is not captured, leading to inefficiencies in managing inventory and operations. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from an industry leader on how to optimize your manufacturing processes and reduce waste effectively. Watch the video and download the free infographic below as our gift to you!
