In the world of hardware manufacturing, the difference between success and failure often hinges on manufacturing efficiency.
When you’re racing against the clock to launch your latest hardware innovation, every second counts. But inefficiencies lurk around every corner and threaten to derail your delivery timelines.
If you find yourself constantly battling against production delays, cost overruns, or quality issues, you're not alone. This is an all too familiar scenario, but one that can be avoided with the right tools that align productivity with efficiency.
Let us navigate through the common barriers to efficient production and discover how to overcome them, creating a less arduous path to market.
1. Lack of Integration Between Systems
Disjointed systems and processes are often the first place to look when you’re experiencing bottlenecks in production lines. Even small delays can seriously affect overall manufacturing efficiency.
According to one manufacturing publication, almost 40% of industrial resources are wasted due to bottlenecks alone. So, not only are these snags costly, but they can also delay your time to market.
Disconnected technologies often lead to silos between teams, inefficient communication methods outside the system (like email), and redundant data entry that complicates the flow of vital information across production, planning, and engineering.
By integrating software and systems, and enabling seamless data flow between people, machines, and systems, bottlenecks are reduced, fostering efficient decision-making and streamlined operations.
2. Inadequate Real-Time Data Analysis
Of course, system integration is just one component of improved decision-making. The other critical ingredient is access to data – historical data and real-time data. Without comprehensive, accurate numbers, your factory is operating in darkness.
This is something many factories struggle with, which leads to delayed responses and production issues – worse, often profitability can suffer. For example, when an organization doesn’t know the true cost of building a product (the labor and parts costs), it’s nearly impossible to know how to price it.
Integrations and real-time data analysis go hand in hand, ensuring that day-to-day decisions are based on accurate information across departments. Additionally, data provides valuable insights for future planning, helping to shape organizational strategies and initiatives that enhance production efficiency.
3. Misalignment Between Productivity and Efficiency
Companies often use productivity and efficiency interchangeably but they actually mean different things. Harvard Business Review provides a succinct summary of the productivity vs efficiency debate:
- Productivity is about doing more with the same.
- Efficiency is about doing the same with less.
While both are important in hardware manufacturing, they require different approaches. Manufacturing efficiency depends on reducing input like time and resources to meet deadlines and improve profitability. Productivity, on the other hand, requires a focus on producing more work with the same resources, optimizing resource utilization.
Aligning productivity and efficiency is key to staying ahead.
4. Poor Workflow Optimization
Inefficient workflows can lead to unnecessary steps in the production process. This is usually caused by manual processes or siloed technologies (sometimes both) that result in duplicate tasks, redundant data entry, or miscommunications. Each one, though small when isolated, hinders a company’s production efficiency.
It’s important to step back and see how your processes work together and where technology can support them. Treating your manufacturing process as a continuous loop rather than operating in separate systems or disconnected workflows can help achieve efficient production across the board.
5. Insufficient Traceability
For companies where traceability is important, the quality of an as-built Bill of Materials (aBOM) The quality of your as-built Bill of Materials (aBOM) can impact your factory's compliance. Without a dependable aBOM, you lose track of every process, purchase, and part installed on a product.
It’s well understood that in complex hardware manufacturing, especially when you’re building something for the first time, when design meets the reality of the factory floor, unexpected changes can happen. It’s essential to document every step where issues or changes occur—whether it’s a substituted part, a different tool being used, or a change in technician. While this information is valuable for building the next product, the bigger risk lies in not having it readily accessible if problems arise later. Without detailed records, a company could face serious consequences in the event of a defect or malfunction.
Traceability helps maintain tight records during the process, equipping teams to tackle problems quickly and with minimal disruption to manufacturing efficiency.
6. Outdated Technology
Outdated technology can hold your factory back from true manufacturing efficiency. Enter the smart factory, the goal of the Industry 4.0 revolution. In the smart factory, advanced technologies collect and use data to automate and optimize processes for productivity and efficiency.
Take the mission of CESMII, a federally funded US association dedicated to furthering the principles and practical application of Smart Manufacturing. In their words, “We enable frictionless movement of information – raw and contextualized data – between real-time operations and the people and systems that create value in and across Manufacturing organizations.”
Without a modern factory tech stack where your software, machines, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and robots are communicating with each other, the concept of a smart factory can never be realized.
7. Lack of Skilled Workforce
Investing in the latest technologies and a modern MES system is just one piece of the puzzle. To truly drive efficiency, you also need skilled professionals with a strong technology aptitude and a deep understanding of modern factory best practices to implement efficient production practices and find further opportunities for improvement.
At First Resonance, we offer a Factory Operating System that's flexible, easy to deploy, and future-proof. The ION Operating System (OS) connects every part of the factory to meet the dynamic needs of high-precision hardware development.
Learn more about ION can help you unlock true manufacturing efficiency today.