The standard factory model most businesses have is almost as old as time itself. These almost Dickensian working styles have been shown to be efficient, but has it had its day? If you’re looking at simplifying your business, how can you work at growing your manufacturing company, but by avoiding the clichéd approaches of the 1800s?
Automation
While this is a very hot topic, and it’s rightly contested by factory workers, but it’s the way society is going now. There are companies like RNA Automation that are being put to use in so many different industries, that it’s something you cannot avoid. Automation has proven to be effective, not just in the manufacturing industries, but in the back office approaches, which is evidenced in systems like CRM, but also its use to improve relationships with the customer has produced substantial results. Automation has become a double-edged sword, but in the manufacturing environment, it’s the way forward.
Upskilling
On the other side of the coin, instead of putting your factory workers out to pasture, it’s time to train them up, and give them more skills, as you’ve gone to the trouble of hiring them, so invest in them. While the numbers of workers can dwindle, especially when they feel threatened by technology, you have to reassure your staff that you have their best interests at heart. Upskilling them in various new technological processes benefit you, but it helps to create well-rounded workers.
Transparency
A very modern way to include all of your workers. Transparency is the buzzword for equality in businesses now. If you, as its owner, are struggling with a sense of disparity, or there’s a feeling of unease throughout the ranks, transparency is the model to adapt to your working practices, so everybody feels like one team. The manufacturing processes of the past consisted of workers, the line managers or foremen, and the big bosses. Instead, if you implement practices to help everybody feel that they are on the same page, this inspires your workers to perform with more purpose, but it also helps productivity and morale. Morale is something that can always prove to be a problem, especially when you measure it against workers’ productivity. This is why transparency needs to be at the forefront of your considerations when shaking up your business.
Reducing Waste
By reducing waste, you’re not just improving your carbon footprint, but you could also be improving the relationships with your suppliers. If you waste raw materials, you are wasting money, but now, as many supply companies are looking to offset their own carbon footprint, you need to show that you care as much about the environment as they do. Look at your working processes, and start to implement methods for reducing waste. It will benefit your business, your costs, but your relationships with your suppliers.
Is the standard factory model from the 1800s out of date? In most definitely is, consider these four approaches, and implement them into your business, and you will see a major change in every process, and it will bring your manufacturing model out of the Victorian era, and into the now.
