Many companies are struggling to manage their operations during the lockdown. With limited manpower and other uncertainties, how to manage the operations? Here are my 3 Tips:

1. Planning: A factory may have many variants(SKU) / multiple sections. Plan for which variant/section/orders to process on specific days. Communicate to the employees of those sections and ensure their availability. Avoid shuffling manpower from one section to another section (ppl may lack awareness on SOPs, Safety)

2. Eliminate Wastes: Work(VA) transforms the product physically or chemically. Customers pay for work(e.g. Drilling, Heat treatment). Wastes(NVA) do not transform products(e.g. Waiting, Defects, WIP). VAs also has a few NVAs associated with them(e.g. Loading, Unloading, Slow tool movements) Analyse every operation, identify the NVAs and reduce them.

3. Produce FG; Not WIP: Complete what you are producing, do not keep materials in WIP stage at the end of the day. E.g. If you have 5 products and limited manpower, don’t start all the 5 product lines. Bring the manpower to 1 product line and produce FG. Remember, WIP is the biggest waste in the shop floor.

  Do you think these 3 points help you in your operations? Let us know your thoughts. -Team HashLLP