The first step to improve production flow is to identify and analyze the causes of bottlenecks in your operations. An MES system allows you to obtain real-time visibility of your processes, something that will undoubtedly help you detect and eliminate these types of problems, which are the main source of delays and other inefficiencies in most industrial companies.
What is a bottleneck in manufacturing?
Bottlenecks are points in manufacturing processes where the flow of work slows down or stops in a timely manner.
A bottleneck can occur at any stage of the manufacturing process: design, production, assembly, quality control or shipping, and can be caused by a variety of factors.
It is necessary to distinguish between small bottlenecks and larger systemic problems that affect the workflow continuously over a long period of time. Bottlenecks are therefore often divided into short-term and long-term bottlenecks, depending on their cause.
Short-term bottlenecks
Short-term bottlenecks are caused by temporary problems or unexpected events that affect the day-to-day operations of a production plant and are usually resolved quickly. For example:
- Occasional machinery breakdowns.
- Absence of a qualified worker for a complex task.
- Power failure.
- Isolated cases of delay in material deliveries.
Long-term bottlenecks
Long-term bottlenecks are due to structural and highly recurrent problems that the company has not yet been able to resolve at their root. For example:
- Production capacity unable to meet demand.
- Ineffective management of the level of operator training.
- Lack of standardization of processes.
- Lack of process automation.
- Inefficient management of materials supply at the line.
- Constant machinery breakdowns.
The negative impact of bottlenecks on the production floor
Long-term bottlenecks in particular have very negative consequences for the profitability and competitiveness of companies, as they lead to:
- A reduction in the quality of the final products.
- Low productivity.
- Delays in customer deliveries and poor workflow predictability.
- Increased internal conflicts and reduced motivation among staff.
- Failures in planning.
- A reduction in turnover.
- A reduction in the level of customer satisfaction.
3 types of bottlenecks in the factory and how to eliminate them
There are different types of bottlenecks that can occur during the manufacturing process and the ways to eliminate them will depend on their root cause.
Below, we outline some of the most common bottlenecks in a production plant and how to reduce them as much as possible with the help of the Mapex MES solution.
1. Equipment failures
If one of your most critical pieces of equipment is not properly maintained and suffers constant downtime, the performance, availability and quality of your manufacturing processes are at risk.
With a CMMS solution that allows you to digitize industrial maintenance management, such as the one integrated in our MES platform, you will be able to address this type of bottlenecks:
- Improve your preventive maintenance strategy based on the use and importance of your equipment to reduce the likelihood of breakdowns or unexpected downtime.
- Gain real-time visibility into key KPIs and be informed, through alerts, of any anomalies or potential problems.
- Perform historical data analysis to identify recurring patterns and failures that contribute to bottlenecks, address their root cause and implement specific solutions to prevent their occurrence in the future.
- Efficiently manage spare parts inventory to ensure that the necessary spare parts and materials are always available and thus avoid downtime.
2. Poor line-side supply management
Another of the most common bottlenecks during manufacturing processes is caused by poor management of the supply of materials and resources from the warehouse to the factory floor.
In this sense, automating the procurement process with an MES solution such as Mapex can help you avoid long waits and downtime at the lineside, reduce the volume of material that returns to the warehouse without being used, speed up the transfer of finished products to the warehouse or of semi-finished products to other production processes, and minimize operational costs.
As explained in this article, thanks to the connection between our software, the WMS and the AGV and AIV robots, companies improve visibility and transparency when managing the procurement of their production sites:
- Plant operators can see in real time the status of each of the material requests made, define a default quantity and establish which ones are a priority.
- Warehouse workers are able to visualize pending requests to be processed.
- Through data analysis and tracking, companies can implement continuous improvement actions to optimize delivery times and increase the level of customer satisfaction.
3. Labor-related problems
This other typology of bottlenecks can occur for several reasons: operators have problems finding the documentation they need to carry out their work; there is a lack of sufficiently trained personnel in the factory to perform certain tasks; many processes are not yet automated and require manual intervention by an employee; communication does not flow between departments; etc.
In this case, an MES solution like Mapex can help you:
- Digitize, centralize in a single platform and keep updated all the necessary documentation and work instructions in the plant.
- Improve the management of the training level of your operators and, as a result, increase both the production capacity and the flexibility and versatility of your workforce.
- Automate those processes and tasks that do not add value in order to reduce personnel costs, promote production continuity and optimize workflows.
- Eliminate information silos thanks to the integration capacity of MES software with other systems such as ERP.
These are just some of the Mapex platform features that can be very useful in eliminating or minimizing bottlenecks on the shop floor.
Apart from these examples, keep in mind that an MES solution can also help you reduce the impact of other problems that affect the performance of your factory and the profitability of your business: inefficiencies in the production process, quality failures, etc.
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