Tips for making custom manufacturing as inexpensive and efficient as possible

Custom manufacturing is where one person has the skill that is needed to make a certain product. A great example of this type of manufacturing is a shoemaker or a candle maker; it used to be that only one person was required to make these customized products. While custom manufacturing is still in practice today one of the problems that it faces is people rarely using it. Hardly anybody uses custom manufacturing because it is not very cost efficient, which means that the prices of the finished products are going to be higher because of the use of custom manufacturing.

Here are some tips that you can follow to help ensure that your custom manufacturing process is as inexpensive and efficient as possible.

Tip one:
Figure out what types of concepts are going to help make your custom manufacturing company run better and then implement the concepts that seem the most promising first. Doing this can help you save both time and money. For example, if your manufacturing line gets really dirty because of residue that is left behind from one of the manufacturing processes you can come up with a way to help keep that line cleaner. Instead of having it cleaned at the end of the day, which will take longer because more residues has built up, you can have regularly scheduled maintenance checks on the machine during each shift or you can pick a time once or twice during the day when the machine is not operating to clean that particular line. Keeping the lines clean will reduce the number of accidents on that line, which will help make your work environment safer.

Tip two:
If you have certain procedures that are not a part of the manufacturing system you will want to make certain changes to the way things are done so that you can match the procedures with the systems. An example of this is something that you do with your process that is not a part of the system. What you are going to want to do is take the time that is needed into consideration when you are thinking about the entire procedure. This is important to take into consideration because if it backs up the manufacturing line it can cause other processes to stop working correctly or even if it helps save time, it can throw other things out of whack. What you want to do is work it into the proper procedure so that all of the other parts of the manufacturing line can continue working together while including this step.

Tip three:
Incorporate different manufacturing concepts into your manufacturing process, such as lean manufacturing or Six Sigma. These concepts are great for custom manufacturing plants because they are designed to help you save both time and money. For example, lean manufacturing is designed to help you cut down on waste, while still making a great product. One way to do this is by looking at your manufacturing lines to see what goes into making each of your products. Then look at how much waste those lines are creating. You will then come up with different things that you can do to help cut down on the waste from your manufacturing lines.

Just remember that before you put any tips into practice at your manufacturing plant you are going to want to try them out first so that you can see what types of results each concept will get. Doing this will allow you to see if incorporating the concept is going to be worth the time and effort involved before you decide to teach your employees.