The old adage that knowledge is power never goes out of fashion. Understanding what we need to know, however, can sometimes be a challenge. For instance, when it comes to investing in that next piece of machinery, what sort of granular understanding of your processes do you need to have to make the wisest choice? In the past, we’ve discussed this in relation to cobot-enabled welding machines; there’s no point in investing in tech like this if you don’t have precision-cut parts entering your welding department and fixture tables that can assure proper, repeatable fit-up.
Saskatoon-based emergency vehicle manufacturer is a company that has made the effort to understand its manufacturing flow and has worked towards a true unit of one takt time throughout the factory. In other words, each station on the production line must be optimized so that it takes the same amount of time to finish work. By understanding its production flow at a granular level, the company hopes to simplify the rollout of automation projects and target areas where the greatest gains can be made by such investments.
Like automation investments, promoting individuals from within your company can have a great impact on your productivity. However, that productivity can be stymied if those individuals aren’t provided with the training necessary to succeed in their new role. As good of a welder as someone is, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they understand how to encourage others to thrive at that same .