Continual improvement is one of the biggest aspects of maintaining efficient manufacturing principles and a regular focus on this can only lead to a positive change within a company. Perfection may not ever be achieved in a manufacturing plant but through regular training and small improvements, greater levels of efficiency can always be made. Here are some of the top aspects of continuous improvement and why they cannot be missed:
Training programs: by investing in training programs with your employees, everyone in your company can start to see areas for improvement. The training process doesn’t need to be extremely time-consuming or a topic of focus every week, but identifying some employees that could use retraining or extra training support can lead to ongoing improvement.
Fresh eyes in new areas: consider putting individuals into opportunities where they can see business processes from a completely new perspective. This fresh eyes approach is a great way for employees to identify inefficiencies in positions that they would not commonly work. This also leads to a more well-rounded workforce in case you happen to lose skill or have to reshuffle employees for holidays/sick days.
Rewards at work: Focus on achieving new efficiency goals every month and offer rewards to your customers based on the cost savings you have made. If your company manages to make an extra $100,000 per year as a result of these continuous improvement targets, offering your 50 employees a $500 bonus each month for meeting efficiency targets doesn’t seem like such a large investment.
Keep some of these top tips in mind for your continuous improvement program and remember that continuous improvement can happen at each level of your company. By identifying areas where you can improve, you would be amazed at the quality improvement in profits you can see.