Productivity metrics for precision manufacturing? - Searchfunder

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by a searcher from Case Western Reserve University
in Cleveland, OH, USA

6mos ago

Productivity metrics for precision manufacturing?

Hi all! I recently acquired a precision manufacturing company with ~30 machining centers and ~65 staff. Tons of exciting opportunity in this space (we make tooling for aerospace & defense customers.) Any recommendations for sources on productivity metrics (revenue per employee, spindle cutting vs. idle time, etc.)? Anyone seen great documents on shop floor productivity initiatives, e.g., shop still uses paper prints (which obviously needs to stop), etc.?

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reply by a searcher 5mos ago
in Los Angeles, CA, USA

Re: Eliminating paper on the shop floor. We have looked into this several times, and each time we decided not to move forward with it. With employees on the shop floor, paper remains the easiest way to communicate and helps prevent jobs from being mixed, qty, rev's, etc. Travelers/routers/print also allow employees to view DWG and job operations directly, without needing to search for a computer or tablet. I would reconsider this. Another area that many shops do not pay enough attention to is quote turnaround time, especially if you guys do low volume and prototyping.

reply by a searcher 5mos ago
from Purdue University in Elkhart, IN, USA

Re: productivity metrics. I had an internal CNC shop with 30+ various CNC machines, we went from 20' extrusions to assembled mechanisms (electric powered systems and hydraulic assemblies), processes included machining, anodizing, assembly. There will be pages and pages of metrics you can apply to your machining centers, and a lot of it will give you the same basic ideas/analysis. On any value stream you probably need to think about 3 variables to gauge the performance. Example: on my anodizing line I watched surface area processed (this was a check on capacity utilization), loads/shift (the throughput on a given shift), and scrap (money we lost to trash). All 3 of these metrics had to work together to paint the picture of how that specific process was doing. We could tweak expectations for each, and each had a different 'multiplier' effect on what we were trying to get. If you have a lot of consistent part production: the absolutely simplest thing to watch for is how long is the machining center door open. Anything that stops the operator from placing a new piece, to get a new part. That's going to impact the largest portion of your labor, most immediately. Ask operators to list anything that makes them take longer than expected, remove that hold-up, and you've got more parts made. It would make a lot of sense to have a few outsiders look at the process and ask questions. As you build trust with the team, you'll be able to leverage their knowledge, and an outsider with experience in this space can bring a new perspective that can be informed by the tribal knowledge. I like simple metrics that anyone can understand. Flashy language generally puts people off.

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