With the economic upturn, the times of low volume and rationalization are over. Volume is steadily rising for many, and manufacturers are now dealing with a different problem than cost-cutting—how to meet increasing demand after resource cuts and no new investments in productivity improvement in recent years.
With your manufacturing operations already running close to capacity, the traditional ways of gaining new capacity is to make large capital investments, or to outsource some of the new manufacturing demand. These are challenging tactics as getting new resources in line will take time and there’s no guarantee that the numbers will continue to climb.
You do, however, have a third option available to you. You can meet the increased demand by freeing up needed resources within your current operations. The key is identifying areas of improvement within your existing operations by accessing real-time manufacturing information, and utilizing actionable insight for manufacturing improvements.
