ImagesMagUK-July-2020

I f you want to keep output (and profit) up, it’s vital to find ways both to reduce wasted time and make the best use of your most precious resource, labour. By looking to your set-up, evaluating your assets, and walking through your workflow, you can identify potential slowdowns and prepare your shop to be the most productive it can be. When I examine workflows in embroidery shops, it’s rare that the act of embroidering itself is slowing the production process down. Almost invariably, the most wasted time comes from improper preparation. Informational flow The chief failure is usually in managing information. In particular, when a shop has separate sales or customer service staff and production staff, the largest loss of time comes from incomplete or missing information and assets in the production department. Look at your information workflow and make sure that every job entering the production floor has all of the information needed to produce the job attached directly or is properly referenced in a central information system. Barring unforeseen issues, there should be no reason for a production staffer to ring up the sales or managerial staff to ask for thread colours, logo placement or any other type of information. If a machine operator has to call or visit sales staff to handle an order, you are losing time. Equally, all information needed to prepare an order should be obtained during the initial customer interview, apart from the art approval process. After that, having to contact a customer with a question outside of supply chain issues or mishaps means you should examine the interview and quoting process you’re employing. Flow is best when it keeps running in one direction with as little reversion as possible. Stage your stacks You should also create a physical workflow that is as efficient as the informational workflow. In the same way that your information should be both complete and centrally accessible, each production machine on your floor should have the material needed for each job prepared for production. Server-based order management systems were forerunners of the cloud-based systems we have now: they have all the centralised information storage and just-in-time access a good system needs. The benefit of the cloud is in taking that information and making it available anywhere and on any device and removing the need to manage and maintain your own server If you can’t seem to track down why you’re not producing at your usual rates, paying close attention to process can provide the answers. Spend a shift observing from an ‘outside perspective’ – watching travel between stations and taking note of the precise places and processes that are causing slowdowns. Process studies are not just for pricing – look for places where a simple tool, training programme, or even reorganisation of the shop floor might save minutes in each run KB BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE www.images-magazine.com 38 images JULY 2020 Efficiency in a crisis At times such as these, when both demand and staffing may be at reduced levels, it’s important to prioritise efficiency. Erich Campbell explains how to refine your shop’s processes and be as productive as possible