Actionable Steps to Achieve Operational Excellence in Manufacturing

Actionable Steps to Achieve Operational Excellence in Manufacturing

Although the notion of operational excellence in manufacturing can be hard to define, it's a level of achievement virtually any manufacturing company wants to attain. In today's highly competitive manufacturing environment, a strong focus on continuous improvement can be the single factor that separates the top companies from those at the bottom. Continue reading for a few actionable steps you can take to help you achieve operational excellence in manufacturing.

Achieve Operational Excellence in Manufacturing with Employee Engagement

An engaged workforce is arguably the single most important factor for achieving operational excellence in manufacturing. Engaged employees are more likely to work efficiently and faster as well as making serving the customer the ultimate priority.

Leaders can help facilitate engagement by demonstrating an unwavering commitment to patience, accountability, incentivization, and mentorship. A few steps to bolster employee engagement include:

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    Developing clear key performance indicators for a consistent way to measure progress. It will also help to:
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    Have a clear way to communicate KPIs in a timely fashion
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    Implementing a reliable process for KPI interaction, so all employees can have access to a method for acting based on KPI-related data.
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    Creating a transparent business strategy that offers clear vision and guidance for employees in their daily activities.
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    Establishing goals for each specific work area to give employees a stake in the total outcome of the operation. This will also connect individual goals with the larger organizational goal.
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    Aligning goal achievement with incentives is an excellent motivational tool for promoting employee engagement.

Encourage Employees to Make Suggestions

One way to bolster employee engagement and help the organization achieve operational excellence in manufacturing is to encourage employees to make suggestions. This will give everyone a voice within the organization, while providing management with valuable suggestions for improvement from those closest to the problem.

Whether it's improving a process or making changes to the product flow, encouraging employees to make suggestions is a best practice to achieve operational excellence in manufacturing.

Operational Excellence in Manufacturing Involves Offensive Activities

Operational excellence in manufacturing is all about growing your business in a sustainable way. It allows management to step away from running the operation of the business and rededicate time and energy into growing the business.

By altering the role of management, your leaders will be able to get more involved in engineering, sales, innovation, and other core drivers of profit. This monumental shift in perspectives can transform your business from being another parts supplier into a provider of solutions.

Contact PSP for Operational Excellence in Manufacturing

Although operational excellence in manufacturing will not be accomplished with the previous tips alone, they are huge steps in the right direction. In reality, achieving operational excellence requires a complete and total shift in the culture of your business centering around using the best and safest practices. The values of operational excellence lie within:

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    Safety
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    Human Development
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    Operations
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    Maintenance
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    Asset Management

The experts at Premier Safety Partners can walk you through each of these core values and create a plan to help your organization achieve operational excellence in manufacturing.

Contact Premier Safety Partners today to learn how we can help your manufacturing firm achieve operational excellence. 

About the Author

Scott Ray is an industry leader in Health and Safety. Recognized for his business acumen and innovative approach, Scott has a track record in successfully implementing H&S systems that result in fostering a culture of operational excellence. His 25 year Health and Safety career includes both technical and leadership experience within diverse industries including energy/utilities, manufacturing, higher education, construction, defense and aerospace.