Overcome production bottlenecks to secure profitability in mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering processes, particularly in plant and machinery construction, are highly interdependent. That means any unexpected disruptions, inefficiency, and planning mistakes can significantly hurt productivity, trigger delays, and have costly consequences.
Therefore, identifying and addressing these bottlenecks is the key to maximizing operational effectiveness and securing production profits. In this whitepaper, we delve into strategic methodologies to overcome costly production bottlenecks and regain profitability within the mechanical engineering sector.
Introduction:
Bottlenecks within mechanical engineering can suddenly come at any time, at any stage of the production process. They often stem from resource constraints, operational dependencies, and unforeseen disruptions. Recognizing the critical importance of proactive bottleneck management, we will explore five essential strategies designed to enhance operational resilience and cost-efficiency in mechanical engineering.
Why are Production Bottlenecks exceptionally costly in the mechanical engineering industry?
In the mechanical engineering industry, production bottlenecks are particularly costly due to several factors:
Complexity of Processes
Mechanical engineering involves highly interconnected processes, from design and fabrication to assembly and testing. For example, if a sub-assembly is not done on time, the higher-level assembly might also need to be postponed to a new date and checked again for resource availability. Coordinating processes in such complexity relies on the seamless coordination of resources, making them susceptible to bottlenecks that can disrupt the entire workflow.
Dependencies on Resources
Manufacturing in the mechanical engineering industry often requires the collaboration of diverse resources, including skilled labor, specialized machinery, and raw materials. Any disruption in the availability or perfor-mance of these resources can lead to significant delays and cost overruns.
Time Sensitivity
Many projects in mechanical engineering are time-sensitive, with strict deadlines and tight delivery schedules. Bottlenecks that cause delays can result in missed deadlines, contractual penalties, and damage to the company’s reputation.
Strategies to Overcome Costly Production Bottlenecks
Implementing Visualized Intervention Tools
Can your spreadsheets or magnetic boards automatically identify bottlenecks for your planner in the factory? Probably not. That’s why more and more mechanical engineering companies have implemented digital and visual process representations, such as drag-and-drop Gantt charts, to get invaluable insights into their production workflows, resource allocation, and scheduling conflicts.
With the help of the Gantt chart, you can see where tasks are piling up, where there are empty gaps, or where you will miss your deadlines. At the same time, “drag & drop” is the intuitive way for planners to intervene and quickly sort out bottlenecks before the matter gets worse.
These visualization tools enable production managers to identify bottlenecks and reallocate resources, saving a huge amount of time and money that you would have spent in meaningless team meetings, problem-solving, or complicated spreadsheet management.
Uncovering Structural Dependencies
Do you understand what your production process needs? The interdependent nature of mechanical engineering processes always calls for a comprehensive understanding of structural dependencies and resource utilization – all these are what ERP systems cannot do for manufacturers.
Only a modern production planning algorithm and a process automation solution can optimize resource allocation, minimize downtime, and “stop the bleeding” by enhancing structural transparency.
A modern planning algorithm redistributes the availability and creates an optimized mix of them. At the same time, it takes the manufacturer’s intended production goals and objectives into account, such as securing an on-time delivery rate, shortening throughput time, and restoring resource priorities, and generates a constantly updating production plan for the planner.
A process automation solution identifies the links between processes and resources. It is because if a production process changes in real-time, it will affect not only other processes but also their occupying resources. This is the only way for the planners to recognize the ripple effect of the consequences and apply the appropriate measures.
Streamlining Information Flow
How do your departments talk to each other? Communication breakdowns in production are often the main trigger of catastrophic bottlenecks in a mechanical engineering process. For many manufacturers who are still using paper-based routing slips, regardless of how important the information is, the news can only reach as far as the paper goes. When this paper reaches its intended receiver, it is almost always far too late to act because the fire has already started.
Now, everyone becomes a “firefighter.” Plans have to be redrawn, orders have to be paused, and a huge sum of money? Gone.
Therefore, it is impossible to avoid bottlenecks and save unexpected costs without restoring efficient communi-cation and information flow. To secure a stable information flow, you need a closed control loop between planning and feedback from the shop floor progress. And the most efficient, low-effort, and simplest way is to digitalize your shop floor and planning solutions.
Proactive Bottleneck Detection
It would be all too late when the bottleneck has hit your shop floor. Therefore, proactively addressing bottlenecks before they happen is critical to prevent production disruptions and unexpected operational costs.
The answer? An automated bottleneck detection algorithm. Simply let it take over and look for future bottlenecks for your planners to solve. And what if the algorithm finds no bottlenecks?
No big deal! Let’s stick to it until there are new changes in the plan.
Now imagine that it was your human planner who found nothing after spending a huge amount of your time and money – That would be another loss on your book. That’s why an automated system is here to help mechanical engineering companies proactively identify bottlenecks and preemptively save you from losing the money you were about to spend.
Empowering Workers with Digital Solutions
As the processes in mechanical engineering are complex and multi-layered, the workers, in particular, are the backbone of the production, and the shop floor is what drives the company forward. In short, they are the stars of your production and should be supported directly in their daily tasks through the use of suitable technology.
To increase their acceptance of new technology, you need to give them quick and easy-to-use tools to work with. That’s why you need intuitive usability and availa¬bility on devices, especially tablets or smartphones, which are supported by modern system architecture, all with just a fraction of the costs and effort to maintain some super-big Excel mega files or a redundant and slow IT department.
At the end of the day, the quicker your worker can solve their problems and go back to work, the faster you will regain ROI and profitability in the mechanical engineering process.
Conclusion:
In the fast-paced landscape of modern mechanical engineering processes, the ability to identify, mitigate, and overcome production bottlenecks is indisputably important for maximizing efficiency and production profits. Companies need to embrace strategic methodologies and leverage digital solutions to proactively optimize resource utilization, cut down hefty operation costs, and unlock new revenue growths in their mechanical engineering business.
Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Axel v. Prondzynski, CEO of th data GmbH
