When you’re looking to manufacture, whether it’s your own products or to provide Manufacturing services to others, then establishing the right manufacturing plant, factory floor, or industrial setup is key.
The question of how you meet all of your needs is going to require you to go into a lot more detail than we can, here, but we start by looking at some of the basic needs, and what you need to start thinking of to ensure that you meet them.
A clear aim and vision
If you want to make sure that your factory doesn’t fall and fail at the first hurdle, then you have to have a clear vision for its future. Beyond a general outline of what the factory is there for, you need to think about the factory’s purpose.
Who does it serve? If it’s making your own products, how do you do that as cost-effectively as possible? If it’s for clients to use your manufacturing services, what can it offer theme in particular? A clear manufacturing business plan can make a big difference.
The right premises or land for the factory
A good location for your manufacturing facility is going to be one of the most important decisions that you can make, and so many of its other successes and failures will be built on top of this. You need to consider things like how it fits into the supply chain, if it’s accessible to suppliers, your own logistics team, and your employees.
There are different sectors and industries within the manufacturing umbrella and depending on those, your location and factory might have to meet certain characteristics.
This can include things like how much it costs to set up in different locations, or how much you need to consider your environmental impact based on whether you set up in a city or out in the country.
To buy or build?
The location you choose may be limited by how you choose to set up your manufacturing premises, in the first place.
You can find entire manufacturing businesses for sale, which at the very least will include the industrial site but may, in some cases, also include the Machinery, tech, and other resources needed to get up and running. You can do that or you can work with a team to build the space that you need.
Not only might it be easier to create a space that better meets the plant layouts and design that you have to ensure that you’re able to take care of all processes, but you might also be able to choose locations better suited to your needs than are already available on the market.
Your machinery
This step should be considered in tandem with choosing the right location and establishing how you’re going to set up your premises, not after the fact. Manufacturing businesses can use a very wide range of machinery, and you need to find the right types of machinery to meet the processes needed to provide the services or build the products that you have in mind.
Aside from what machinery you need, you also have to consider things like spare parts you need to keep, as well as maintenance schedules you have to start establishing.
On top of that, start planning the layout of your machines, setting them up for maximum efficiency, especially in the case of work flowing from one machine to the next.
Considering automation
When you’re thinking about the various processes that need to be completed on the factory floor, then the question of automation is going to come up at some point. There’s machinery of all kinds that you can get automated versions of, such as arm robots (single or double), coordinative robots, multi-axis robots, and more.
Automating your manufacturing floor does come with an additional higher cost, and it also means that you need to hire more qualified staff, as automation technicians tend to have more training and a higher wage than your average factory worker.
However, for many businesses, cutting the possibility of human error by several degrees, not to mention the costs of having to hire more people, can be worth it.
Meeting your power needs
Running all of those machines is going to require a lot of power. Industrial businesses like manufacturing floors use a lot more energy than the typical business and, as such, they have to think a lot more about where that energy is going to come from.
While many office-based businesses are able to rely on the grid entirely, this might not always be possible for manufacturing.
For one, the costs of using the grid can get exponentially higher the more you use it, and manufacturing businesses may need more control over their power source, such as with the help of Tier 4 Generators. There are other options, such as renewable energy sources, that can be added to that to provide some backup, as well.
Prioritize safety
Manufacturing can be a relatively dangerous industry, both due to the frequent movement of people and goods, not to mention the machinery that, we operated incorrectly or not treated with the right caution, can do serious bodily harm.
As such, you have to ensure that you’re investing in all of the right safety precautions for manufacturing.
This includes providing and paying for routine safety training to help your workers avoid slips, trips and falls, improper machine use, and electrical and environmental hazards. It also means investing in safety gear, both for your workers in the PPE that they wear, as well as the environment, in terms of safety signage, lights to improve visibility, and much more. A safety audit of your workplace once in a while is a small price to pay to avoid the costs of negligence.
Ensuring good logistics
Manufacturing floors tend to be places of constant movement. Whether it’s your own supplies moving out from your storage areas to the processes that make use of them, the disposal of waste materials, or the vehicles that both bring in the supplies you need and take away the products you have completed, you need a strong logistical setup for your factory.
This is, in part, determined by your location, and your access to roads, as well as what parking space you allow for.
Effective warehouse design is necessary, too, as most manufacturing plants have some kind of warehouse attached to them to house all of the supplies that they use.
Meeting regulatory compliance
Given the particular personal and environmental risks often associated with manufacturing, it should not be overly surprising that it is one of the more heavily regulated industries.
Failing to comply with these regulations can lead to legal hot water, which can be very costly and even shut you down until you’re able to prove that you meet all regulations.
Working with a regulatory compliance specialist can help you follow all of your local, state, federal, and international laws and regulations, whether they’re related to health and safety, waste disposal, environmental impact, energy usage, labor, or otherwise.
Do not skip the process of making sure that your business meets its regulatory requirements, or you could find yourself shutting doors much sooner than you would imagine.
The right factory software
While the bulk of the work done on a manufacturing floor might be out there with the machines, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have a digital component to it.
In fact, for businesses that rely so much on efficiency and productivity, it should be no surprise that there is software to help you manage those workloads to the best of your ability.
Manufacturing software comes in a wide range of shapes and sizes, from the aforementioned workload and site planning software to the machine maintenance software that tracks how much care you’re supposed to give to each and every component of your factory setup. Inventory software can be helpful for tracking the use of various resources used in the manufacturing processes, as well.
The right team
Naturally, to keep any factory running smoothly, you need to have the right team as well. This includes workers on the floor who are trained to operate the machinery and take part in the production processes, as well as the managers and upper-level staff who are there to keep things running smoothly.
For a lot of factory jobs, on-site training could be the most effective and quickest way to build the workforce that you need. Even if you’re using automation to cut down on the mount of human resources you need, you’re still going to need to hire staff, typically to oversee and maintain those machines. Of course, with staff comes the need for HR processes and systems in place, too.
The tips above should serve as the springboard from which you leap off to do more research. Make sure that you know your options and, if you’re familiar with setting up a factory, consider hiring consultants who are to make sure that you’re not missing anything vital.
The post What You Need To Start A Manfacturing Setup appeared first on Apollo Technical LLC.
