Manufacturers operate in an environment of relentless demand for increased efficiency and output. To remain competitive and profitable, it is imperative for them to establish clear production targets. These targets serve as beacons, guiding the pursuit of the seven most critical measurable goals that manufacturers should work towards. 

By embracing smart factory technology, manufacturers can harness the power of advanced analytics, digital whiteboards, and production management tools to drive digital transformation, optimize production processes, and achieve these pivotal production goals.

How Shoplogix can Help You Reach These Production Goals

Shoplogix’s smart factory solutions are at the forefront of revolutionizing the manufacturing industry, offering a comprehensive suite of capabilities to enable data-driven manufacturing optimization. By leveraging advanced analytics, digital whiteboards, and production management tools, Shoplogix’s smart factory suite empowers manufacturers to collect crucial production metrics and visualize, integrate, and respond in real time to production performance. 

The suite’s real-time performance management tools provide easy access to accurate, timely information, allowing businesses to run their plants more efficiently and make better, more informed decisions. Furthermore, Shoplogix offers rapid deployment and advisory services, ensuring a seamless transition for businesses seeking to embrace smart factory technologies and achieve manufacturing optimization. 

By utilizing Shoplogix’s smart factory solutions, manufacturers can enhance efficiency, increase productivity, and achieve substantial cost savings, ultimately positioning themselves to reach and exceed the seven key production goals for 2024.

7 Production Goals for Manufacturers

Goal 1: Improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)

The goal of improving OEE is a critical objective for manufacturers in 2024. OEE is a proven metric used in manufacturing to achieve three primary goals: benchmarking, improvement, and maintaining improvements. It provides a composite measure of a production system’s performance in terms of availability, performance, and quality, offering valuable insights into opportunities for enhancement. 

Manufacturers can improve OEE by automating the collection and reporting of production data, assigning a digital champion, and leveraging smart factory technologies. Smart factory technology, such as Shoplogix’s smart factory suite, plays a pivotal role in this pursuit, offering real-time visibility into OEE and providing the necessary tools to track progress and drive improvement. 

Harnessing advanced technologies and setting appropriate benchmarks, manufacturers can transform insights into actionable steps to drive efficiency and cost savings, ultimately improving their bottom line.

Goal 2: Reduce Changeover Times

Manufacturers in 2024 will focus on reducing changeover times to enhance productivity and responsiveness to customer demand. One effective strategy to achieve this goal will be the implementation of Single-Minute Exchange of Die (SMED), which involves splitting the changeover process into sequenced steps and transforming as many steps as possible to «external» to streamline the remaining steps. 

Additionally, the use of digital work instructions and asset connectivity, such as the ChangeoverIQ module, can help streamline changeovers, accelerate SMED initiatives, and provide real-time visibility into changeover events, ultimately leading to significant cost savings and increased machine utilization. 

By embracing Industry 4.0 technologies and real-time data, manufacturers will be able to reduce the time it takes to react to critical events and automate processes based on pre-set triggers and alerts, further optimizing their operations and setting a new standard for manufacturing efficiency.

Goal 3: Minimize Downtime

Minimizing downtime is set to be a critical goal for manufacturers. Amidst the backdrop of economic uncertainty, skilled labor shortages, and supply chain disruptions, the importance of maintaining operational efficiency cannot be overstated1.

Manufacturers are increasingly turning to innovative strategies to enhance their operational efficiency. One such strategy is the reduction of downtime in production processes. Downtime, both planned and unplanned, can lead to significant losses in productivity and profitability. Therefore, minimizing downtime is an essential objective for any manufacturing operation.

Predictive maintenance is emerging as a key tool in this effort. By leveraging machine data analytics, manufacturers can anticipate potential failures and schedule maintenance proactively. This approach not only reduces unexpected production halts but also extends the lifespan of machinery, leading to improved overall efficiency.

Goal 4: Slash Scrap Rates

The objective for manufacturers in 2024 is clear – reduce scrap rates effectively using real-time data analytics and Quality Modules. High scrap rates, indicating the percentage of materials wasted during manufacturing, can inflate costs, decrease profitability, and negatively impact the environment.

Manufacturers aim to tackle this issue with innovative strategies like deploying a Quality Module that leverages real-time data. This module uses advanced analytics to swiftly identify anomalies in the production process, preventing defects before they occur, reducing waste, and enhancing overall product quality.

Goal 5: Streamline Processes

As the manufacturing landscape becomes increasingly complex and competitive, manufacturers are setting their sights on streamlining processes as a key goal for 2024. Streamlining involves simplifying and optimizing workflows to eliminate inefficiencies, reduce waste, and boost productivity. It’s a critical strategy for enhancing operational efficiency and driving business growth.

One innovative way manufacturers plan to streamline processes is through the use of value stream mapping tools. These tools provide a visual representation of every step in a process, allowing manufacturers to easily identify and eliminate non-value adding steps. This not only reduces waste and inefficiencies but also improves the speed and quality of production.

Goal 6: Optimize Inventory

Optimizing inventory is set to be a pivotal goal for manufacturers in 2024. With the complexities of global supply chains and fluctuating market demands, maintaining an optimal inventory level is crucial. It ensures that manufacturers can meet customer demands promptly without tying up excessive capital in surplus stock.

Manufacturers are turning to advanced tools like demand forecasting and inventory optimization components to achieve this goal. Demand forecasting uses historical data, market trends, and algorithms to predict future product demand accurately. Simultaneously, inventory optimization components use these forecasts to determine the ideal levels of stock to maintain, ensuring that manufacturers have the right products in the right quantities at the right time.

Goal 7: Upgrade Legacy Machines

Upgrading legacy machines will be a significant goal for manufacturers in 2024. By leveraging asset monitoring to gain insights into machine utilization, manufacturers can strategically plan their upgrades, enhance operational efficiency, and drive business growth. Asset monitoring plays a crucial role in this upgrade process.

It provides detailed insights into machine utilization, highlighting performance gaps, inefficiencies, and potential areas for improvement. These insights form the basis for building a strong business case for upgrading legacy machines, helping manufacturers make informed decisions about where to invest in their operations.

Final Thoughts

As manufacturers face mounting pressures in an increasingly complex global landscape, achieving measurable production targets is imperative for continued success. The seven production goals outlined—enhancing OEE, reducing changeover times, minimizing downtime, slashing scrap, streamlining processes, optimizing inventory, and upgrading machines—represent pivotal objectives for manufacturers in 2024. 

Fortunately, with the rise of Industry 4.0, manufacturers now have access to innovative solutions like Shoplogix to assist in this pursuit. Shoplogix offers a smart factory suite with real-time performance management tools to drive optimization. This includes OEE tracking, changeover streamlining, predictive maintenance, quality control, value stream mapping, inventory optimization, and machine monitoring capabilities.

By leveraging Shoplogix’s solution, manufacturers gain the visibility and insights needed to systematically tackle inefficiencies and waste across production. Achieving the seven production goals translates directly to boosted efficiency, productivity and cost savings.