In this article, we will have a look at The Most Common Causes Of Downtime In Manufacturing.
Anyone who’s worked in manufacturing knows that downtime is just part of the job now and then. That doesn’t make it acceptable, especially when pauses start eating into your timeline or causing delays to your clients. In such situations, they can stop being manageable and start becoming a real problem. The thing is, downtime doesn’t always show up where you expect. Of course, the big breakdowns are easy to spot (such as if you have to deal with a safety issue because of improper preparation and planning), but the real trouble often comes from smaller habits and gaps that build incrementally.
Any reason for production stopping without being planned into the schedule should be looked at closely, especially if it puts people in harm’s way. If you’re curating your own manufacturing setup to begin with, it’s good to know what issues are most common and which you shouldn’t have to learn the hard way.
In this post, we’ll explore those outcomes to get you started:
Poor Maintenance & Cheap Parts
If equipment fails or there’s an issue, it’s tempting to just get it running again, but what led to the fault in the first place is usually something that could have been handled earlier. The most common mistakes like skipping checks, using lower quality components, or assuming machines will stay reliable just because they have so far will catch up with you. If not now, certainly later.
This is why taking both a precise and cohesive look at your part and equipment configurations is so essential. For example, using tougher abrasive waterjet nozzles like this can reduce clogging and failure over time. That might not sound exciting, but when your tools are built to last, they will be more likely to stay working when you need them most.
Supply Problems & Not Enough Backups
Like with any systemic business processes, little mistakes can have a big impact. In this case, it can start with something missing from the loading dock, as perhaps part didn’t arrive, or a supplier let you down. Suddenly, your team’s ready to go, but the job can’t start because something small never showed up, or you haven’t briefed about capacity earlier in the day.
It helps to think one step ahead to plan contingencies against this outcome. That could imply keeping spares of certain parts around, or making friends with more than one vendor so you’re not stuck waiting on a single point of contact. It won’t fix everything, but it can give you more room to breathe. Manufacturing goes through vast quantities of raw materials and combined parts, so make sure you have alternatives.
Teams Not Talking To Each Other
A lot of downtime comes from people not being able to talk to one another, as it might be that someone didn’t pass along a note from the morning shift, or that a department planned a project without checking if the parts were even in. These are often silly things, but they cost real time, and may affect your output for the day, which has a knock on effect against the next. That’s why having accountability and communication systems in place for immediate briefings can be so important, and why software to help plan manufacturing optimizations will often include it.
With this advice, we hope you can feel more confident avoiding manufacturing downtime.
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Haider Khalid
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