SCDigest Editorial Staff
With all the focus on the improved flow of materials and goods in the overall supply chain and distribution centers, the impact of constricted material flow within manufacturing operations is too often overlooked.
SCDigest Says: |
One key obviously is to look hard to changes to material flow – and barriers that may be created later – any time changes to a plant are being considered, not just on solving the immediate production issue.
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“We’ve been hearing an increasing number of stories from companies that are suffering from material flow issues, or what we like to call “production logistics” problems,” said SCDigest editor Dan Gilmore.
For example, SCDigest recently spoke with one of the largest food manufacturers in the US, which described how in one plant, changes over time to production lines had led to highly inefficient material flow and that cumulatively had a significant impact on cost and productivity.
At the October meeting of the Georgia Tech Supply Chain Executive Forum, Danny Garst, Sr. VP of Supply Chain and IT at Philips Consumer Electronics, described how a Mexican factory the company owned was having similar issues. The interesting solution – help from its logistics outsource provider Ryder to better layout the factory and improve material flows, which had a major impact on improving efficiency.
Theses examples show there is often a gap between material handling and flow expertise, which is often prevalent in the distribution side of the business, and the knowledge and perspective of manufacturing managers.
Problems Creep Up Over Time
While there are sometimes issues with the initial factory layout, for many companies the problem tends to creep up over time, as changes are made in lines and equipment. With space often a constraint, additions and changes can be “shoe-horned” in, leading to real bottlenecks in material flow over time. |