The importance of shop floor communication

1. The importance of shop floor communication Whether it’s exchanging job details, updating customers on job progress or teaching a graduate how to complete a task, shop floor communication in the manufacturing industry is essential. If you want high productivity and minimal delays, it’s necessary you achieve effective communication throughout the workplace. Due to the current circumstances with COVID-19 and the increase of remote working, communication is harder now, than ever before. With office staff likely to be working from home, shop floor staff should be aware of their upcoming jobs without any communication barriers. Shop floor communication issues Paper-based systems are popular amongst SMEs and start-ups. These systems are incredibly efficient at first. However, as the organisation grows, these systems can become ineffective. As you hire more staff, win more work, buy more machines and have more jobs running each day, it’s more than likely that paperwork will become lost or you will struggle to stay on top of things. And then there’s verbal communication. You’ll know how noisy the shop floor can be. When you’re discussing jobs it can be easy to misinterpret the message and take a wrong step resulting in scrap and rework as a result of difficulty hearing. Registered in England, Registered Office 32 Derby Street, Ormskirk, Lancashire, L39 2B7, Trading Office: Fitfactory Technology Ltd., Innovation Centre, Sci-Tech Daresbury, Keckwick Lane, Daresbury, Cheshire, WA4 4FS Tel: 03301 200050 Reg No 05772975 VAT No. 768 8110 01

2. It may be likely you’ll experience communication issues due to the situation with COVID-19. With restrictions in place around the workplace you may face difficulties. Maintaining a safe distance can be challenging especially when communicating verbally on the shop floor with high noise levels. How you might try to improve communications You will know about spreadsheets and have more than likely used them at some point. Spreadsheets are flexible and fairly simple to use once you have some experience using them. They are commonly used by manufacturing companies, particularly SMEs and start-ups. They tend to collect their data using a paper- based system and input this into an Excel spreadsheet. But, spreadsheets are equally flawed too. In recent news, spreadsheets have caused nearly 16,000 coronavirus cases to go unreported in England due to missing data. This happened as a result of using an old file format which restricted the number of rows that could be used. What can you do about it? Using digital platforms such as MRP systems can tie together your whole organisation through one system that connects senior management with production, sales, quality and the shop floor. When MRP systems are in conjunction with Shop Floor Data Capture (SFDC) and Production Planning it can improve communications. Shop Floor Data Capture If you already have a production system, then Shop Floor Data Capture is a useful extension to consider. Shop floor operatives can access valuable information such as work-to lists, job instructions and drawings through mobile devices or screens. Providing shop floor operatives with digital communication ensures clear and precise information is communicated effectively. With no need to worry about information being misinterpreted from verbal communication. Having the ability to log on and off jobs in real-time enables live WIP tracking. The information that is captured on SFDC is visible on your production system so production managers can access real-time data and make informed decisions. SFDC also creates a full audit trail of who did what, when and for how long. The information gathered from this can improve production times. Registered in England, Registered Office 32 Derby Street, Ormskirk, Lancashire, L39 2B7, Trading Office: Fitfactory Technology Ltd., Innovation Centre, Sci-Tech Daresbury, Keckwick Lane, Daresbury, Cheshire, WA4 4FS Tel: 03301 200050 Reg No 05772975 VAT No. 768 8110 01

3. Shop Floor Data Capture (SFDC) showing the adding of data record for planned machine maintenance. Production Planning When looking for a MRP/ERP system, it’s common for organisations to also look for production planning software. Planning software can assist with planning jobs according to live capacity availability. This can enhance resources and plan production to ensure cost targets and delivery efficiencies are achieved. In combination with SFDC, workshop planning enables you to view the latest information from the shop floor. The system looks at the jobs you have to do and the resources available to do them. It then allocates jobs to the available resources in the ideal pattern. The SFDC tool discovers data including actual start and finish times for each job and delays in jobs. Based on this information, the schedule can update accordingly. Why an MRP System is the best option So, hopefully you can already see some of the benefits of adopting this digital approach with an MRP System. But, as we consider some of the earlier problems, it becomes clearer. Firstly, this setup reduces the chance of miscommunication by minimizing the risk of human error when inputting data. As well as delivering information to shop floor operatives efficiently and accurately – without the need to yell. Registered in England, Registered Office 32 Derby Street, Ormskirk, Lancashire, L39 2B7, Trading Office: Fitfactory Technology Ltd., Innovation Centre, Sci-Tech Daresbury, Keckwick Lane, Daresbury, Cheshire, WA4 4FS Tel: 03301 200050 Reg No 05772975 VAT No. 768 8110 01

4. Secondly, as information is captured in real-time from the shop floor, you can improve customer satisfaction. Being able to update customers, if necessary, on their jobs progress is valuable to ensure they have the latest information. So, if some of these problems sound familiar to you, perhaps it’s time you considered an MRP system as a solution. At Fitfactory, we have been supporting manufactures across the UK improve their shop floor communication for over 30 years. For more information on how we can help, contact our team. Registered in England, Registered Office 32 Derby Street, Ormskirk, Lancashire, L39 2B7, Trading Office: Fitfactory Technology Ltd., Innovation Centre, Sci-Tech Daresbury, Keckwick Lane, Daresbury, Cheshire, WA4 4FS Tel: 03301 200050 Reg No 05772975 VAT No. 768 8110 01