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First of all, congratulations on making it this far! While 2020 did its darnedest, here we are! That is most definitely something to celebrate and a great reason to give thanks.
Here's another reason: despite all the obstacles 2020 has thrown at every industry, your team has risen to the challenge. Ironically, some of the great things you've all accomplished have been because of the unique challenges of the past year.
If your industry is manufacturing or production related, which I surely hope it is, you and your team have even more reasons to stand a little taller. You've all had to do more, often with less. No phoning it in this year. Oh, wait. Yeah, you did have to phone it in when only 'essential' personnel were allowed in the building. That hurt, huh?
2020 Made Shop Floor Management Software More Than A Want
What does this have to do with Shop Floor Software? I'm so glad you asked! It seems you've become even more wise over the course of 2020. You've learned a few lessons and even some cool things, about your teams and about yourself as a leader. It's always an eye opener when you learn something new that you didn't even know you didn't know. Surprisingly, that along with the whole not being essential thing, has made you a better leader.
You've come to realize that daily interaction with Shop Floor Software is essential to the success of your business. There's that word again: essential. Whatever you call it, Shop Floor Software, Shop Production Software, or Shop floor Management Software, what you need from it is the same. As are the reasons you're looking for the solution most ideally suited to your situation . Nothing but the best for your team! The realities of 2020 have brought this truth home to roost: you can't be everywhere at the same time. You can't work remotely, whether that's from Chez Casa or your office island, and be physically present on the shop floor at the same time. You have to be able to immediately assess performance, at a glance, and so must your team. The show must go on: It has never been more apparent that you must be able to gauge how your teams are doing even when you can't see them in person.
5 Essentials of Shop Floor Software in 2021
You need a Shop Floor Software that tells you where potential hold ups may occur. Does your team have the materials and tools to perform their jobs? Will your finished goods be ready to ship on time? Do you have the right people where they need to be, fully trained so everything keeps running? Do you have the right number of people, today, tomorrow, next week, and next month? This is where the rubber meets the road, so make sure your Shop Floor Software addresses these five essentials:
- Does your team have the necessary raw materials, sub-assemblies, and tools to perform their jobs?
- Track spare parts consumption, costs, and trends
- Satisfy calibration dates and requirements for calibration performed both inside and outside your facility
- Connect all people and processes digitally (without paper)
- Capture and record material shortages and trends
- (If we've learned anything from 2020, it's how vital our supply chains are)
- Will your finished goods be ready to ship on time?
- Satisfy customer delivery requirements
- Notification and escalation of all concerns and victories.
- Avoid expedited freight charges
- Are you turning goods at your targeted rate?
- Do you have the right people in the right places?
- Are they fully trained in the skills for that area, line, machine to keep everything running
- Do you have enough skilled people to train others
- Can you provide evidence of satisfactorily completing training?
- Complete history of documentation, including dates
- Work forces are in flux like never before
- Do you have enough people?
- Today, tomorrow, next week, next month, over the next six months
- Can work and checks be monitored and performed remotely?
- Does your team have immediate access to checklists and necessary documents?
- Can people be moved when shortages arise?
- Can you plan and monitor production events in real time?
- Know at a glance if you're on schedule, ahead, or behind
- Are you trending in the right direction
- Are you hitting your targets
- Are you building good product
- Actual throughput number of good parts
- Reject, defect, scrap, rework quantities
- Easily monitor and display all production metrics
- OA, OEE, PPM, Downtime
- Ensure correct product and product orders are being run
- Schedule and deliver reports directly to your inbox on a regular basis. Include all the people who need to be kept apprised: your shop floor leaders, your boss, accounting, your internal customers and internal suppliers.
How Shop floor Management Software Will Enable Success in 2021
How does having the right Shop floor Management Software change everything, when it seems like everything has already changed? There was a time when a clipboard and some mimeographed pages were enough for you to keep it all together. Throw in a white board or two, and you were set.
Sure, you could still do that. Or, you can embrace the technology that allows for much easier input of information. Your Shop Production Software should make it a snap for everyone to input data related to the work they're performing, not just you. How many times during 2020 did you wish you could ditch that clipboard? It's hard to hold up your clipboard and share a spreadsheet with folks who are in a different building, or a different city entirely.
What we're all after is to make operations management easier, even with the need to work remotely. And not just easier. Safer, too. People in separate locations, different departments, and across various shifts have been able to share and analyze data. Without having to meet face to face, as much of this has been accomplished remotely. Talk about successfully social distancing.
L2L provides this remote management capability. It makes it easy and convenient to demonstrate and share progress and results. Easy to grasp visual charts that readily convey the state of your shop floor. Yes, we have experienced unprecedented changes in the manufacturing space, and your Shop Floor Production Management Software needs to be up to the task.
No one can predict how manufacturing practices will continue to change and evolve going forward. At the risk of sounding cliche, 2020 has hit us upside the head, driving home the need for effective and timely communication. A lesson that continues to hit home is that the only constant in this life is change. Make sure your Shop Floor Software is flexible and adapts to your needs, rather than expecting you to work around it. Your software solution should lead that charge and not expect you to ferret out additional software. With L2L on your side and in your shop, that's one less thing to worry about. And for that, we can all be thankful. #GiveThanks
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