Manufacturing measurements are the backbone of all that you do. You are counting on your measurements to be correct because they guide everything from the machines that you use to the raw materials that are fed into the system. Take a look at the options listed below to learn what happens when your measurements are off. You can handle quality control easily when you are looking for these four tell-tale signs, and if you find anything is wrong you must make an immediate change to the way that your system is set up.
Machine Fatigue
When your machines are fatiguing at a high rate, you know that there is a problem in your measurements. Your measurements should allow for your machines to last much longer than normal, and you must find a system that adds life to each machine. When you use too many raw materials, it is impossible for your machines to keep up. When your machines are running below capacity, you will find that they are slowly burning out because they are using too much energy to do too little. There is a happy medium that you need to consider that will help your machines last longer.
Poor Quality
When you get a poor quality product at the end of the line, you know that your measurements are not right. You must consider how the machines are set up and how much material you are using each time you start the manufacturing process. It is very easy for you to set up the system to use the exact amount of materials that you need, or you can change how your machines run so that you do not lose any energy in the process.
Poor quality can show itself in many different places. If you make shoes, you might have soles that look good but padding that looks wrong. You might have shoelaces that are not wound tightly, or you could have irregular punches for shoelaces holes. These little things all add up to create poor quality. Somewhere along the line, your measurements were not done correctly.
Product Waste
You may have quite a lot of waste during the manufacturing process itself. If you are losing raw materials during manufacturing, you are likely off on your measurements. You might be using to much of the materials that you need to complete manufacturing, or your machines are running at the wrong speed. Because of this, you need to ensure that you have changed your settings until you are no wasting so much everything time you start the process. Plus, you need to ensure that you are consistently adjusting for the weather and atmospheric conditions because these things could cause your manufacturing results to shift.
How Long Are You Running Your Machines?
If you suddenly need to run your machines for longer periods of time, you have missed something in your measurements. You must ensure that you have chosen the appropriate amount of materials and machine speed so that you can run your machines during business hours without running them longer or shorter. Most people who miss on their measurements need to suddenly run their machines longer, lose materials, and are waiting until long after business hours to finish off their work. This is one of the main causes of profit loss in a business because you need to pay your staff more money, the staff gets tired of staying after-hours, and you typically lose money because it costs a lot of money just to run your machines in the first place.
Conclusion
The way that you run your manufacturing business will impact how much money you make, how you manage your machines, and how you control quality. You need to take measurements at every step of the process to ensure that your machines run at the right speed, are using the right materials, and are not wasting any of your materials. When you are checking quality, you can see the results of a properly-configured system. If your system is not configured in the right way, you will see where your missed on your measurements. You owe it to yourself and your staff to get these thinks right the first time.