When you think of a doing something “like a boss”, words like – confident, swagger, authority, cool, finesse, amazing – come to mind. Those words apply to manufacturers who are killin’ it day in and day out.
Manufacturing like a boss means you master key transactions, you know your costs with accurate precision, you price competitively, you quote jobs correctly quickly and you reduce risk by knowing instead of guessing.
How do you become a “boss” in manufacturing? Get back to basics and master these 13 to do’s:
- Prepare to win. Manufacturing can be won or lost in how prepared your company is, not just a person.
- Have accurate bills and routers. Without accuracy, lead times will be incorrect, resulting in materials being ordered at wrong times, and an overstock of inventory or expedited fees to get product in.
- Set realistic due dates. Plan your work orders correctly to set yourself up for success.
- Correct cost and conversion factors. You should know the cost of a PO at any given time.
- Have timely PO receipts. When you enter the PO receipt on time, traceability of any material needed to complete the PO will not be lost.
- Issue material on time. Controlling your inventory is one of the most important components in manufacturing.
- Watch your cycle count adjustments. The more cycle count adjustments made, the less inventory control there will be.
- Finish your jobs. If you’re not closing out jobs correctly, materials will continue to be issued out leading to incorrect demand.
- Have a plan. Inspect your inventory and products as you go instead of at the end.
- Track labor and perform daily balancing. It’s better to find labor mistakes as soon as they happen so the cost is corrected immediately. Don’t wait until it’s too late.
- Close work orders on time. It will save you time, money, and a major headache when it comes to parts being cycled in and out because you forgot to close out a work order.
- Compare estimates to actuals. Having something to base costing on is important because you don’t have a way to know if your cost is correct without a baseline being established.
- Stop guessing and start knowing. Know your costs with accurate precision instead of guessing at what it really costs to get a part out the door.
Don’t work harder for the same results because you’ve lost focus. Instead, read the full list and how to accomplish each by downloading the 13 To Do’s to Manufacture Like A Boss whitepaper.