If you’re a regular reader of this blog (and we hope you are!), then you’ll know that our business is built around helping manufacturers maximize the throughput of their production lines by reducing the impact of slow or inefficient equipment. We’ve recently compiled our thinking on this topic into an eBook that walks you through […]
Category Archives: Lean
Are You Standing on a Burning Platform?
As the new year begins, it’s time to take stock of what went well in the past year and make plans for the next one. At some point, many companies look to the future and find that what got them here won’t get them there. In other words, doing more of the same won’t help […]
5 Tips to Jumpstart Your Lean Journey in 2020
Have you been planning to go lean for a while, but haven’t quite accomplished it? As the start of a new decade, 2020 is the perfect time to make the transition. Here are five things you can do to set your organization up for success. 1. Read a book Start the year off right by […]
Is Waiting Killing Your Throughput…and Your Bottom Line?
When you think about your production lines, do you have a vague sense that you could be producing more / better / faster, but aren’t sure exactly what’s standing in your way? This is common. We talk to many plant managers who know they should be getting more out of their lines, but aren’t sure […]
Common Production Constraints, Part 2: Food Packaging Lines
In the previous article, we identified the main places bottling lines get hung up during beverage processing. Here, we look 5 common constraints along food packaging lines. Wrappers/baggers Like with beverages, in food manufacturing, moving from the processing to packaging can be challenging. For example, we worked with a client that made bagels. The line […]
How Much Are Production Line Bottlenecks Costing You?
$3,552,000! I know that seems like a lot. But that’s how much profit one winery was missing out on before they took steps to reduce the impact of the bottleneck on their production line. We’ve performed our Garvey Line Analysis with hundreds of companies. And, while the results vary, we typically find that companies are […]
How to Find the Constraint in Your Production Line
Do you know what the bottleneck is in your manufacturing process? The limiting factor that’s keeping you from ramping up your production or sometimes even meeting your goals? This bottleneck is your constraint, and it should be your top priority because it’s setting the pace for the rest of your line. Until you increase the […]
Maximizing Thruput: Choose Your Constraint
Most people’s approach to increasing production is to “identify ” the constraint. I believe there is a better approach. My approach is to look at the process and decide “where” you want the constraint. Once you shift your perspective to this method, your approach becomes proactive as opposed to a reactive. In a proactive approach, […]
Maximizing Thruput: The Myth of Efficiency
Efficiency improvement feels like a good thing. I mean it makes sense, doesn’t it? If we can make something more efficient, it stands to reason that it should improve the process. Not always. I propose that in most cases increases in efficiency will be of little benefit, if any, to the overall process. In fact, […]