The Secret to Leading a Factory
A big part of that is always going to be leading it well - and as it happens, being a leader is the kind of thing that can take a lot of work and practice, as well as a great deal of patience. With that in mind, you may decide that you need to work at it if you are really going to make it work and to get the best possible results out of it too.
In this post, then, we are going to discuss some of the things you’ll want to focus on when it comes to leading any factory. As you will shortly see, this is a combination of balancing people, processes and making sure that everything is efficient. There is no one thing that will help - but a variety of problem-solving and strategic moves which are going to be helpful. Here are some core ideas to be getting on with for now.
Know The Floor Inside Out
A good factory manager knows the floor like the back of their hand. The more fully you know the factory floor, the more likely it is that you are going to be able to make it work for you and achieve the ends you need it to achieve. So with that in mind, you might be wondering what you can do to ensure that you are getting to know the floor as well as possible. A good factory leader will spend a good deal of time on the floor, getting to understand how it all works, the workflows and operations, and they will also listen to operators within those processes.
Although data can give you a cold, hard look at things, first-hand observation has a way of telling you what is really happening under the hood, so to speak, so this is something that you really can’t beat. It’s therefore wise to spend as much time as necessary, especially to start with and at regular intervals thereafter, on the shop floor. This is true of a new factory you have just built or one that you have come in to run.
Put People Over Machines
This is not to say that you will not need machines - of course you will. But you need to make sure that you are putting people over machines in whatever way you can, as that is always going to be more important. Essentially what we are saying is that people are the ones who really make or break production, so it’s much better to invest in training for them and trying to get them to engage more, than it is to improve the machines that they are working with.
A big part of this too is to ensure that you are making them feel heard, so that you can keep morale as high as possible. This means higher productivity, and it ensures that you are going to be doing your part towards leading the factory that much more effectively on the whole. So with that in mind, you may want to consider what you are going to do when it comes to trying to put people over machines, and considering what is really important to you.
Improving Efficiency While Avoiding Burnout
This is something of a balancing act that a lot of people find quite tricky, and it’s going to mean that you are much more likely to be able to keep your factory being run successfully if you approach it in the right way. Improving efficiency is always possible, and it’s the kind of thing that you are certainly going to find useful to do in some way or another. Of course, it’s also likely that you are going to have to think about how you can avoid burnout, because you can’t simply keep on pushing things more and more and expecting everyone to be okay with it. You have to respect your people, your machines and the whole process and ensure that you are not doing anything to burn anyone out.
What this means is you need to focus on sustainable improvements, as these are always going to beat short-term gains in the end. This means that you are going to have a much better chance of having high turnover and avoiding any mistakes that you might otherwise come into. So it’s a balancing act, but one that is really worth thinking about if you want to ensure your factory is being run as well as possible.
Standardisation
There is much to be said for trying to standardise things as much as possible. Standard operating procedures, or SOPs as they are sometimes known, can help to keep things running smoothly, and they can be a really useful way to make sure that you are keeping your factory moving in the right direction. It can be as simple and small as making sure you are using Lily Bearing parts, or that you have the same machines for a particular job across the factory. When you have a standard approach, it improves efficiency and makes everything easier for everyone, so it really is worth thinking about.
At the same time, you should try to avoid following processes too rigidly. In general, a too rigid process is actually going to be bad for innovation, so it’s something that you really need to make sure you are thinking about. Again, as with a lot of these things, it’s about balance, and if you can find that balance you should find that it is going to help you out a lot. A good leader knows when to enforce rules and when to adapt or break them, so this is something that you might want to try out yourself.
Solving Problems Early On
There are always going to be a lot of problems that you need to be aware of and you need to try and fix as smoothly as you can. The truth is that solving these problems early on is always going to be a good bet, as that way you can ensure that you are going to have a much easier thing to deal with. It’s when you leave it to get worse that it becomes a real difficulty, in the end. So with that in mind, you might want to start thinking about how you can fix problems at the root, rather than just fixing the symptoms.
This might be simpler than you think, but it’s largely something that takes practice and you might find it requires the adoption of a new way of thinking and working for you. Getting to the real cause of breakdowns and defects can also seem to take a while at first, until you are used to this way of working. But in the end, it is actually going to be a lot better, and you’ll find that you are much more likely to actually solve problems effectively and with ease.
This is therefore the kind of thing that you should certainly be aware of if you are trying to lead your factory with as much success as possible.
Using Tech As A Tool
It’s important to remember that the tech you use is a tool, not a shortcut. That means that you can use automation and AI to boost productivity, but you should not be relying on them to do the hard work. Instead, making use of them in an integrative way is always going to be your best bet, and you will find that this is going to be a much better approach on the whole. It should mean that you are able to really help your factory to improve in a way that is real and is going to make a considerable difference, so that’s the kind of thing you should certainly be aware of.
So make sure that you are using tech in this kind of way if you really want to make enough of a difference. You’ll find it really helps and that you are going to be so much more likely to keep your processes moving in the right direction as well.
Safety First
This might sound obvious, but you really do need to make sure that you are putting safety first at all times. This is the kind of thing that you simply can’t afford to overlook, because you have both a serious moral and legal duty to ensure that you are taking care of your staff as well as you can. With that in mind, you should find that you are going to have a much better approach and that you are keeping everyone much safer. It’s never good to cut corners on safety in the end, as this is going to be worse off overall.
The best factories are genuinely those that prioritise safety, so you should make sure that you are doing this if you want to keep your factory working in the way you would hope. A good safety culture is absolutely essential if you want your people to be happy and your factory to be productive.
Those are just some of the main things to bear in mind when it comes to running a factory if you want to ensure it is being run as effectively as possible.