Manufacturers in the United States account for a reported 11.39% of the total output in the economy. Therefore, this industry is undoubtedly essential, producing vital goods necessary in aspects of everyday life. Manufacturing managers are at the heart of these companies’ operations, tasked with continuously improving efficiency in production and several other processes.
Companies typically expect these managers to achieve this with limited resources, so manufacturing managers must always find new and better ways of doing things to succeed at their job. As a new manager, achieving this is easier said than done but luckily, we’re here to help with some insightful tips. Below are specific tips to help you as a new manufacturing manager.
Prioritize operational efficiency.
Irrespective of your company’s size, operational efficiency, reduced costs, and maximum productivity are key outputs that you’re expected to deliver as a manufacturing manager. As such, it would help to continually be on the lookout for ways to improve the manufacturing process. Achieving this level of efficiency requires a thorough evaluation of your current workflow’s labor, processes, and equipment.
This way, you can quickly eliminate bottlenecks and find areas that need improvement to make your entire operations more efficient. Therefore, your company benefits from increased efficiency, from production to distribution. A consulting agency’s services can be invaluable in obtaining vital insights concerning how to achieve this efficiency. Experienced consulting firms such as Incito can help with this need.
Incito is a global professional services firm that specializes in strategic enterprise transformations. Their Value Stream Mapping (VSM) consulting creates a visual tool that maps every action required to deliver products and services to final consumers. This value stream map factors in every layer of your organization, streamlining processes at each level leading to your company’s overall efficiency.
Besides improving your workflow, VSM allows for continuous improvement of processes and sustenance of this Value Stream Improvement. What’s more, Incito has extensive experience working with some of the world’s leading brands and promising startups, helping organizations to improve efficiency through practical and actionable ideas.
Focus on quality.
Ensuring that your manufactured products are of the highest quality is also essential to your manufacturing manager role. As a new manager, emphasize the need for quality standards from product development to distribution and even customer service. Focusing on quality takes time, energy, and commitment, but many experts agree that it’s better to uphold high quality than suffer low-quality costs.
Lowered productivity, wasted time, materials, and efforts are the internal costs of poor quality. When these low-quality goods reach clients, the external costs may include product liability claims, lost revenue, loss of reputation and customer goodwill, and even dwindling market share. Quality is central to your operations, and many successful manufacturers are proof of quality’s importance in the manufacturing industry. Reputable manufacturers such as Makers Nutrition are great examples of quality in the industry.
Makers Nutrition are expert softgel manufacturers that give clients the chance to create their unique dietary supplements. Clients can specify their custom softgels size, color, shape, and coating. The encapsulation can be transparent, tinted, or opaque, and the supplements can be scented to mask strong ingredient odors like fish oils and other Omega-3 products. Softgels hold nutritional formula in liquid form, making them easy to swallow and ideal for formulas that must be absorbed in the small intestine. Maker‚Äôs Nutrition prioritizes high quality at every stage of their supplements‚Äô custom formulation. From facility to techniques, there’s tight quality control to ensure that their softgels have pharmaceutical-grade quality.
Always promote professionalism.
Another essential tip that new manufacturing managers can use in their work is maintaining high professional standards always. Essentially, you’re an organizational leader, irrespective of your company’s size. As such, you’ll need to display strong and effective leadership by setting a professional example for subordinates.
Companies that promote a culture of professionalism can inspire employees to deliver their best to move the company forward. Encouraging employees to limit discussion of personal events is a great start to maintaining on-the-job professionalism.
Also, “looking the part” is always crucial for an organizational leader intent on promoting professionalism. Wearing quality and appropriate work clothes is key here, and brands such as WHBM can help with this need. WBHM offers appropriate work clothes for women ranging from pencil skirts to blazers, assisting clients to maintain their much needed professional looks necessary in modern workplaces.
Listen to your employees.
The U.S loses about $11 billion yearly due to employee turnover, indicating how many employees feel undervalued in workplaces nationwide. Workers are essential to all companies’ operations across every industry, so leaders can benefit from a close connection with their subordinates. Many managerial concerns stem from misunderstanding or ignorance that can quickly be eliminated by grasping your business’s human aspect.
Employees are people, just like you, with their opinions, concerns, fears, and hopes. As such, new managers can quickly learn about their employees by listening to everything they discuss, whether or not it’s work-related. Also, maintain an open-door policy to show how willing you’re to learn about their concerns. This way, you can quickly win them over and better understand them because the information you gather can be instrumental in positioning you as a better manager.
Provide workers with ample training opportunities.
Employee empowerment is a widespread tactic employed by managers across many industries to better their organizations. Employees presented with sufficient learning and growth opportunities become more valuable to their companies. With the baby boomer demographic primed for retirement, your younger and newer employees must be presented with clear career development paths to keep them around.
Also, training your employees improves efficiency in the long-term and saves the business time and money. Empowered workers are more proactive, make the right decisions independently, and are less likely to make costly errors.
In conclusion, the manufacturing manager position comes with many demands that necessitate constant learning and improvement to deliver the best results. New manufacturing managers can rely on the above-listed points and several other helpful strategies to help them deliver much-desired results of efficiency and cost reduction.