Cost-Saving Tips For Manufacturers

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Manufacturing can be an expensive endeavour, no matter how big your company is. Whether you’re a fortune 500 or a start-up, you need to make sure that you’re streamlining each and every process, maximising your profits and saving money where you can. 

Over the new year of 2020, I’m sure that a lot of manufacturers will be looking at ways that they can cut costs while maintaining their high standard of quality. With that in mind, we’ve put together a few cost-saving tips for manufacturers in 2020. Take a look - some of them might work for you...

Plan Ahead:

Planning ahead seems like one of the simplest of things to do - most successful companies have a business plan, but often they allow it to become more of a guide. This is because new opportunities and technologies arise to make things easier, more efficient and sometimes cheaper too. 

With this in mind, make sure that you’re keeping your plan flexible and easy to mould. If not, you could be stuck in one continuous motion, rather than having an agile environment that could benefit your company and employees massively. 

READ: Is Rapid Prototyping the Future of Manufacturing?

Automation Where Possible:

Investing in some form of automation is one of the best things you can do in the manufacturing game. Without these, you might just be left in the dust, as your competitors push ahead with innovative ideas.

So, whether it’s a custom CRM or a ‘backend’ to control the workflow in your factories it’s worth looking to the possibilities. You may need something that offers a custom solution to your problems and so it might be costly for a start, but it will help to save money in the long run. 

Machine learning is a great way to keep things fresh too - this way, you can test different processes and remove the possibility of human error. This would allow for the development of new manufacturing processes and their evaluations in order to track their efficiency. These might come in the form of a robotic element, or even just software to keep things running.

READ: Tackling the Fears Surrounding Automation

Measure Material Costs:

Keeping track of all of your material costs is a great way to promote self-evaluation. Chances are that you’re already doing this because if not, you are playing with fire. But with these numbers, you’ll be able to look for new material suppliers to make sure that you’re getting the best price while maintaining the right standard of quality. 

Recycle When You Can:

Recycling where possible could save you a lot of money. If materials are able to keep their strength after their first use, you may be able to reuse the wastage on another product too. This would mean that any wastage from a product could go into making another, which would not only save you money but also allow for you to offer a more competitive rate as you’ll need fewer materials.

Upskilling Employees:

Keeping your employees up to date with the latest technology and techniques is an ideal way for a manufacturer to keep everything running smoothly and stay ahead of the curve. We try to make sure that with each new piece of tech or machinery that we bring onto the shop floor, we train our teams to work with those systems as efficiently as possible.

If we aren’t looking for improvements in our systems and employees, a manufacturer can never grow and expand their operations. What‘s more, if you’re sending your employees to a training course, they might even learn something extra and bring it to you as something you could implement yourself… it might be something that you haven’t thought of!

Lean Manufacturing:

READ: Lean Manufacturing - Effective Management System Or Corporate Cult?

Lean manufacturing is a methodology that revolves around the minimising of waste. At the same time, you will also be maximising your productivity to make sure that you’re getting the most out of your processes. 

This might mean that you have a small team and each one of those people can manage a number of processes at once. This would allow for fewer people on the shop floor at once, meaning that overheads like salaries are lower too. 

By introducing lean manufacturing to your workplace, you should be able to cut lead times, improve product quality and even lower operating costs for the company. 

Invest in New Technology:

Investing in new tech is a no-brainer really. If you’re trying to promote the growth of your business, you need to be open to new processes and tech that could streamline any and all parts of the company.

By investing in these technologies, you’ll save money in the long run because they might be able to save energy or produce a product in a shorter amount of time. So, you’d be able to take on more and more projects in order to make a better profit. 

New machinery is one of the best ways to stay on top of the industry because there is always something that could make you more efficient, save time on production, or even speed up processes. 

Get on Qimtek:

Getting in touch with trusted companies that offer quality manufacturing across the UK often means that you have to trawl through search results to find the right people. Through the Qimtek network, manufacturing buyers can find the right suppliers for their projects with none of the legwork. 

Qimtek is ideal for engineering suppliers too, as it makes it easy for people to contact you and creates a space that can house your company news and case studies to showcase your expertise. What’s more, fully-fledged Qimtek members are provided with a steady stream of live enquiries to quote, complete with buyer contact details and drawings.

Click here to use Qimtek's free Drag, Drag Source! service.

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Gareth Davies, DSM Stainless Steel Products 

DSM is a manufacturer of stainless steel worktops, sinks and much more. With over 60 years in the manufacturing industry, DSM has been able to stay up to date with the latest techniques and introduce new technologies to offer better services across the UK.

For more information, please visit www.dsmstainlessproducts.co.uk