If you are responsible for some or all of a manufacturing operation, you know metrics are important in determining if you are running at peak efficiency.
The introduction of automation to a packaging production line can have a substantial (positive) impact both of output and labor costs. A measure that should be part of your labor review is line realization.
A percent calculation of the following:
Units per hour at which the line is set to run
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(Divided by)
Actual units run per hour
=Line Realization
The following is an example:
A line is set to run at 10 units per minute.
Our goal here is to achieve a pre-determined realization target which varies according to the line. Typically, the general aim is to strive for 70% to 75% (due to roll changes, expected downtime, etc.). If you are above 75%, consider this far into the Green.
Improving the realization percentage has real and tangible benefits.
Some examples of these are:
This is a percent calculation of total labor expense divided by total revenue.
Rather than focusing on a line, this focuses on the total operation. Labor expense includes all production labor as well as all support labor (supervisors, maintenance, dock workers, etc.). Anything that would reduce the number of people required or increase the efficiency of an individual would reduce the labor cost while the revenue would remain constant.
As you can see, keeping track of these two measures on a daily basis and working on methods to increase production efficiencies will lead to improvements to your bottom line. Please contact us to discuss ways we could improve profits on your packaging lines!
Understand how Automation can affect your line with this easy to apply chart!