Waste Not, Want Not

Minimizing waste in manufacturing

Manufacturing produces all the valuable goods we need on a daily basis. It also produces a lot of waste, including toxic and hazardous materials. There’s waste of raw materials, waste made in production, packaging waste, and waste from unused inventory or excess production. Tangible things aren’t the only waste. Inefficient or poorly planned processes waste time and effort, hindering productivity. It all adds to lost revenue and environmental damage. Nobody wants it. They want to be more like Subaru, whose Indiana plant last sent waste to a local landfill 20 years ago. So, how do manufacturers minimize waste? Here are some changes that make a major difference.

Set Goals

To implement meaningful and effective waste reduction strategies, manufacturers need to have a plan. The plan needs to have quantifiable goals, with deadlines for key targets. Without those, you’re just sort of hoping things improve without taking the steps necessary to make sure they do. Patagonia, long a standard bearer for sustainability, continually pushes itself to get better. The clothing manufacturer vows to eliminate virgin petroleum material from its products and have its packaging be reusable, home compostable, renewable, or easily recyclable by 2025.  A vague goal to reduce waste isn’t worth much. How much are you going to reduce waste by? What areas will you focus on?

Conduct an Audit

Manufacturers might not have ready answers to those questions, which is why an audit can be crucial to reducing waste. An audit will identify major sources of waste and reveal ways to reduce it. Outside auditors like Keter Environmental Services specialize in this sort of operation and can measure environmental impact and process efficiency. Commission an external audit and follow through on recommendations, and manufacturers can earn coveted green certifications that stand out to prospective customers.

Inventory Control

Effective inventory management means having enough materials on hand when you need them but not too much that you end up throwing them out, spending money on storing them, or unloading them for less than what you paid. It’s a delicate balancing act because manufacturers don’t want to get caught waiting on shipments when they need to ramp up production. With more than 1,000 vendors across 50-plus countries, Ikea has a lot to keep track of. It uses separate facilities for high- and low-flow inventory, with high-flow warehouses run mostly through automation and low-flow facilities largely run by hand.  Each of its more than 450 stores worldwide is restocked every night based on the day’s sales, ensuring neither too much nor too little of a product is on hand. Managing inventory begins with accurate demand and production forecasting. ERP and MRP software like that offered by Deskera and Katana can help keep track of inventory no matter how large or spread out operations are.

Process Optimization

Striving for continuous improvement, manufacturers can reassess the way warehouses and shop floors are run. Processes you run over and over again can be optimized so they use the least amount of time, labor, and materials possible. Six Sigma and Lean training and certification can drastically improve efficiency. A quarter-century ago, Samsung began using the Lean Six Sigma technique and soon became one of the world’s biggest manufacturers. It employs the five key steps: define, measure, analyze, improve, and control to eliminate waste and defects from its products. Within three years of adopting the method, Samsung slashed defects by 50% and increased net income by $2.2 billion. The waste reductions and subsequent profit increases allowed Samsung to enter new markets. It went from unknown in the U.S. to making more than a third of its revenue here.

Reduce Packaging

Packaging is a major source of waste for many manufacturers. In a way, that’s good, because it’s low-hanging fruit that offers a quick way to reduce waste. Some easy solutions like ordering in bulk and using recycled packaging can make a big difference in a manufacturers’ waste generation. Every Accurate Box is 100% recyclable, and 70% of its boxes contain recycled material. The company even uses vegetable-based inks for labeling. An efficient redesign can cut down on the amount of plastic, cardboard, and other materials used in the packaging process. Apple, for example, redesigned iPhone packaging to allow for a smaller box, a move that has literally saved billions over the years.

Automation & Preventative Maintenance

Automated machines bring down labor costs by streamlining menial processes and freeing up human workers to perform more complex tasks. One of Gap Inc.’s highly automated facilities can process 1 million items of clothing each day. This also gives those humans time to dream up innovations that can boost productivity even more. Programs ensure these automated machines run as smoothly and efficiently as possible, performing repetitive motions for hours on end that could injure and flat out bore humans. Another beautiful aspect is that these machines can run reports on themselves and send out alerts when they’re experiencing wear and tear. This allows preventative maintenance that can happen on a schedule rather than shutting down production at the worst possible time. After installing vibration sensors and incorporating other preventative maintenance solutions, Frito-Lay’s Fayetteville, Tenn., plant saw immediate reductions in unplanned downtime. Vibration readings spotted a combustion motor blower on the verge of failure that could have shut down an entire department were it not caught beforehand. Ultrasound analysis caught a quill that needed replacing before it shut down another. For a plant handling 150 million pounds of product annually, the savings add up in a hurry.