5 Tips

To Achieve Operational

Excellence in Manufacturing

By MET Plastics Inc.

Investing in new technologies and equipment demonstrates a company's commitment to continually improve. New technologies expand capabilities and allow a company to attract its ideal customers.

MET Plastics is currently investing in automation technology for downstream assembly operations, additional molding machines to expand its cleanroom molding capabilities, and CNC milling machinery as well as EDM equipment.

Invest in New Technology & Equipment

1 5 Tips to Achieve Operational Excellence in Manufacturing

Employee relationships are pertinent to achieving operational excellence. Sharing performance goals with employees is a way for them to take an active part in continuous improvement activities. Foster those relationships by working as a team and leading by example.

MET Plastics emphasizes working as a team to achieve monthly goals. The goals are displayed on the shop floor and are updated daily to keep everyone motivated. Rewarding achievements shows that employee efforts are appreciated. Employees who feel their hard work is acknowledged are more likely to genuinely strive to maintain those goals.

Foster a Culture ofContinuous Improvement

2 5 Tips to Achieve Operational Excellence in Manufacturing

Learning from others in the industry is a smart way to achieve operational excellence. Adopt best practices from the leaders who have proven success implementing new and different ideas.

Through its involvement in MAPP (Manufacturers Association for Plastics Processors) and AMBA (American Mold Builders Association), MET Plastics has hosted and regularly attends plant tours to benchmark its operations with other injection molders and moldbuilders. MET also participates in industry surveys and uses the data to develop improvement opportunities in its own operation.

Benchmark Best Practices

3 5 Tips to Achieve Operational Excellence in Manufacturing

Even if a company is small, it cannot be managedsimply by email and phone calls. Keeping track ofinformation and accessibility to that information isespecially important for the manufacturingindustry.

MET Plastics focuses on lower volume, high mixprograms. With over 500 active parts and over2000BOMs to juggle, the IQMS ERP system is used toensure the continual delivery of high qualityproducts. The software is used to manage thematerial planning, production scheduling, anddelivery process. Using the software helps METachieve their 99.5%+ average on-time deliveryrating,despite the high complexity of their product mix.

Invest in a Superior (ERP) Enterprise Resource Planning System

4 5 Tips to Achieve Operational Excellence in Manufacturing

Not only will they get a voice within theorganization, management will receive valuablesuggestions for improvement from people withfirst-hand experience. Again, fostering a culture ofcontinuous improvement and emphasizing teamwork can lead to opportunities for improvement.

Part of MET's daily floor meeting often includes abrainstorm session with production team membersto determine what can be done to improve aprocess. Team members regularly makesuggestions to improve a process, whether it beprocess setting adjustments or changes to the flowof a product. One member recently suggestedcombining two operations into single operation,which has resulted in an annual time savings ofmore than 100 hours.

Encourage Employees to Make Suggestions

5 5 Tips to Achieve Operational Excellence in Manufacturing