Waste can strangle a manufacturing business. It’s that simple. Companies with higher rates of waste, rework, and scrap are hurting themselves and their customers. The costs of this have to either be borne by the business or passed onto customers. Either of these is unacceptable and therefore prudent managers and executives must constantly be vigilant, hunting waste and inefficiency wherever they may hide.

There are many tools that have been created over the last century and a half meant to help address this issue. Lean, Six Sigma, and a host of other powerful frameworks and tools are certainly good at this. However, these are well known and used by most everyone. So while they are necessary, they are not sufficient. To stay on the cutting edge of manufacturing efficiency and pass as much value as possible along to customers at as little price as possible, supervisors should supplement these tools with tips and tricks picked up in the industry and on the job experience. Only then can you constantly excel and perform at the level your customers both demand and expect.

1. Create an Efficient Culture.

There are important points to be made about team efficiency. It is deeper than just teaching employees the latest techniques and making sure they are not wasting excess materials during production. It requires a culture where everyone is bought into excellence and empowered to make the decisions necessary to achieve that. Employees need to feel respected and recognized for their contributions. The most dangerous, harmful waste is that which you never see. Bottlenecks and inefficiencies on the line can harm the process elsewhere, leading to increased stress – and therefore scrap and losses. If line workers are empowered to make suggestions and improve their own processes, or at least work with management as they do, they are much likelier to value and take pride in their work. This sort of culture shakes workers out of their complacency and helps get them to be active partners in finding ways to improve things.

2. Documentation and Training.

There is more to documentation than just knowing where everything is at every moment. This is also needed, but not sufficient. Documenting processes properly means everyone knows exactly what their role is and exactly how they are supposed to handle every situation. This necessarily reduces redundant work and duplicates. In addition to this, when employees fully understand the process, they are better able to perform their jobs. Inherent is documentation is also a margin of error and tolerances. Managers should not underestimate the potential scrap and waste from employees misunderstanding what is acceptable and what is not. With extensive documentation and training, employees will understand this and be able to pass everything within that range.

3. Use of Cutting Edge Technology

It goes without saying that technology can reduce waste and improve your processes. However, some do not realize just how effective some new technologies can be. To take one specific example, photochemical etching is a great method of reducing scrap and waste. Consider templates. Physical templates can be a huge source of waste. The more custom a manufacturing process is, the greater this waste can become. With photochemical etching, works-in-process can have templates superimposed and can be scored and marked for workers. With the lack of a physical template, there is no waste material after the process is finished. If the template changes, highly customizable photochemical etching is more adaptable to this than a physical template. These tools can also be more efficient than traditional etching tools. With greater precision and less errors, scrap rates naturally fall.

An integrated approach to efficiency is no longer a luxury. Companies need this in order to stay competitive and meet customer expectations. Those that just use the frameworks and tools everyone else is will not be able to distinguish themselves. Beyond this, who wants to work for a company that isn’t at the cutting edge of their field? It is great for employee morale, not to mention fun, to create the sort of environment that is always challenging the status quo, always working to improve things. These are the sorts of companies that top talent is drawn to. Reducing scrap is so much more than just less waste on the factory floor.