Ways to Reduce Product Manufacturing Defects

product defects

Manufacturing conglomerates and production managers understand the importance of streamlining the manufacturing process while keeping the rate of product defects as low as possible. High rates of product defects result in financial losses, hinder manufacturing until issues are resolved, and might cost you additional time to fix, recycle, or discard the product. For this reason, business owners and managers monitor the steps of production closely enough to quickly resolve problems that might arise. By reducing product manufacturing defects to a minimum, productivity and profits improve significantly.

We have collected some proven ways you can implement to streamline your workflow and lower down product defect rates. 

Quality Management

The first step to take when working on reducing production rates by reviewing your quality management policy. If you find any discrepancies that could be the cause, try resolving them with the help of your team. Furthermore, ensure that the policy is being implemented without any error. In a scenario in which you are unable to find anything, try a holistic approach and review accordingly. This includes checking with raw material suppliers, outsourcing agents, and ensuring that the quality is being maintained. 

Positive Work Environment

Create an encouraging work environment that would allow employees to work with increased efficiency. Regardless of the employment status, ensure everyone who is working for your business is treated well enough. Give special importance to minimum wage workers as they are the wheels of a production line. Under normal circumstances, pleasantly approach your employees. Visiting each workstation once in a while can also help in resolving work-related issues that could be the cause of production defects. Unfortunately, there might even be problems within your management team as in a corporate setup, there is workplace jealousy that can affect manufacturing. Employees that have been waiting for a long time for promotion might be the cause. In a case like this, call a meeting, discuss the problem, and resolve it to make things better.

Find Solutions

Analyze the type of product defect you are encountering. Most of the time, it’s not the product but the packaging that could be the issue. Sometimes it’s the printing that is the culprit. In these situations, Industrial printing experts at Baldwin Vision Systems suggest reviewing your manufacturing process and implementing standards that should be followed to rectify the problem. Several companies are offering industrial automation, print process automation, and related services out in the market. So try to research and review the services and go for the one that you feel is comfortable working with. 

Analyze the Manufacturing Process

There are a lot of different ways through which the same product can be made. Identify the process your team is following and find an alternative that might decrease the production defects. After you have re-evaluated the process, set a standard for production and ask everyone to comply with it. A proactive approach towards these issues will eventually help improve your business. If you notice a problem with the production line, review each step of the process very closely and make a list of problems that you feel should be corrected. 

Take Feedback

Irrespective of the employee status, take feedback and suggestions on the ways they think could boost the production and decrease the defect rate. Moreover, work on starting a suggestion program where employees can freely tell their opinion without hesitation. 

Handling everyday work-related issues also holds utmost importance. The problem can be directly relatable to the emp[loyee or connected to work. In either way, moving forward to find a resolution will work best. Try dealing with employees according to their personality and gain their trust over time to clarify these problems. Once you have finalized your policy, follow the changes and tweak them a bit if necessary. For the problems that have been identified, design a roadmap that you would follow to adjust the actual work process. 

Keep Monitoring

When you are working on resolving product defects, re-visit the manufacturing steps if you have found any form of problem. Even after your issue is resolved, follow-up adequately, put up a plan and follow it for better results. Moreover, never give yourself false hope after seeing the product being run smoothly. Process inconsistencies can occur, so be prepared for the worst-case scenario. Making a separate file of the changes made in the policy, production process, and the way orders are executed will help. Making a file facilitates the process of understanding the specific changes in a clear manner.

product manufacturing defects

These were our ways that you could follow to mitigate defects in manufacturing. It is indeed difficult to handle everything on your own. So be sure to gain support for your team and execute it with little to no complications.