It’s the age-old question: How can you make your shop more productive? There’s a decent chance this question has kept you up for more than a few nights. While every shop and company is unique and requires specific considerations, there are a few simple ideas that might help point you in the right direction. It’s easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees. Consider categorizing your ideas into the following areas the next time you examine your shop’s productivity.

Reevaluate Machining Processes and Workflow

This might be the easiest connection to make to your shop’s productivity. The more efficient your workflow is, and the better detailed the processes that inform them are, the more productive your shop will ultimately be. But how can you amp these up?

In general, reanalyzing your processes should be a regular occurrence. Whether that’s weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly. Lift up the hood and poke around. What can be streamlined or taken out? What can you improve or add to your processes? Are there any processes that are just simply missing?

Reevaluating your processes gives way to improving the overall workflow of your shop. When examining your workflow, consider processes, but also your human capital, technologies and tools and even your communications system. Whatever systems run into your workflow.

Invest in Machine Shop Staff

Even with the best processes in place, and the most efficient workflow you can manage, you still need to ensure your workforce is keeping up. All of the revaluation and re-implementation won’t mean a thing unless your employees are keyed in. Just as you should regularly update your processes, so, too, should you retrain your staff.

This may go even further than company updates. Machine shop technology and tools are constantly evolving. You should never assume that your employees will take it upon themselves to learn new tech or tools. Invest in consistently re-educating and retraining your staff. It may take them of the floor for a short time, but it’s sure to be worth it in the long run.

Maintain and Replace Machine Shop Tools

Good, reliable tools are the backbone of any machine shop. Maintaining  or replacing your machine shop tools is crucial for your shop’s overall productivity. The best way to manage your tools and machinery is to be proactive. Don’t wait for something to break. That’s a surefire way to bring your production to a crashing halt.

This might mean investing in a higher caliber tool. It may cost more upfront, but will most likely last longer without problems. Another way you can maintain your tools is by training your operators to repair and troubleshoot their own machines. This intimate knowledge could help diminish downtime on the floor and save time and money.

Build a More Productive Shop with Custom Tool

No matter how you want to make your shop more productive, start with the right tools for the job. At Custom Tool, we do exactly what our name says. We ensure you have to perfect tools to get your job done as efficiently as possible. Request a quote today.