A Guide for Assessing the Performance of Your Manufacturing Operation

摘要

More than ever productivity and quality are important to a successful manufacturing operation's performance. Most manufacturing operations no longer have the luxury of high margin products to absorb inefficient processes and poor quality. The improvement in revenue and the resulting profit even from seemingly small improvements in quality (first pass yield) and cycle time can be dramatic. To understand exactly how to optimize an existing manufacturing operation we must answer a few questions. 1. What are the most critical elements of an electronic manufacturing operation that must be evaluated and measured to insure it is performing at an optimum level? 2. What is the standard for evaluating how well my manufacturing operation is performing? 3. How can one evaluate what improvements should be implemented to provide the largest possible return? 4. How does one use this information in the creation of a continuous improvement program? 5. How do we know if the improvements we implemented were effective and achieved the predicted results? 6. What do we do to move to the next level of manufacturing operation's performance? The most sophisticated and reliable method to answer these questions and determine the "health" of your manufacturing operation is to do a formal detailed Manufacturing System's Assessment (MSA). The manufacturing operation must be assessed as a "system". All areas of the operation contribute to the performance of the "Manufacturing System". The MSA can be completed by experienced process professional from internal or external sources. It is possible to get a "high level" assessment of your operation by answering some simple questions. In this paper we review these simple questions and allow you to score yourself. The results of this "test" can be the beginnings of a continuous improvement plan for your operation. Your "score" will also tell you if you could benefit from a professional assessment of your facility.