A well-organized workplace benefits everyone. Your employees, because it promotes safety (most work accidents happen by tripping and falling). But also your company, because productivity and morale in the workplace will improve by not losing hours searching for things. Your customers will also benefit, because the better the workplace is set up, the shorter the turnaround times and the higher the quality. These simple tips will get you a long way.
The location of tools on the shop floor is a crucial element. Anything that is used frequently should really be within easy reach or at least at a central point easily accessible to everyone. Are there specific machines that require a wider variety of tools? Put them together and also provide space to place additional tools next to them.
The ideal flow? Pieces always move through the workshop in one direction without encountering other products in production. A good starting point if you want to tackle the entire layout of your workshop and the building allows it. But not always easy to realize within the available space. Therefore, think about what would be a logical route for your production where transportation between workstations is minimized.
Explain to your employees how everything is organized if you want it to stay that way. Also make it clear exactly what is expected of them regarding cleanup, cleaning tools and wiping down machine surfaces. Good agreements make good friends.
The lean methodology is already well established in many places to increase productivity. In five simple steps, it attempts to work toward a clean, well-organized and safe workplace by eliminating waste of time and resources. It involves sorting, arranging, cleaning, standardizing and following through.
The less time it takes to set up machines, the more time can effectively go to production. But of course this should never be at the expense of quality or safety. Investing in fixturing systems that enable fast changeovers can therefore quickly pay off. Also consider standardizing tools so that operators can easily find their way around them. And for those considering automation, make sure there is a separate area to prepare the next pieces while a cycle is running. That way no more time is lost.
The best ideas often come from the bottom up, from the shop floor itself. After all, your employees know best what problems or frustrations they encounter on a daily basis. Motivate them to share those issues with you as well, encourage them to tell you how they would like to see the workplace organized and structured. And also show that something happens to their suggestions. That they are put into action, or explained why they are not feasible.
Metalworkers sometimes spend millions on machines to produce the most complex pieces. They also know how important it is to have experienced operators in the ranks to make that happen on the production floor. But they sometimes forget that a well-organized shop floor can be part of their success story, regardless of company size. Especially when the complexity of a piece increases and more operations are involved, it pays to have everything well under control to work quickly and efficiently, without compromising on tolerances and other quality requirements.