Manufacturing Articles & Guides — page 2
MES, ERP, OEE, quality, maintenance and shop-floor software for factories.
Safety Stock and Reorder Level: How to Calculate Them for Raw Materials and Spares
How to calculate reorder levels and safety stock for raw materials, components and maintenance spares — lead time, consumption, variability and service level — with examples and common mistakes.
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Preventive Maintenance Checklist for CNC Machines: Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Annual Tasks
A practical preventive maintenance checklist for CNC lathes and machining centres — daily operator checks, weekly and monthly maintenance, annual inspections — and how to digitise it with maintenance software.
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SMED: How to Reduce Changeover and Set-up Time on the Shop Floor
A practical guide to SMED (single-minute exchange of die) — measuring changeovers, separating internal and external tasks, converting and streamlining — with examples for machining, moulding, pressing and packing lines.
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Spare Parts Criticality Analysis: Which Maintenance Spares to Stock and How Many
How to classify maintenance spare parts by criticality, decide which to stock, set minimum levels, manage repairable spares and reduce both downtime and dead stock in factory stores.
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MRP Explained for Small Manufacturers: How Material Requirements Planning Works
A plain-language guide to MRP (material requirements planning) for SME manufacturers — inputs, BOM explosion, netting, lead-time offsetting, planned orders, common pitfalls and how to start.
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ABC Analysis for Inventory: How to Focus on the Items That Matter Most
How to perform ABC analysis on inventory — by consumption value, with XYZ and criticality variations — and use it to set review frequency, stock policies, counting cycles and purchasing focus.
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Downtime Reason Codes: How to Design Them So Your Data Is Actually Useful
How to design machine downtime reason codes — categories, levels, naming, planned vs unplanned, micro-stops and review — so operators pick the right reason and managers get actionable loss data.
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Bill of Materials Best Practices: How to Build Accurate, Maintainable BOMs
Best practices for bills of materials in manufacturing — structure, part numbering, units, scrap factors, alternates, revisions, phantom assemblies, engineering vs manufacturing BOMs and ongoing accuracy.
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Cycle Counting vs Annual Stock Take: How to Keep Inventory Accurate All Year
Why annual stock takes don't keep inventory accurate, how cycle counting works, how to choose counting frequencies with ABC classes, investigate variances and use mobile counting apps.
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Warehouse Bin Location Setup: A Practical Guide for Factory Stores and Warehouses
How to set up bin locations in a factory store or warehouse — location codes, zones, slotting fast movers, labelling, putaway and picking rules, and keeping location records accurate with scanning.
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FIFO vs FEFO: Choosing the Right Stock Rotation Method for Manufacturing and Warehousing
The difference between FIFO and FEFO stock rotation, when to use each, how they affect expiry losses, traceability and costing, and how software enforces them during picking and material issue.
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Engineering Change Management: A Practical ECR/ECN Process for Manufacturers
How to manage engineering changes in manufacturing — change requests, impact analysis, approvals, change notices, effectivity, implementation and verification — so every department switches together.
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Drawing Revision Control: How to Make Sure the Shop Floor Always Uses the Right Drawing
How manufacturers control engineering drawing revisions — numbering, approval, release, distribution, obsolete prints, customer drawings and shop-floor access on tablets.
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8D Problem Solving: A Step-by-Step Guide for Manufacturing Quality Problems
How to use the 8D (eight disciplines) method for customer complaints and quality problems — team, problem description, containment, root cause, corrective actions, verification, prevention and closure.
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5 Why Root Cause Analysis: How to Use It Properly on the Shop Floor
How to use the 5 Why technique to find root causes of manufacturing problems — with examples, rules for good answers, common mistakes, combining with fishbone diagrams and recording results.
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SPC Basics for Small Factories: Control Charts Without the Jargon
A plain-language introduction to statistical process control (SPC) for small and mid-sized manufacturers — what control charts show, how to choose characteristics, read signals, and capture data digitally.
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Incoming Inspection and AQL Sampling: How to Check Supplier Material Efficiently
How to set up incoming inspection for purchased materials and components — inspection plans, AQL sampling, skip-lot, certificates, quarantine, supplier feedback and digital records.
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Supplier Rating and Vendor Scorecards: How to Measure Supplier Performance Fairly
How manufacturers rate suppliers on quality, delivery, price and responsiveness — designing scorecards, weighting, data sources, reviews with suppliers and using ratings in purchasing decisions.
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Calibration Management: How to Keep Gauges and Instruments Under Control
A practical guide to calibration management in manufacturing — instrument register, intervals, in-house vs external calibration, certificates, out-of-tolerance actions, labelling and digital tracking.
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The Six Big Losses in Manufacturing: How to Find and Eliminate Them on Your Shop Floor
A practical guide to the six big losses — breakdowns, setups, small stops, reduced speed, start-up rejects and production rejects — how each affects OEE, how to measure it and proven ways to reduce it in small and mid-sized factories.
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Total Productive Maintenance (TPM): A Practical Guide for Small and Mid-sized Factories
What TPM is, its eight pillars, how autonomous and planned maintenance work together, how to start TPM on one model machine and how software supports checklists, abnormalities, maintenance plans and OEE tracking.
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Predictive Maintenance for Small Factories: Where It Pays Off and How to Start
A realistic guide to predictive and condition-based maintenance for SMEs — vibration, temperature, current, oil analysis and run-hour triggers — which assets justify it, how to start small and how it fits with preventive maintenance.
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Andon Systems for Manufacturing: Calling for Help, Responding Fast and Learning from Every Stop
How digital andon systems work — operator calls for maintenance, quality, material and supervisors; escalation rules; response timing; andon boards; and how andon data reveals recurring problems on the shop floor.
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Tier Meetings and Daily Production Meetings: Running Short, Data-driven Shop Floor Reviews
How to structure tiered daily meetings — team, area and plant level — with the right KPIs, boards and escalation, so problems surface quickly and get solved, and how digital boards replace whiteboards and spreadsheets.
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Operator Skill Matrix and Training Records: Putting the Right People on the Right Machines
How to build and maintain an operator skill matrix, link it to training records and certifications, use it in shift planning and job allocation, and satisfy customer and ISO audits — with practical templates and examples.
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Factory Energy Monitoring: Measuring Electricity, Air and Utilities to Cut Energy Cost per Part
How manufacturers monitor energy by machine, line and utility — electricity, compressed air, steam, water and fuel — calculate energy per unit, find waste such as idle running and leaks, and manage peak demand.
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Retrofitting Old Machines for IIoT: Getting Data from Legacy Equipment Without Replacing It
How to collect run/stop status, counts, cycle times and condition data from older machines using sensors, PLC connections and gateways — what data is realistic, typical approaches and how to use it in OEE and maintenance.
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How to Choose an ERP for a Small Manufacturer: Requirements, Options and Avoiding Common Traps
A practical guide for small and mid-sized manufacturers choosing ERP — defining requirements, comparing packaged ERP and custom-built systems, evaluating vendors, data migration and phased rollout — written for owners and managers.
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MES ROI: How to Build the Business Case for a Manufacturing Execution System
How to estimate the return on an MES investment — capacity gains from OEE, scrap reduction, inventory and WIP, labour and admin savings, quality and traceability benefits — with a worked approach and realistic assumptions.
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How to Choose MES Software: A Buyer's Checklist for Small and Mid-sized Manufacturers
What to evaluate when selecting a manufacturing execution system — fit with your processes, shop floor usability, machine connectivity, quality and traceability, integration, deployment, phasing and total cost — with a practical checklist.
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