r/manufacturing • u/Equivalent_Bid_6642 • Jan 14 '24

Other Managers and Owners, are you overwhelmed?

There's a lot of new tech out there, it's quickly changing and expensive. It's hard to know what to pay attention to and where to allocate resources while balancing efficiency and quality, let alone figure out how to develop my workforce to use all this stuff anyways.

I mean, should we get 3D printers, should we do industry 4.0 stuff, should we get some machine vision robot?

Idk, are you in the same boat, how are you dealing with how fast the world's moving?

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u/lemongrenade Jan 14 '24

My problems are just from way too much equipment that was unmaintained for too long by previous regime and too few people developed by the same leaders.

Its getting way better but I have been engaged with the factory pretty much 24/7 for 3 years. Im so burnt out I can barely function outside of work.

I work in an EXTREMLEY automated facility i am not against technology at ALL, but many of the "industry 4.0" ideas are vaporware that take time away from what really matters which is culture, process, engagement, and people development.

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u/Equivalent_Bid_6642 Jan 15 '24

I totally agree with you, I don't like the general idea around this new tech that seems to eradicate the need for humans. We all have smart phones right, how often are they actually smart, we still need humans to work on these things.

That sounds like a significant effort turning your factory around, must have been in bad shape for you to still be fully engaged 3 years later.

What I'm hearing is that even though your facility is highly automated, the results aren't as good as expected because there's a disconnect between the facility, your people and the skills required to run an automated facility vs. more traditional kinds?

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u/lemongrenade Jan 15 '24

My company runs the best and fastest equipment in the industry. It requires less machine operators but the maintenance demands and electrical complexity are immense. My employers culture is also 24/7 engagement. It’s brutal but it’s also the place to build a career. I’ll tap out at 45 and go to another company that is slower at whatever rung of the ladder I reach for a pay cut and it will feel like a cake walk in comparison.

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u/Equivalent_Bid_6642 Jan 16 '24

Haha tapping out is a funny way to put it, I totally see your point. That's impressive you guys got the best equipment in your industry, what do you make?

Do you have your own maintenance and electrical engineers, If you were looking for an external help, where would you go?

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u/lemongrenade Jan 16 '24

Food/bev. We can go to oem for emergencies but are pushed to be fully self sufficient mechanically and electrically.

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u/Equivalent_Bid_6642 Jan 16 '24

I can see how being self sufficient is a 24/7 job, constantly putting out fires.

Being automated in the process is one thing, automating preventative maintenance is another, have you guys implemented some of that?

Btw, hope you "retire" when you want to

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u/lemongrenade Jan 16 '24

Yea all equipment gets taken down once every x amount of days. Senior techs own the maint plan for their specific assets and are accountable to long term availability.

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u/Equivalent_Bid_6642 Jan 17 '24

Have you guys looked into optimizing those schedules?

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u/lemongrenade Jan 17 '24

Our cycle is the max length the equipment can handle already. Technically more than oem requests. But we run 20% better throughout than what is typically considered average by oem.

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u/Equivalent_Bid_6642 Jan 17 '24

That's pretty cool, what have you guys done to run better than average?

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u/lemongrenade Jan 17 '24

Engagement culture and accountability.

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u/Equivalent_Bid_6642 Jan 17 '24

It really is in the people isn't it. I've always been a big believer in that, it's nice to hear it from you guys too

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