The manufacturing sector is under constant pressure to reduce costs while building sustainable practices in order to remain globally competitive and maintain high levels of quality to continue to meet customer expectations and incredibly stringent compliance standards.

We understand, it’s a lot.

This requirement to reduce costs is exacerbated further by rising raw-material and production costs, ongoing supply-chain disruptions, and the continuing reporting of recruitment and retention challenges.

However, this is an area that needs careful consideration as cost-cutting is not just about sourcing cheaper materials or reducing staff numbers.

In this post, we look at how and what strategies manufacturers can implement in order to strike the right balance.

Manufacturing cost reduction

It is crucial, but not an easy task, to manage production costs.

A crucial area for business leaders to manage in order to remain competitive and increase business resilience, and a necessary requirement after experiences across the manufacturing sector globally over the past few years.

The drive toward sustainability is also forcing manufacturers to review processes and invest in technology. However, all of this must be achieved while maintaining, and, if not, reducing costs.

This is where bespoke automation comes in.

Today, automation is seen as the strategic solution that allows manufacturers to reduce labour costs and human error, gain greater control over processes, and increase production and quality as manufacturing is precision-engineered.

But that’s not all…

How to reduce costs without compromising on quality

Review and evaluate current processes

Cost reduction exercises should always start with a detailed evaluation of your current processes.

What’s working and what areas could use a little (or maybe a lot) of improvement?

Where are the bottlenecks in production, and how can you eliminate waste?

Look to simplify processes (think lean), look to choose readily available materials, use data to uncover opportunities, and collaborate with others to achieve successful outcomes.

Evaluating processes and conducting ongoing monitoring allow you to understand first-hand shop floor processes, what is actually happening on the ground, and where efficiencies can be made.

Build strong supplier relationships

Building strong supplier relationships and working on optimising supply chains can be critical in manufacturing.

Building resilience, improving quality, and negotiating contracts to support price agreements, strong supplier relationships help build sustainability, as well as allow manufacturers to tap into future opportunities and drive innovation, as you’ve spent time nurturing and building long-term relationships.

Evaluate your supply chains and look again at bottlenecks and where efficiencies can be made.

Introduce smarter processes

Investment in automation is a significant part of building lean processes, with 72% of manufacturers now implementing AI and automation in some capacity.

Identifying processes where improvements can be made allows for the right and most appropriate bespoke automation to be implemented.

For example, automation can help take over repetitive tasks. Improving quality, speeding up production, and reducing human error.

Using data analytics, inline monitoring uses real-time data to detect faults in systems and processes early enough to put corrective measures in place. This prevents costly downtime and defects in production, reducing quality issues and ensuring consistency.

By automating data systems, manufacturers can improve transparency and accountability, which is important for promoting flexibility and adaptability when businesses are looking to scale.

Automation can also support better stock management, providing you with real-time control over materials, ensuring efficient resource use, and enabling continuous feedback that supports faster, clearer decision-making.

Then there is predictive maintenance. An automation solution that aims to remove machine anomalies and replace components before they fail, predictive maintenance supports business leaders in minimising machine downtime (a big problem on large production lines), improving worker safety (worker safety should always be at the forefront of decisions), and increasing productivity twofold.

Automation also comes in the form of implementing process validation, which manufacturers use to support a reduction in waste (lowering energy consumption, leading to lower bills), ensuring product quality and safety.

Invest in your teams

Investing in your staff not only boosts motivation and morale, but can also improve production, support high quality, and reduce costs.

Providing opportunities for continuous improvement and learning leads to an increase in competency, offering leaders long-term results and teams capable of responding confidently to market shifts and changes.

Providing career development and training also helps to combat the ongoing labour shortages that the manufacturing sector faces.

Innomech Automation Innovation

Reducing costs does not have to mean a reduction in quality; in fact, quite the opposite if the right controls and systems are put in place.

By building in quality standards from the start, using quality control metrics, maintaining documentation, and introducing smart engineering and targeted automation, manufacturers can reduce costs while maintaining quality and improving output.

Contact our team today to discuss cost-saving opportunities.

Book a call at a time convenient to you.