You’ve probably heard it a hundred times, “we need to be proactive, not reactive”, but what does that really mean? Manufacturing companies have a high risk for error and injury, being diligent about preventing those risks can have a positive impact on your business.
Proactive: Being proactive means thinking about things that could go wrong ahead of time and working to prevent them before they happen. It’s like the old adage, “hope for the best but expect the worst”. It would be so great if nothing wrong ever happened, no scrap or re-runs, but sadly they are inevitable, so to cushion the pitfall, anticipate errors and take steps to avoid them! Stay a step head of the competition, work on continuous improvement; analyze efficiency, productivity, worker competency and morale, safety risks, and other areas that could be improved upon.
Reactive: A company that is reactive waits for something to happen and then makes a plan for “how are we going to fix it and how are we going to stop it in the future?” Reactive companies don’t change until they are forced to. Failing to anticipate puts your company at risk and allows your competition the opportunity to sneak in and steal your customers. Don’t wait until an error or risk occurs to fix the problem.
Find out where potential risks and areas for improvement are by running a gap analysis.
Gap Analysis: According to Business Dictionary, gap analysis is a technique that businesses use to determine what steps need to be taken in order to move from its current state to its desired, future state.
Evaluate where you are (“what is”), where you want to be (“what should be”), and how you can get there.
Are you a proactive or reactive manufacturing facility?
Check out this related blog post: 4 Ways to Reduce Scrap