Production cycle is a decisive factor in the performance of each business. Optimizing the production cycle helps businesses reduce costs, increase productivity and improve competitiveness in the market. Join Viindoo to learn more details about methods to reduce production cycles in the following article!
What is the production cycle?
Production cycle includes all activities in the process of converting raw materials into finished products. Each manufacturing cycle has unique elements related to product and merchandise design, combined with actual manufacturing and operations schedules, including cost accounting feedback.
In each area of the production process, departments will be responsible for managing each separate area, such as: Technical department, production department, materials management department, and accounting department. Businesses can calculate the production cycle by each part, product detail or complete product, based on execution time, including scheduled rest time and time in production.
The production cycle is the activities that transform raw materials into finished products
Why is it necessary to calculate the production cycle?
Meaning of production cycle indicators:
- Production cycle is an important indicator that needs to be determined to estimate order execution time and schedule progress.
- The production cycle represents the technical level and production organization. A short production cycle indicates efficient use of machinery and production area.
- Production cycles affect working capital needs and the efficiency of capital use in the production process. In a volatile competitive environment, short production cycles help the production system respond quickly to changes.
Production cycle estimates the time it takes to fulfill orders
Formula to calculate production cycle accurately
The formula for calculating the production cycle is determined as follows:
Tck = Σtcn + Σtvc + Σtkt + Σtgd + Σttn
In there:
- Tck: Cycle time (in hours or days)
- tcn: Time for technological process
- tvc: Shipping time
- tkt: Test time
- tgd: Interruption time at work sites and intermediate warehouses
- ttn: Natural process time
How to reduce and optimize production cycles
Calculate the cycle of existing production processes
Understanding current cycle times is an important first step in the optimization process. Even when data is collected manually, raw cycle times are still the basis to start from. This is closely related to the company's overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). However, in companies that manage data manually, OEE is often estimated to be higher than it actually is.
Understand and calculate current cycle times
Reduce waste
Once the manufacturing process is mapped in detail and current cycle times are understood, improvement teams can begin to eliminate waste that negatively impacts cycle times. Common types of waste include:
- Quality issues: Defective goods are not detected in time before completion or need to be reworked to meet quality standards.
- Too much manual paperwork: Using error-prone or unnecessary documents.
- Non-value-added work: Activities that do not directly contribute to the value of the final product.
- Overproduction: Production in excess of actual demand.
- Poor production: The product does not meet the required quality from the beginning.
- WIP staging and internal transportation: Improper arrangement of materials awaiting processing and internal transportation or suboptimal machinery layout.
Eliminate wasteful elements
Process automation
Automation is an effective method for optimizing repetitive tasks in the manufacturing process. Nowadays, there are many technological solutions that can replace daily manual tasks. This not only reduces the burden on workers, but also provides stability and predictability, making it easier to calculate production cycle times.
However, automated processes cannot always operate faster than highly skilled operators. The two main disadvantages of automation are investment costs and loss of flexibility.
The initial investment in an automation system is a large expense that manufacturers need to recover over time. Additionally, most automated equipment is often not easy to move or adjust once installed, leading to a loss of flexibility in the production process.
Automate production processes
Apply new technologies
Businesses today can apply advanced technologies and software to optimize production cycle times, thereby improving efficiency and productivity. One of the notable solutions is Viindoo software.
Viindoo Manufacturing is comprehensive production management software that helps businesses control all activities from production, mechanical processing, quality control, inventory optimization, purchasing, to supply chain management. In particular, Viindoo Manufacturing provides comprehensive support for production management at factories and workshops.
Benefits of Viindoo Manufacturing in production management and operations:
- Develop plans based on orders, inventory and existing production capacity.
- Forecast and manage resources such as machinery, labor and materials.
- Provides real-time production progress information, helping to adjust plans when needed.
- Track detailed progress of each production order and order.
- Store and manage detailed technical drawings, product data and component information.
- Track and update product versions, including design changes and technical information upgrades.
Viindoo Manufacturing is the optimal solution for manufacturing businesses that want to improve management efficiency and optimize processes. With comprehensive features and an intuitive interface, the software helps manage production data, optimize performance, automate processes, and increase revenue.
Outstanding advantages of Viindoo Manufacturing:
- Plan material, machinery and human resource needs.
- Control depreciation of raw materials, waste products and by-products.
- Integrated production cost calculation feature.
- Strictly manage progress and production activities.
- Support reporting and analysis of production data.
- Integrate ERP into production management.
Optimizing the production cycle is an important and necessary task for businesses to maintain and improve competitiveness in an increasingly harsh market context. If your business is interested in solutions to optimize production activities, Viindoo is the perfect choice that you cannot ignore!
