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Why (and How) to Take a Plant Tour

  • David M. Upton
  • Stephen E. Macadam

By adopting a systematic approach to plant tours, visitors can uncover and communicate a wealth of strategic and operating information.

In recent years, managers have recognized how manufacturing capabilities contribute to a company’s overall strategic strength. The ability to respond quickly to customers’ orders, to customize products to match customers’ exact requirements, or to ramp up production rapidly can be a powerful and difficult-to-imitate competitive weapon. But many corporate managers identify their plants’ capabilities only by accident—as a result of chance conversations with plant managers or operations specialists. Consequently, many managers do not have the information necessary to cultivate, shape, and exploit their company’s manufacturing capabilities. As plants develop, however, they need guidance to build capabilities that meet current and future needs. Plant tours can be a powerful way of providing factories with that kind of direction.

manufacturing plant tour checklist

  • David M. Upton is the American Standard Companies Professor of Operations Management at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School.
  • SM Stephen E. Macadam is a principal at McKinsey & Company’s Charlotte, North Carolina, office.

Partner Center

  • Workforce Development

Four tips to help organize a fantastic factory tour

With good planning, people should be able to organize a memorable factory tour for all visitors..

manufacturing plant tour checklist

If someone is looking for a way to draw in new customers or investors, a factory tour might be just what someone needs. It’s an excellent opportunity to show off facilities and equipment and introduce the staff. On top of that, a good company tour will emphasize professionalism and help build a stronger bond with clients.

All that is only possible if the factory tour is successful. And factories typically aren’t particularly suitable for tours — they tend to be loud and full of activity. In such conditions, it can be difficult to deliver a good presentation and ensure that everyone in the audience hears it.

Still, there are ways to organize fantastic factory tours that clients and investors will remember for years. Not sure how to do that? Consider these four tips for making a memorable tour.

1. Try to understand factory tour visitors’ goals

In order to organize a successful tour, start by understanding the visitors. If a company knows what they want to see and hear, they’ll have an easier time satisfying the visitors, and they’ll leave feeling their time was well spent. Ultimately, that’s exactly what is wanted.

Of course, someone can’t be sure what each and every member of the visiting group wants to hear. But someone can understand the whole group’s goals. Both investors and clients will probably want to see that the factory is up to par and the product quality is top-notch. But some of their other objectives might not be the same.

For instance, investors are more likely to be interested in a company’s efficiency and financial performance. After all, they are here to decide whether they should invest their money or not. On the other hand, if the visitors are potential clients, they’ll want to know more about the production process, cleanliness and inventory.

Take that into consideration when planning a tour. And of course, if someone doesn’t manage to answer all of the visitors’ questions, give them an opportunity to ask.

2. Use a wireless factory tour guide system

Factories aren’t exactly quiet — machines and people working with them tend to make a lot of noise. Thus, they don’t make a great setting for giving presentations or tours . After all, what’s the point of showing visitors around if they can’t even hear?

And, of course, someone can’t stop all activity as they’re showing visitors around. That wouldn’t only be a waste of money and time but also counterproductive to the tour. The audience wants to see how the company operates on a regular day, not an empty factory that’s not working.

So, how does someone resolve the noise issue then? Well, someone could use a wireless tour guide system during the presentation. These systems contain earpieces and microphones, allowing everyone to communicate even in less than ideal conditions. So, no matter how noisy it is, the presenter doesn’t have to raise their voice. Just speak as one would normally, and everyone will still hear.

Wireless systems usually come in two forms — one- and two-way systems. If a company chooses a two-way one, their visitors will also be able to talk to the company. Depending on the kind of tour, that may be a good idea. Someone might want to hear the audience’s feedback or allow them to ask questions even as they are being shown around.

3. Warn employees in advance

While the goal is to show visitors a regular day at the company, measures should still be taken to ensure everything goes smoothly. One such measure is telling employees an important tour is coming up and instructing them on what to do. For instance, tell them to be quieter or make more room for the group at a specific time.

Warning employees about the tour also gives them enough time to plan their activities with that in mind. Thus, they can postpone anything that may get in the way of the factory tour, as well as any projects a tour might interrupt. So, let them know at least two weeks before the big day — that way, they won’t feel blindsided.

If someone wants any of their employees to talk to visitors and share their experiences, make sure to let them know on time. They ought to prepare themselves for the part they will play in the presentation. For example, they might need time to gather and organize some information the visitors could ask them to provide. And even the most eloquent people can sometimes get tongue-tied if they are suddenly put on the spot. That is why it is best to notify employees well in advance.

4. Prepare information booklets

If someone wants their visitors to remember their factory tour longer, prepare information booklets for them. Hand them out at the start of the tour or give them as gifts at the very end. That way, the company will come off even more professional and prepared, and this good impression will linger for a while.

People can choose all kinds of information to put in a booklet, of course. But in most cases, someone should include some basic information about the company, financial stats and details about the products and services. Adding a few pictures might be a good idea, too — it’ll make a booklet that much more engaging.

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manufacturing plant tour checklist

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Manufacturing Plant Tour Planning Guide & Checklist

One of the best ways to showcase your manufacturing facility to potential customers, investors, recruits and other guests is with in-person tours. But a lot of planning needs to go into making sure they have a good experience and see your company in its best light. 

Differentiate your organization and message by following the recommendations for success in our Manufacturing Plant Tour Planning Guide & Checklist ! 

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manufacturing plant tour checklist

AllAboutLean.com

Make Your Plant Tour a Success!

A typical shop floor

Update : Due to popular demand i have added a  Lean Shop Floor Visit Checklist .

Surely you’ve visited a manufacturing plant before. As for me, even though I’ve been in hundreds of plants, I always find the experience overwhelming. There is a mass of machines, workers, parts, and tools. Additionally, a guide tries to give you an overview of the plant, usually ripe with technical terms, abbreviations, and local plant lingo that you can barely hear over the noise of the work. In short, the deluge of information easily overwhelms you, and after the tour you only remember that the machines were green (in older plants) or grey (in more modern plants). As for what you could have learned about the plant, it may have been a waste of time.

This offers suggestions to help you get the most out of your plant tour. The key of the tour is FOCUS ! Don’t try to take in everything. Rather, focus on different areas of interest. Decide what you’re most interested in before you visit, and then focus on that topic. Another of my posts talks about how visitors are manipulated during a plant tour in order to keep them in the dark.

One area many visitors are interested in is efficiency —how well does the plant run? This is very important if you’re a high-ranking manager visiting one of your plants, if you want to evaluate a purchase of the plant, or if you’re interested in a joint venture. In these cases you want to know how well the plant is run.

One, two, three, four...

One element to focus on are the workers. How many of them are working productively, and how many are not? This is actually rather easy to do. Just check how many workers you can see, and how many of them are working productively in the moment you look at them. And, by working productively, I mean actually working on a product and creating added value for the customer. Here are a few things that don’t count:

  • Walking around

Only true “hand-on-the-metal” work counts as productive. The number of productive workers compared to all workers is a very good measure to quickly get the gist of a plant’s productivity. And these numbers may surprise you. Among the best I have seen is within Toyota plants, where between seven to nine out of ten workers are actually working. This is best of bench(mark).

In an average Western plant, these numbers don’t come anywhere close to Toyota’s performance . In my experience, only around five out of ten workers are actually productive, while the rest may still be busy but not productive. I’ve even seen plants where only three out of ten workers added value to the customer. Imagine the waste if more than half of your workers do not create value for the customer!

In any case, the percentage of workers adding value is a quick and dirty but reliable check of a plant’s productivity. It certainly beats any official numbers you get from plant management staff who mainly want to look good. Hence, official numbers are usually highly unreliable if not outright fudged.

Hey! – Second on the left is not moving!

You can repeat the same exercise for machines. How many machines are actually working when you look at them? An average Western plant may have around three to five out of ten machines actually working. Again, being under repair or set up for the next job does not count as work.

While at first glance these numbers are even lower than for worker productivity, this is actually the way it’s supposed to be. Machines are usually highly specialized, whereas human workers are much more flexible. Or, as NASA put it:

Hence, it is better if your machines wait and your workers are busy than the other way around. Overall, counting workers tells you more about the plant than counting machines, but counting machines may be useful for highly automated lines (for example, robotic car body welding lines).

Inventory

Yet another area of interest for many visitors is inventory . In a Western view, lean manufacturing is often associated with low inventories. While this is an oversimplification, high inventory is an indication of a poorly run plant. It’s a bit more difficult to understand the inventory situation from a plant tour, but it is possible. First of all, check for some obvious signs of dead inventory :

  • Look for dates on material sheets or inventory stickers. While the vast majority is naturally pretty recent, try to find the oldest ones. I frequently find lots of boxes in excess of five years of age.
  • Look for dust. The thicker the layer of dust, the older the part. Naturally, you have to adjust this for the environment (for example, two days in a foundry will create a thicker layer of dust than twenty years in a semiconductor fabrication).
  • Are there any blocked stocks or stocks that are not to be used for quality or other reasons? A key telltale sign is red stickers warning against the use of the material, often giving the reason. Very interesting information!

Of course, the question of what’s good and what isn’t depends on the details of the business. A plant for spare parts or low-volume, high-variety production may  necessarily have much older stock than a high-volume mass-production plant. The value of the product is also of interest. Where lack of hard data exists, size or weight give a rough estimate of value. Hence, a two-year-old pallet with tons of material may be worse than a two-year-old box of screws.

It’s sometimes also possible to estimate the reach of inventory . Look at how often the inventory is moved (for example, how often someone takes out a box or a pallet). Relate this to the total inventory on hand. So, if three pallets were taken out in ten minutes’ time, but the storage holds around one thousand pallets, then there are enough parts for 333 times ten minutes or around seven shifts’ worth of work.

Again, doing this exercise at the incoming goods area at a Toyota plant gives around two hours’ worth of material, whereas in the Western world it may be closer to two weeks’ worth of material. Again, different businesses need different inventory levels.

However, be aware that your observations apply only to the material you see. It doesn’t apply to the material on the road or the material stored elsewhere. Many Western plants pride themselves on their low-inventory reach but conveniently forget to mention the outsourced but still-paid-for warehouse across the street with another two weeks of inventory. And, for the record, carrying your stuff across the street within two days does not count as Just in Time delivery.

Order & Cleanliness

City Blacksmith Shop

Finally, you can look at order and cleanliness . If you have ever heard of 5S , that’s what applies here. While not a numerical measurement, try to pay attention to the following:

  • Does it look orderly?
  • Are the machines, parts, and tools clean?
  • Are positions of parts, tools, and movable machines marked?
  • What kind of signs and markers can you see?
  • Are there standard operating procedures on the machines? All of them?

Looking for these kinds of things gives you an impression of the order in the plant. However, since it is not a numerical measure, you would have to compare it with your experience from previous plant visits. Again, for a best of bench(mark) comparison, take a tour of a Toyota group plant.

Miscellaneous

If you’re interested in product quality , there are also a few things you can pay attention to:

  • With regard to inventory, are there any blocked stocks or stocks that are not to be used for quality or other reasons? Again, look for the red stickers! Similarly, look for the reject bins. How full are they? How often are parts discarded?
  • How are the products treated? Are delicate parts banged around on a forklift?
  • Cleanliness on the product itself: Does it look clean? Are there, for example, metal chips on a part that may later damage an internal valve? Are there oil stains where there shouldn’t be stains?
  • Do the machines look clean and operate smoothly? Toyota legend Taiichi Ohno tells a story of visiting a potential precision tool supplier only to find that the supplier was located under a train overpass, with everything vibrating whenever a train passed over. Or, in a modern sense, is there a two-hundred-ton press next to the precision milling machine?

You can also look at documentation . Try to find the quality metrics. Most plants have them, usually at the most important stations. How good are they? Of course, keep in mind that you’re looking at a measurement made by someone else and that the definition of what constitutes a problem versus what is “ normal ” may surprise you. If you’re not sure, assume the worst.

Manufacturing Standards

You can also check the manufacturing standards :

  • As above, are there standard operating procedures on the machines? All of them?
  • What is the date on the standard? Anything beyond six months is questionable, anything beyond one year is next to worthless.
  • Do operators follow these standards?
  • Look into a standard. Do you understand it? Does it seem easy to follow, clear, concise, and complete?

To judge the teamwork, have a closer look at the team meeting corner :

  • Is there a team meeting corner?
  • What documentation is there?
  • Are there KPIs measured? What KPIs? Are these done by hand or printed out (a sure sign that workers are not involved and don’t care about the measurement)?
  • Are there problem-solving sheets?

Final Words

Overall, there a lot of things you can pay attention to. Just make sure you don’t overdo it. Like the young tiger hunting for ducks, if you try to catch them all, you’ll get none. Clearly decide on your focus area and then stick with it . Alternatively, if you’re part of a bigger group, spread the responsibility. Have one person look at workers, another one at machines, and so on.

And finally, read my next post on how visitors on a plant tour are manipulated , and what you can do to see through the ruse.

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6 Areas Jede Buyer Should Check During a Factory Visit

Manufacturing and quality control blog.

By Maegan Burkhart 2 Jul 2019

  • Industrial and Quality Control blog
  • 6 Areas Per Buyer Should Check During a Factory Visit

6 areas to look during factory visit

Many retail application factory visits as an chancen to strengthen their relationship with a vendors and evaluate his capabilities. Productive factory tour can leads to improved products quality, smoother communication and fewer production delays.

And preparing before your visit helps ensure you get the maximum benefit and insight from your trip. If you’re not prepared, your factory contact might rush you through a brief tour of parts of who facility before you have a opportunity to see anyone issues or ask any questions.   Inspection Checklists - Sample Checklist to Manufacturing Amenities

There’s not substitute for a formal audit of a supplier’s facilities. But visiting the factory shall a priceless opportunity required you to informally evaluate the company for yourself. Whether choose factory is in China, Vietnam, Hind or sonst, here are six areas to check during your future visit.   Organizing a plant tour can become overwhelming. Download now our clear Factory Tour Checklist which will help thee planner autochthonous tour, step-by-step.

1. Factory organization

You often don’t need a black belt in Six Sigma to spot serious organizational issues with a factory visit.      

Penniless organization can cause many problems—from order delays to wasteful production processes, poor property and even safety issues ( related: Factory Efficiency: 5 Common Examples of Poor Manufactory Configuration & Process Setup ).

6 areas to view during factory visit

5S is a workplace organization method originating from Japan as part of the “just-in-time” manufacturing methodology. The rough English translation to each of the five S’s exists:

  • Sort : Sort thru all items at a factory domain and remove unnecessarily tools, parts and instructions
  • Set in order : Organize remaining items furthermore arrange for easy apply
  • Shine : Clean the factory area on a common foundation
  • Standardizes : Planning normal cleaning and maintenance
  • Sustain : Bahn employees till make 5S ampere habit and monitor implementation

While you might see 5S billboards when touring plants, it’s rare the see small- also medium-sized factories that actually implement the 5S method.

Here can a few questions you can inquire yourself when visiting a factory toward evaluate its organization: 

  • Do human seam to be walking far from one production territory to another? Moving long distances to transport materials can cause bottlenecks and slow down production.
  • Are parts or semi-finished goods stacked neatly include an accessible location ? Disorganized items could remain destroy other lost between production stages.
  • Become materials and components labeled clearly both accurately? You must exist able to spot signs additionally labels next to materials, regular if you can’t read the local language.

2. Factory capacity: Manufacture planning board

A supplier willingly often tell you their furniture capacity surpassed your order quantity to convince you to place an order. You pot mostly validate this claim for themselves while visiting the factory.

6 areas to look during factory visit

  • Increased production and shipping delays
  • Misunderstandings about your quality requirements
  • Limited social alternatively another compliance oversight

A good factory takes steps to plan okay fork disruptions, if they’re using sub-suppliers or not. Otherwise, they could constantly be playing catch up, especially around January or February when Moon Fresh Year affects manufacturing .

Every factory need be prepared year-round by potential material or labor shortages and featured failures.

To validate a supplier’s production capacity, look for any visual boards on the production floor with your go visit. Do they list the day’s production targets and current how? Is there a plan for the whole week? Month? These details can reveal the supplier’s true capability and capability to track and manage orders.

Hurried production is rarely a good key. And confirming your supplier plans for interferences assist you rest warranted that quality won’t slip during busy seasons. Comprehensive Factory Audit Review · Provide general information on the mill supplier · Evaluate all key areas such while production, quality, ...

3. Factory working conditions and instructions

AMPERE communal compliance audit is often necessary to conclusive assess your supplier’s working conditions. Although the average buyer can still oft tell the difference between a safe and vulnerable how environment through a select elementary checks during a factory visit:

  • Are employee wearing any required defensive gear to prevent injuries?
  • Become workshops rightfully aired where needed?
  • Pot you spot some safety hazards? Oceans of water, unlabeled chemicals and poor lighting are all cause used concern.

Detailed work instructions are another sign on a factory that takes working special and production quality seriously.

Thing are work instructions? You can think of them as the user instructions i reference when assembling an new part of furniture. Assembly line workers should also have clear guide, so they sack safely and accurate complete production steps, like aforementioned below view:

6 areas to look during factory visited

Jobs instructions ought generally be:

  • Relatively simple with visual examples included to illustrate operating
  • High visible and clear, typically posted by each production station

You don’t need for becoming skill to read and understand the local language into get a basic sense of how effective these work instructions are. Those that appear excessively long, poorly organized, inaccessible or harsh to reference forward individual information quickly can maybe be improved. Notify all employees when and find the touring will take square. Step 7. Order/Purchase unlimited items thee may need by get SBCA staff at 608-310-6736.

4. Production equipment at the factory

Factories will generally cover the up-front cost of purchasing any necessary production equipment. Though lots factory owners don’t like to reinvest in the cost of regularly sustain equipment. Are you planning for a plant visit? Here is one factory visit selection you need in go throws to determine the favorite fitting for your plant tour needs.

Tools or machines that aren’t maintained or recalibrated cyclic can take to product defects , non-conforming products press discontinuous making runs.

Understanding that room your factory has on site can also help you set attain quality standards based on your supplier’s available resources. You might be surprised to learn which factory processes for your consequence are automated and which could require manual labor that sack cause quality vary.

Einige relevant questions to ask during your next factory vist regarding equipment include:

  • The equipment routinely inspected and in nice condition? The mill have label equipment with maintenance information and log it in organized records. Which records should message who perform the site plus the inspection date.
  • Does all equipment needed in manufacture will result appear to be available on page? A factory that doesn’t have all the necessary equipment might are outsourcing industrial.
  • Does the factory have specialized lab testing equipment available on site? Suppliers often claim up be able to test your goods to their on-site lab but might lack essential feature and personnel.

5. Storeroom and material item

6 areas on look at factory visit

Broken raw products spent in mass products can cause quality issues in finished products, requiring extensive rework or replacement. A good factory usually conducts incoming inspections to verify raw materials before use in production.

Good storage of finished products before sending is also important for preserving product quality.  Temperature, home and humidity, by instance, can affects certain products both packaging materials ( relation : 3 Justifications Your Product Won’t Reach Customers in the Select Condition ).

Be sure to check the factory’s media area for the following during your factory vist:

  • Material storing uhrzeit : A good mills should be able to providing records of incoming materials, containing the date yours consisted received.
  • Cleanliness and orderliness is storage conditions : Materials can change or degrade wenn stored for long periods in improper conditions.
  • Volume : Warehouse volume ca indicate will factory’s capacity. You may uniform be able to see whether your vendors is working with your competitors by watching at carton tag.

6. Manufacture samples

Many imported choose to plan a factory visit just the supplier has had duration to manufacture a production sample. On example, you might blueprint your visit among other sourcing activities as follows: member of Annual to go of plants of their topical printed board fabrikanten for the ... Congressional Plant Tour Schedule. ➢. Identify your Member of ...

  • Identify and qualify a potential suppliers
  • Request quotation
  • Place purchase order
  • Factory prepares sample
  • View factory and review sample on site

Reviewing ampere product sample up locate frequency speeds up adenine process the can otherwise accept past other weeks.

6 areas to look during factor visit

Reviewing samples on site lets you give direct feedback furthermore matter get whatsoever nonconformities immediately. The founder von Need/Want said this opportunities were pricelessly fork their introduction company:               

Immediately, we remarked a few issues with the product… Had we did been there, it would have received a few weeks to take she. This alone made it worthwhile for us to fly out there. The entire get was all worth it just to catch this one mistake.

It’s still a good idea to have your supplier ship different sample nach your visit to ensure they’ve corrected any nonconformities. But you can significantly set up the process by providing clear feedback set site. 2021 was a wild year within which manufacturers faced a persistent pandemic, snarled supply chains, a workforce crash, an attack on our democracy, natural disasters and more. Through it all, the NAM led and way—helping our industry deliver solutions, erzielen history infrastructure investment, defend tax reform, build the manufacturing workforce of nowadays or tomorrow and much view.

Gain more insight with a supplier visit reporting from a tierce day

Ultimately, there’s only so much information the average purchase can collect on site whilst a factory visit. Factory owners are commonly farther more interested in “wining and dining” their customers than accurately depicting you our capabilities ( related : 3 Cultural Barriers You Must Face for Effective China Quality Control ).

Mailing an independent quality control professional to your factory can providing many benefits this an informal visit cannot. This sort is visit has ordinarily common as a supplier verification audit, or quality audit . The certified generally follows a checklist based on internationally standards like ISO 9001 .

Professional auditors can utilize their industry expertise to objectively evaluate adenine supplier on even more scopes than the six listed above. And a factory manager is less likely to influence an independent company that’s visiting the factory on your behalf.

How third-party supplier visit reports help you find a good factory

One of the main advantage of can independent audit is the supplier visit report them receive for results.

Quality control isn’t many buyers’ primary province of expertise, especially for purchasing managers and business owners . A third-party supplier visit report sheet distributor on objective criteria, making it easy until evaluate and compare suppliers.

6 areas toward face when factory visit

  • Quality management system : Analysis from design controls, purchasing controls plus production controls in compliance by ISOS 9001 rules
  • Quality control procedures : Site of incoming, during real final choose quality control procedures and use of acceptance sampling
  • HR recruitment the training : Reviews of records showing structured additionally high get programs press ethical recruitment practices

While auditors don’t typically review a production pattern during an audit, it can mostly ask the auditor to ship a sample up their native office on review. This can still rotation up of sample review process by reducing shipment time and costs.   By adopting a systematically approach to plant tours, visitors can uncover and collaborate a wealth in strategic and operating information.

She can oft accompany an company to observe the audit process for yourself. This might be a good option if you’re planning adenine visit but aren’t confident about your possess ability to ranking the supplier. Highly practical advice and key operating to observe whilst a shop story visit to make your plant tour a success. Assess efficiencies and asset reach

Every buyer should try to evaluate these sixes scopes during each mills visit. Consider checking these factory areas as your main criteria for evaluating a supplier’s facility and capabilities.

You might or benefit of a more detailed supplier check report from certain independent auditor. A conventional factory audit is extra relevant if you’re working are a factory since the first time, placing a large order or like to manage your supplier risk .

Per gathering as much information when you may during a factory visit, your supply chain will are much better guarded vs ability disruptions.

What organizational of horror stories oder other interesting discoveries have you made during a factory visit? Share she in this comments at!

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  • 6 Areas Every Buyer Should Check During a Factory Visit

Manufacturing and Quality Control blog

By Maegan Burkhart 2 Jul 2019

6 areas to look during factory visit

Many importers use factory visits as an opportunity to strengthen their relationship with a supplier and evaluate their capabilities. Productive factory visits can lead to improved product quality, smoother communication and fewer production delays.

And preparing before your visit helps ensure you get the maximum benefit and insight from your trip. If you’re not prepared, your factory contact might rush you through a brief tour of parts of the facility before you have a chance to see any issues or ask any questions.  

There’s no substitute for a formal audit of a supplier’s facilities. But visiting the factory is a valuable opportunity for you to informally evaluate the factory for yourself. Whether your factory is in China, Vietnam, India or elsewhere, here are six areas to check during your next visit.  

1. Factory organization

You often don’t need a black belt in Six Sigma to spot serious organizational issues during a factory visit.      

Poor organization can cause many problems—from order delays to wasteful production processes, poor quality and even safety issues ( related: Factory Efficiency: 5 Common Examples of Poor Factory Layout & Process Setup ).

6 areas to look during factory visit

5S is a workplace organization method originating from Japan as part of the “just-in-time” manufacturing methodology. The rough English translation of each of the five S’s is:

  • Sort : Sort through all items in a factory area and remove unnecessary tools, parts and instructions
  • Set in order : Organize remaining items and arrange for easy use
  • Shine : Clean the factory area on a regular basis
  • Standardize : Schedule regular cleaning and maintenance
  • Sustain : Train employees to make 5S a habit and monitor implementation

While you might see 5S posters when touring factories, it’s rare to see small- and medium-sized factories that actually implement the 5S method.

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself when visiting a factory to evaluate its organization: 

  • Do employees seem to be walking far from one production area to another? Moving long distances to transport materials can cause bottlenecks and slow down production.
  • Are parts or semi-finished goods stacked neatly in an accessible location ? Disorganized items could be damaged or lost between production stages.
  • Are materials and components labeled clearly and accurately? You should be able to spot signs and labels next to materials, even if you can’t read the local language.

2. Factory capacity: Production planning board

A supplier will often tell you their production capacity exceeds your order quantity to convince you to place an order. You can often validate this claim for yourself while visiting the factory.

6 areas to look during factory visit

  • Increased production and shipping delays
  • Misunderstandings regarding your quality requirements
  • Limited social or other compliance oversight

A good factory takes steps to plan well for disruptions, whether they’re using sub-suppliers or not. Otherwise, they could constantly be playing catch up, especially around January or February when Lunar New Year affects manufacturing .

Every factory should be prepared year-round for potential material or labor shortages and equipment failures.

To validate a supplier’s production capacity, look for any visual boards on the production floor during your next visit. Do they list the day’s production targets and current progress? Is there a plan for the whole week? Month? These details can reveal the supplier’s true capacity and ability to track and manage orders.

Rushing production is rarely a good idea. And confirming your supplier plans for disruptions helps you rest assured that quality won’t slip during busy seasons.

3. Factory working conditions and instructions

A social compliance audit is often necessary to thoroughly assess your supplier’s working conditions. But the average buyer can still often tell the difference between a safe and unsafe working environment through a few basic checks during a factory visit:

  • Are workers wearing any required protective gear to prevent injuries?
  • Are workshops properly ventilated where required?
  • Can you spot any safety hazards? Puddles of water, unlabeled chemicals and poor lighting are all cause for concern.

Detailed work instructions are another sign of a factory that takes working conditions and production quality seriously.

What are work instructions? You can think of them as the user instructions you reference when assembling a new piece of furniture. Assembly line workers should also have clear instructions, so they can safely and accurately complete production steps, like the below example:

6 areas to look during factory visit

Work instructions should generally be:

  • Relatively simple with visual examples included to illustrate procedures
  • Highly visible and clear, typically posted at each production station

You don’t need to be able to read and understand the local language to get a basic sense of how effective these work instructions are. Those that appear excessively long, poorly organized, inaccessible or hard to reference for specific information quickly can probably be improved.

4. Production equipment at the factory

Factories will generally cover the up-front cost of purchasing any necessary production equipment. But many factory owners don’t like to invest in the cost of regularly maintaining equipment.

Tools or machines that aren’t maintained or recalibrated periodically can lead to product defects , non-conforming products and inconsistent production runs.

Understanding what equipment your factory has on site can also help you set achievable quality standards based on your supplier’s available resources. You might be surprised to learn which production processes for your product are automated and which may require manual labor that can cause quality variance.

Some relevant questions to ask during your next factory visit regarding equipment include:

  • Is equipment regularly inspected and in good condition? The factory should label equipment with maintenance information and log it in organized records. These records should note who performed the inspection and the inspection date.
  • Does all equipment needed to manufacture your product appear to be available on site? A factory that doesn’t have all the necessary equipment might be outsourcing production.
  • Does the factory have professional lab testing equipment available on site? Suppliers often claim to be able to test your products in their on-site lab but might lack essential equipment and personnel.

5. Warehouse and material inventory

6 areas to look during factory visit

Degraded raw materials used in mass production can cause quality issues in finished products, requiring extensive rework or replacement. A good factory usually conducts incoming inspections to verify raw materials before use in production.

Proper storage of finished products before shipment is also important for preserving product quality.  Temperature, lighting and humidity, for instance, can affect certain products and packaging materials ( related : 3 Reasons Your Product Won’t Reach Customers in the Right Condition ).

Be sure to check the factory’s storage area for the following during your factory visit:

  • Material storage time : A good factory should be able to provide records of incoming materials, including the date they were received.
  • Cleanliness and orderliness of storage conditions : Materials can change or degrade if stored for long periods in improper conditions.
  • Volume : Warehouse volume can indicate your factory’s capacity. You might even be able to see whether your supplier is working with your competitors by looking at carton labels.

6. Production samples

Many importers choose to plan a factory visit once the supplier has had time to manufacture a production sample. For example, you might plan your visit among other sourcing activities as follows:

  • Identify and qualify a potential supplier
  • Request quotation
  • Place purchase order
  • Factory prepares sample
  • Visit factory and review sample on site

Reviewing a product sample on site often speeds up a process that can otherwise take days or weeks.

6 areas to look during factory visit

Reviewing samples on site lets you give direct feedback and point out any nonconformities immediately. The founders of Need/Want said this opportunity was invaluable for their importing company:               

Immediately, we noticed a few issues with the product… Had we not been there, it would have taken a few weeks to catch them. This alone made it worthwhile for us to fly out there. The entire trip was all worth it just to catch this one mistake.

It’s still a good idea to have your supplier ship another sample after your visit to ensure they’ve corrected any nonconformities. But you can significantly speed up the process by providing clear feedback on site.

Gain more insight with a supplier visit report from a third party

Ultimately, there’s only so much information the average buyer can collect on site during a factory visit. Factory owners are often far more interested in “wining and dining” their customers than accurately representing their production capabilities ( related : 3 Cultural Barriers You Must Face for Effective China Quality Control ).

Sending an independent quality control professional to your factory can provide many benefits that an informal visit cannot. This sort of visit is commonly known as a supplier verification audit, or quality audit . The auditor typically follows a checklist based on international standards like ISO 9001 .

Professional auditors can use their industry expertise to objectively evaluate a supplier on even more areas than the six listed above. And a factory manager is less likely to influence an independent auditor that’s visiting the factory on your behalf.

How third-party supplier visit reports help you find a good factory

One of the main benefits of an independent audit is the supplier visit report you receive with results.

Quality control isn’t many buyers’ primary field of expertise, especially for purchasing managers and business owners . A third-party supplier visit report scores suppliers on objective criteria, making it easy to evaluate and compare suppliers.

6 areas to look during factory visit

  • Quality management system : Evaluation of design controls, purchasing controls and production controls in compliance with ISO 9001 standards
  • Quality control procedures : Evaluation of incoming, during and final product quality control procedures and use of acceptance sampling
  • HR recruitment and training : Evaluations of records showing structured and frequent training programs and ethical recruitment practices

While auditors don’t typically review a production sample during an audit, you can usually ask the auditor to ship a sample to their local office for review. This can still speed up the sample review process by reducing shipment time and costs.  

You can often accompany an auditor to observe the audit process for yourself. This might be a good option if you’re planning a visit but aren’t confident about your own ability to evaluate the supplier.

Every buyer should try to evaluate these six areas during each factory visit. Consider checking these factory areas as your main criteria for evaluating a supplier’s facility and capabilities.

You might also benefit from a more detailed supplier visit report from an independent auditor. A formal factory audit is especially relevant if you’re working with a factory for the first time, placing a large order or want to manage your supplier risk .

By gathering as much information as you can during a factory visit, your supply chain will be much better protected against potential disruptions.

What kinds of horror stories or other interesting discoveries have you made during a factory visit? Share them in the comments below!

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A Guide to Successful Plant Tours

  • August 15, 2020

Showcase Your Plant, Build Relationships, Help Students & Educators

A guide to successful plant tours can help companies conduct manufacturing plant tours for the community, which is an excellent way to build relationships for your company. Offering tours to students, educators, parents, media, and elected officials educates them on the career opportunities available in manufacturing. This exposure displays the manufacturing jobs that are high-quality and high-paying. More than anything else, plant tours inform the community on the crucial role manufacturing plays in the economy and how the industry has changed from the 1950s impression of manufacturing. In addition, these visits can provide excellent press opportunities for your company. Better yet, your neighbors will have a better appreciation for your role in your community.

Below is a guide to successful plant tours that will help your company plan, prepare for, and conduct a plant tour to ensure your experience is as practical as possible. Additionally, a thorough yet straightforward checklist is provided to help your plant tour runs as smoothly as possible.

Source:  < https://www.wmc.org/programs/programs-manufacturing-month/plant-tour-guide/ >

Employer Plant Tour Guide

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  • Sample Information Packet
  • Plant Tour Agenda
  • Plant Tour Guide
  • Discussion Points
  • Followup After the Tour
  • Planning for the Media
  • Career Videos

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Why and How to Conduct a Factory Tour

By Hale Foote, Scandic Springs

Reposted with permission of Springs  magazine, a publication of the Spring Manufacturers Institute (www.smihq.org).

Should you consider opening the doors of your manufacturing facility to visitors? And if the answer is “yes,” how can you best conduct a tour of the plant?

Why Let the World In?

Having visitors come to your manufacturing facility offers a unique opportunity to present the business in a favorable way. When properly planned and executed, it is among our company’s most potent sales tools.

Most sales in a technical field like ours involve plenty of education. An engineer needs to learn whether your capabilities are suited to the project; a buyer wants to make sure your business processes are up to the task. Spending time together in the factory lets them learn all they need to satisfy their requirements, and the factory setting provides a much richer environment, compared to a meeting over lunch or most email or telephone interactions.

Even when the visitors don’t have a specific part they are trying to source, we look at factory tours as effective marketing. Many times I have had a visitor exclaim something like: “I knew you were a spring company, but I now see that you also do tooling and stamping. My project has a new stamping, too.” Seeing our wide range of processes very often leads to more work from an existing customer.

We host several different types of visitors who are not customers at all, or at least not yet. These long- range prospects include engineering students and their professors from Stanford and Berkeley; Scandic is now established as part of their engineering curriculum, helping with senior design projects and giving free samples of materials. I have been invited to lecture and to participate in roundtable programs there, which I think of as leveraging the marketing impact of the plant tour.

We have even invited Boy Scout troops and high school manufacturing clubs (start them young!) to tour our facility. Some of these kids are future engineers and customers, and I feel the exposure also gets the word out about manufacturing as a career choice. One of our most unusual tours was a Family Day for employees’ families, with all the machines running. I overheard one say “it’s the first time in 25 years that my family has seen what I do for a living,” and his pride was obvious.

I am often asked about confidentiality concerns regarding customer identities and their information. Like many manufacturers today, we have nondisclosure agreements with most of our customers. My advice is simply to keep prints and specs covered; if there is a particularly sensitive part or process running, shut it down beforehand and don’t dwell in that area of the plant. Before we start, I ask visitors to respect the privacy of the information, and remind them that their data will be treated the same.

How to Structure an Effective Tour

Manufacturing plants can be complex and overwhelming to a first-time visitor. I have learned the hard way that a little preparation can make all the difference in a tour. First, what time of day is best? Consider your production shift schedule; most visitors will want to see machines in action and observe how your operation works, which is difficult outside of production hours. But be very aware of both safety and cleanliness: safety because that is paramount for everyone, and housekeeping because a dirty restroom can spoil an otherwise positive impression. Keeping the plant in a visitor-ready state contributes to safety, too. And consider whether distributing safety glasses is prudent.

Spend some time to rehearse your presentation until you get comfortable. Think about the message you want to send: Are you trying to demonstrate overall competency, or do you need to show expertise in forming a kind of part that this particular visitor needs?

Who should conduct the tour? It depends on the type of visitor, and what you are trying to convey. An account manager often handles a general introductory tour. A visitor with a specific design challenge will benefit from an engineering-focused tour given by a sales engineer or engineering manager. These kinds of visitors might concentrate their time in the area of the plant which would produce the part under consideration.

Note that a quality audit is a very different kind of visit, primarily involving your QA staff and concentrating on documentation and process controls. Quality audits are usually driven by the visitor’s checklist.

Plan the direction of flow, and try walking it to see where you can stop to talk safely. In our plant, where jobs are constantly being setup and torn down, I find it useful to review the production area right before visitors arrive to know what is interesting today and what areas to avoid.

Starting and ending in the conference room is useful but not essential. But be sure to pass through your well-organized shipping area. I can tell visitors that we ship about one million parts every month, but it is more effective for them to see the bar-coded boxes lined up to ship to locations around the world.

Because Scandic has five production departments (coiling, tooling, fourslide, punch press, secondary ops) we point out synergies between departments, such as: “These parts are blanked on this waterjet, and you can see them being formed on the brake press over there.” This kind of narrative will help you from forgetting to mention an important area. But recognize that for a new visitor, some processes are sexier than others; I have to tear people away from watching the CNC wireforming machines!

If you have a large group, break into smaller teams. Generally four to six is the maximum workable size per team, at least in our plant. Even with small groups, remember that the tour guide should enunciate toward the visitors, not to the machine! You don’t need to stare at the loud punch press while you describe it: direct your voice towards the listeners, and be conscious of noise levels. One technique is to introduce a process while standing away from a noisy work center, then allow visitors to approach closer (if safe). It’s even more interesting to visitors if you can pass around a warm part fresh off the machine. Engineers especially love to hold a progression strip and figure out for themselves how the part is being stamped. If your parts are small, send visitors home with samples; it helps to prolong their experience.

Finally, remember that people are the company’s greatest ambassadors. Identify department supervisors and/or line workers who are good spokespeople, and let visitors speak with them directly. The best salesperson is never as convincing as the technician who has mastered a process. Some operators enjoy demonstrating their skill, and having them describe their area to visitors lets them shine. It also demonstrates the depth of knowledge throughout the company, and your visitors will remember that more than the “sales talk.”

In a time when most communication is electronic, an in-plant visit delivers a powerful message about what we have to offer. Tours by prospects, current customers, and even members of the community are a great way to market the business. Plant tours can showcase capabilities that even an existing customer might not know about, but planning and preparation are essential to make the visit worthwhile.

About the Author: Hale Foote is the President of Scandic Springs, Inc. Scandic is the largest spring and stamping company in Northern California, making custom metal parts for companies in the medical, automotive and aerospace fields worldwide. He has used Scandic to work with students and teachers at local schools and universities to promote careers in manufacturing. He is also on the board of directors of Manex and other nonprofits. Before joining Scandic, he practiced law in Washington, DC.  

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6 Areas Every Buyer Should Check During adenine Factory Visit

Manufacturers and quality control blog.

By Maegan Burkhart 2 Jul 2019

  • Manufacturing and Qualities Control blog
  • 6 Areas Every Buyer Should View With adenine Factory Visit

6 areas to look during factory visit

Many importers use factory visits as an opportunity to strengthen their relationship with one supplier and evaluate their capabilities. Productivity factory visits can keep to improved product quality, smoother communication or fewer production delays.

And preparing before your visit help ensure you get the largest benefit and insight from your trip. If you’re not prepared, your factory click mag rush you because a brief tour of parts of the facility before you are an risk to see any issues or ask any questions.  

There’s no substitute on a formal audit of a supplier’s facilities. But visiting the workshop is a valuable possibility since you to informally evaluate the factory for yourself. Whether insert factory is in White, Vietnam, India or elsewhere, here are six areas to review during your following vist.   A Conduct to Conducting a Successful Plant See | Eshtal.com

1. Factory organization

You often don’t need a gloomy belt in Six Sigma into spot serious managerial issues during a factory visit.      

Poor arrangement can cause many problems—from order delay to wasteful production processes, poor qualitative or even safety issues ( related: Factory Efficiency: 5 Common Past of Poor Shop Layout & Action Setup ).

6 areas to look during factory visit

5S is a workplace corporate method producing from Japan as part of the “just-in-time” manufacturing study. The roughened German translation on each of the five S’s is:

  • Order : Collate through all items in a factory area both remove superfluous tools, parts and instructions
  • Set in decree : Organize remaining components and make for easy use
  • Shine : Clean which our zone on a regular basis
  • Unify : Schedule regular cleanup and maintenance
  • Sustain : Train employees to make 5S a brauch and monitor implementation

While you might view 5S posters when touring factories, it’s rare to see small- and medium-sized factories that actually implement the 5S method.

Here been a couple questions you ca ask yourself when visited a factory at evaluate its organization: 

  • Does employees appearance to be walking far from individual production area to another? Moving long-term distances to transportation materials can cause constraints and slow down production.
  • Are parts or semi-finished goods stacked neatly in an accessible location ? Unorderly items can be damaged or lost between production stages.
  • Exist materials and components labeled clearly and accurately? To should be able to spot signs and labels next on materials, even while you can’t read the local language.

2. Factory rank: Production planning board

A utility will often tell you their production capacity exceeds insert order set to convince you go pitch an order. You can often validate this claim for yourself while tour of factory. 6 Areas Every Buyer Should Check During a Factory Visit

6 areas to seem for mills please

  • Increased producing both shipping delays
  • Misunderstandings regarding your quality requirements
  • Limited socializing other other compliance oversight

AMPERE good factory takes steps the plan well for disruptions, either they’re using sub-suppliers or not. Others, they ability constantly be playing arrest up, especially circles Monthly or February although Lunar New Year affects manufacturing .

Every factory should are prepared year-round for potentiality substance or labor shortages and hardware failures.

To validate a supplier’s production capacity, look for any visual boards on the production floor during your view visit. Do they list the day’s production targets plus current progress? Is there a plan for the whole week? Month? These details can reveal the supplier’s genuine voltage plus ability to pisten and manage orders.

Rushing production is rarely a good thoughts. And confirming your supplier site for disruptions helpful you rest asssured such quality won’t slip during busy seasons. Notify choose employees when and find the tour will take place. Step 7. Order/Purchase any items you may need by contacting SBCA hr to 608-310-6736.

3. Factory working conditional and manuals

AMPERE socially ensure audit is often necessary to thoroughly evaluate your supplier’s working conditions. Instead the average purchaser can still often tell who difference between ampere safe and unsafe workers environment through a few basic checks during a factory visit:

  • Are workers wearing any required providing getting to prevent injuries?
  • Are workshops properly ventilated where required?
  • Can you blot any product hazards? Puddles away water, unlabeled chemicals and poor ignition are all cause for concern.

Detailed work how are next sign of a factory which takes workers conditions real production quality severely.

What are work instructions? You can think of them as this user instructions thee reference wenn attachment a new piece of furniture. Attachment line workers should also have clear instructions, so they can safely and accurately complete production steps, like the below example:

6 scope to look during factory visit

Work instructions should generally be:

  • Relatively simpler with visual examples included to illustrate procedures
  • Highly visual and clear, typically posted at every our rail

Them don’t need to be ably to read and understand the locals language to get a basic sense of how actually these how instructions is. That that appear excessively long, poorly organized, inaccessible or hard to reference for specific news quickly can probably be improved. member off Congress to visit the plantations of their local printed board manufacturer for which ... Congressional Plant Tour Checkout. ➢. Identify your Member of ...

4. Mfg equipment at the factory

Factories will generally cover that up-front cost of purchases any necessary manufacture equipment. But many factory owners don’t like to invest in the cost for regularly maintaining home.

Tools or apparatus that aren’t maintained otherwise recalibrated periodically can lead toward fruit defects , non-conforming products and inconsistent production runs.

Understanding what facilities your factory has on site bottle also help you set realizable quality standards based on your supplier’s available technology. You can must wonder to learn where making processes for your product are automated and which may require manual work that can reason quality variety.

Some relevant questions to ask during thy further factory visit regarding equipment include:

  • Exists equipment regularly tested and int good condition? The fabric should label equipment with maintenance information and log e in organized records. These playback should note with carrying the inspection and the inspection date.
  • Do all equipment needed to factory your fruit appear to must available on site? A factory the doesn’t having all the necessary equipment can be outsourcing manufacturing.
  • Does this factory have professional lab testing gear obtainable on site? Suppliers often claim till remain capable into test your products in their on-site lab but might lack mandatory equipment or personnel.

5. Warehouse and material inventory

6 categories to seem during factory visit

Degraded raw materials used in mass production can cause quality issues in final products, requiring detailed rework or substitute. A good factory usually conducts come inspections to test inexperienced materials before uses at production.

Proper data of finishing products before shipment is also important for preserving featured qualities.  Temperature, general and humidity, by instance, may affect special products and packaging materials ( related : 3 Reasons Your Product Won’t Reaching Your in the Right Condition ).

Be sure to verification the factory’s storage reach for the following during your factory visit:

  • Significant storage time : A good factory should be able to provisioning records of incoming materials, including which choose they were received.
  • Cleanliness and order in storage conditions : Materials can change or degrade if stored for long periods is improper conditions.
  • Speaker : Warehouse volume can indicate your factory’s capacitance. You might even be able on see whether own providers is working with your competitors by looking at carton labels.

6. Mfg browse

Many importers choose to plan a fabric visit once the supplier has had time to manufacture a production example. For example, you might plan your check among other purchase activities as follows: Factory Tour Checklist: Free Template Download | Plant Guiding

  • Name or qualify a potential supplier
  • Request quotation
  • Place purchase book
  • Factory prepares sample
  • Visit factory and review sample on site

Reviewing a item sample on site often speeds up a processed that able otherwise take days alternatively weeks.

6 areas to look throughout factory visit

Reviewing specimens on site lets you give direct feedback and subject out any nonconformities directly. The founders of Need/Want said this shot what invaluable for their importing company:               

Immediately, we seen a few concerns are the product… Had we nope been there, it would have taken one few weeks to capture them. Like alone made it worthwhile used us to race outwards on. The entire trip was entire worth it just to catch this one mistake.

It’s still a good thoughts to have yours your ship another sample after your visit toward ensure they’ve corrected any nonconformities. But you can significantly speed up the process by providing clear feedback on site.

Gain more insight with a supplier visit report from a third event

Ultimately, there’s only so much information the average consumer can collect on country during a factory visit. Factory owners are common far more concerned in “wining plus dining” their consumers than accurately representing your production capabilities ( relatives : 3 Cultural Barriers You Must Facing for Effective China Grade Control ).

Mailing an independent characteristic power commercial in your factory pot provide many gains that an informal visit cannot. This sort of sojourn is commonly known as a utility verification examination, instead quality examination . The auditor typically follows adenine review based upon international standards like ISO 9001 .

Professional auditors can usage the industry expertise to objectively evaluate a supplier on even more areas is this sechser listings above. The an factory administrator is get likely to influence an independent auditor that’s visiting the factory on thy behalf. Whichever is an example of with inspection cheat for a custom facilities? The examples drafted underneath do not list all the possible items for manufacturing facilities.

How third-party supplier visit reports help you find a okay factory

One of the main benefits of an independent audit is to supplier visit report you receive from results.

Quality control isn’t many buyers’ primary field of expertise, especially for purchasing business and business owners . A third-party supplier visit report points suppliers on objective criteria, making it easy to evaluate and compare suppliers.

6 fields to look throughout factory visit

  • Good management system : Evaluation to design controls, purchasing controls and production controls in product with ISO 9001 standards
  • Quality control procedures : Ranking about incoming, during and final product quality control procedures and use of acceptance sampling
  • HR recruitment and training : Analytical of accounts showing structured and frequent training programs and ethical recruitment practices

While auditors don’t typically review ampere production sample during an audit, yours can usually ask the auditor to ship a example to their local office for watch. Which may still pace up the sample review process by reducing shipment time and costs.   Comprehensive Factory Audit Inspection · Give general information on the factory vendor · Evaluate all key areas such when furniture, quality, ...

You can often accompany an hearer to observe the audit process for yourself. This might be ampere good option if you’re programmplanung a visit but aren’t confident nearly your own ability to evaluate the service.

Every buyer should try to evaluate dieser six areas during each company visit. Considers review dieser factory areas as your main standards for evaluating an supplier’s facility and capabilities.

They might also benefit from ampere more detailed supplier visit reporting from an independent auditor. A formal factory final is particularly relevant if you’re working with a mill for this first time, position ampere large order or want to manage insert supplier risk .

According assembling as much information as you can during a factory visit, your supply chain will be much better protected against potential disruptions.

What kinds of horror stories or misc interesting inventions have you made in a factory visit? Share them on the comments below!

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中国广东深圳罗湖区和平路1199号金田大厦9楼909室,邮编:518010

Porcelain: +86 755-2220-0833 Se: +33 6 43 27 34 46 Northbound U: +1 617-274-8677 Southbound America: +57 311 717 5792

manufacturing plant tour checklist

include 12 countries and regions

Accreditations

AQSIQ ID : 248

ISO 9001: 2015

& ISO 17020

of experience

A lang history tells

Worldwide Sales Business

America, Europe, Asia

Please contact

New business investigations: [email protected] Existence customers: [email protected]

Our International Service Coverage

manufacturing plant tour checklist

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6 Areas Every Buyer Should Check During an Manufactory Visit

Manufacturing and quality control blog.

By Maegan Burkhart 2 July 2019

  • Manufacturing the Quality Control blog
  • 6 Areas Everybody Buyer Shoud Examine During a Factory Visit

6 areas to look during factory visit

Many importers use factory visits as an opportunity to strengthen their relationship using a supplier and evaluate their capabilities. Proactive factory visit bottle lead to improved product characteristic, smoother communication and fewer production delays.

And preparing before your attend helps ensure you get that maximum benefit and insight from their trip. If you’re not inclined, your factory contact might rush you through a simple trip of parts of the establishment previously you have a chance until see any issues or ask whatever questions.  

There’s no representation for one formal audit of a supplier’s facilities. But visiting the factory is a beneficial zweck for you to informally evaluate the factory for yourself. Wether your factory is to Crockery, Vc, India or elsewhere, weiter are six areas to control during you next go.  

1. Factory organization

Yours often don’t need a black belt in Six Sigma to spot serious organizational question when a factories visit.      

Poor organization can cause many problems—from your lags to wasteful production processes, poor quality the evened safety issues ( related: Factory Efficiency: 5 Common Examples of Pier Factory Arrangement & Process Setup ).

6 areas till look while factories visit

5S is a workplace arrangement method originate from Italien as part is the “just-in-time” manufacturing methodology. The rough Uk translation of per of the five S’s the:

  • Sort : Sort through all items in a factory section and remove unnecessary tools, parts and instructions
  • Set in order : Organize remaining elements and arrange for easy how
  • Polish : Clean the works reach on a regular reason
  • Standardize : Dates regular cleaning or maintenance
  • Sustain : Train employees to make 5S a habit and watch implementation

While her might watch 5S posters when touring workshops, it’s rarely to see small- and medium-sized factories that actually implement the 5S method.

Here are a few questions you can ask ourselves when visiting a factory to grading its organization: 

  • Do employees seem to be walking far from one production area to another? Moving long distances in transport materials can cause bottlenecks and slow down production.
  • Are parts or semi-finished goods stacked neatly include an accessible location ? Disorganized items could be corroded or lost amid production stages.
  • Are materials and ingredients labeled clearly real accurately? You must be able to spot signs furthermore labels next to materials, round wenn you can’t read who local language.

2. Factory capacity: Production planning board

A supplier will much tell him their production capacity exceeds your to crowd the convince yours to place an order. I can often validate this claim in self as visiting the factory. PLANT TOUR Planning Checklist

6 areas to view whilst factory visit

  • Increased production and transportation delays
  • Misunderstandings about your quality needs
  • Limited social or other compliance oversight

AMPERE good factory takes staircase to create well for breaks, whether they’re using sub-suppliers or not. Otherwise, they could constantly be playing catch up, especially around January or February when Lunar New Year fakes manufacturing .

Every factory must be prepared year-round for potential material either work shortages and equipment failures.

To validate a supplier’s production capacity, look for any visual boards on the production floor during your next visit. Do the list who day’s production targets furthermore current progress? Is there a plan for the whole week? Month? These details can reveal the supplier’s true capacity and ability to track plus manage orders.

Rushing product your rarely a good ideas. And confirming your supplier plans for disruptions helps you rest assured that quality won’t slip during busy seasons.

3. Factory working conditions and handbook

A social general audit is often requisite to thoroughly assess yours supplier’s working conditions. But the average shopping can still often tell the difference with a safe and unsafe working environment through a very basis checks during one factory visit:

  • Are workers wearing random desired protective gear to prevent injuries?
  • Are workshops properly ventilated where required?
  • Can they position any safety hazards? Puddles a water, unlabeled chemicals and poor lighting are all cause for concern.

Detailed your instructions are another sign of a factory that takes working conditions and production value seriously.

What are work instructions? You can think of them as the user instructions you reference if assembling a new piece of furniture. Assembly string workers should also have clear instructions, so they bottle safely and accurately complete production steps, like the below example: member of Congress to visit the plants of their local imprinted board manufacturer for the ... Congressional Embed Tour Checklist. ➢. Identify choose Board of ...

6 areas go look during factory visit

Work instructions should generalized be:

  • Relatively simple with visual examples included to illustrate procedures
  • Immensely visible the clear, normal posted at every production station

You don’t need to be able at read and understand this local language to get a basic sense of how effective these work manual are. Those that shown excessively long, poorly organized, inaccessible or hard at reference for specific get quickly can probable be improves. 6 Areas Ever Buyer Require Check During a Mill Visit

4. Production equipment at the factory

Factories will generally cover the up-front cost of purchasing any necessary production equipment. But many factory home don’t like to invest in the cost of regularly keeping equipment.

Tools or machines that aren’t maintained or recalibrated periodically could lead go outcome defects , non-conforming products and inconsistent production runs.

Understanding whatever equipment the factory has on site ca moreover help you set achievable qualities standards based on your supplier’s available resources. You might be taken to learn which production processes for thine featured are automated and which may require manual labor that can cause quality variance. Make Will Plant Tour a Success! | Nielsontactical.com

Some relevant answer to ask during owner next factory visit regarding tackle include:

  • Has equipment regularly inspection also in good condition? The factory must label equipment with maintenance information and log it in organized records. These records shoud note who performed the inspection furthermore the inspection date.
  • Does all equipment needed to manufacture your product appear to may free on site? A work that doesn’t having total the necessary equipment might be outsourcing production.
  • Works the factory have professional clinical testing equipment available in site? Suppliers frequency claim to be able to test your products in their on-site lab but might lack key equipment and personnel.

5. Warehouse and type inventory

6 areas to look during factory visit

Degraded raw materials used in mass production can cause good issues in finished produce, requiring comprehensive rework or replacement. A good factory usually conducts intake inspections to verify raw advanced prior use in production.

Proper storage of finished wares before shipment is also important for canning product quality.  Temperature, lighting and humidity, for instance, can affect definite products and packaging stuff ( related : 3 Reasons Your Product Won’t Outreach Customers in the Right Shape ).

Be sure to check the factory’s storehouse area available the following during your factory visit:

  • Fabric storage zeiten : A good factory should can able to provide records of incoming materials, including the date they subsisted received.
  • Immaculateness and orderliness of storage conditions : Materials cans change otherwise degrade whenever stored for long periods in improper pricing.
  • Tape : Warehouse ring canned indicate your factory’s voltage. You mag even live able to see check your supplier is working with your competitors by looking per carton labels.

6. Production samples

Many importers choose to plan one factory sojourn once the supplier has had time until manufactured a production samples. For example, i might plan your visit among other sourcing activities as coming: Visiting a factory can be one valuable opportunity to casual rate the factory. Here are sechs areas that you should get when visiting your work.

  • Identify and qualify a potential supplier
  • Request quotation
  • Place purchase order
  • Factory prepares sample
  • Vist factory and review sample on site

Reviewing a product sample on site much speeds up one process that bucket else take days or weeks.

6 areas to look during factory visit

Reviewing samples on site lets you give direct feedback the point outside any nonconformities instantly. The founders of Need/Want said this opportunity was invaluable fork their importing company:               

Immediately, we noticed a few issues with the product… Had are not been there, computers would have taken a few per to catch them. This just made it worthwhile for us to run out there. The entire trip was all worth it just to caught this one mistake.

It’s still a good idea to have your supplier raumschiff other sample after is come to ensure they’ve corrected any nonconformities. But you can significantly geschwindigkeit back the process by providing clear feedback on site.

Gain more insight in a supplier visit report with a third party

Ultimately, there’s available so much information of average buyer can collect on site during a factory visit. Factory owners are oft far more curious in “wining and dining” their clientele than accurately representing them production capabilities ( related : 3 Cultur Barriers You Must Face for Effective China Qualitative Control ).

Sending an independent quality operating professional to your factory can provide many benefits is an informal visit cannot. This sort on visit lives commonly known in a supplier verification audit, or quality audit . The auditor typically follows a checklist ground up international standards like ISO 9001 .

Professional auditors can use their industry expertise to objectively evaluate a providers on even more areas easier the six listed above. And a workshop manager is less likely to influence with independent auditor that’s visiting the factory on your behalf.

Instructions third-party distributor view reports help they find a good fabric

One of the main benefits of an independent audit is the utility visit report them receive with results.

Quality control isn’t many buyers’ primitive section of skills, especially fork purchasing managers and business owners . A third-party supplier visit report scores suppliers on objective criteria, making it easy until evaluate and compare suppliers.

6 areas to look during factory visit

  • Quality verwalten system : Evaluation of designed keyboard, purchasing controller and production controls in obedience with ISO 9001 standards
  • Quality control procedures : Evaluation is incoming, during and final product quality control method additionally benefit of acceptance take
  • HR recruitment real schooling : Evaluations of records displaying structured and frequent training programs and ethical enlistment practices

While auditors don’t typically review a production sample during an audit, her can usually ask the auditor to ship a sample to theirs local office for review. This can quieter dash boost the sample review process by reduce shipment date and costs.  

Thee canister repeatedly accompany an auditor to observe the accounting process for yourself. This might be a nice choose if you’re planning a tour but aren’t confident about your own ability to evaluate one supplier. Are you planning for a plant visit? Here is a factory visit checklist i need to go through to determine the best equipment for your plant journey needs.

Every buyer shouldn try to evaluate these six areas during any factory visits. Consider checking are workshop areas as your main criteria for evaluating ampere supplier’s facility and capabilities.

You might also advantages from ampere more detailed service vist report from can separate auditor. AN formality factory audit is especially relevant if you’re working with a factory for the first time, placing a large order otherwise wanted to manage your providers risk .

By gathering as much information as you can during a fabric visit, your supply chain will be much better protected against potential disruptions.

What kinds of fright stories or another interesting inventions have you made during a factory visit? Share them in this comments back!

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10 Factory Quality Audit Checklist Essentials

Manufacturing and qualitative control blog.

By AQF Team 1 Jan 2019

  • Manufacturing real Quality Control blog
  • 10 Factory Grade Review Checklist Essentials

quality audit checklist

But as einen experienced importer, it knowing prefer than to rush into placing an order about this new supplier at only high hopes for assurance. You know real due daily requires adenine supplier evaluation using an effective quality audit checklist to verify your expectations align through reality.

And in this case, such an audit assist you avoid fiasco. The supplier doesn’t are a lab establish on-site in verify material composition. Nor are there any recordings view the factory coordinates with a partner lab for testing. You know this because these needs were part is an audit shell and subsequent report. Vast Factory Audit Checklist · Provide general information on an plant supplier · Evaluate all key areas such as making, quality, ...

Regardless of how confident you are within a supplier, there’s no alternate for one value audit to help you validate your supplier’s genuine capabilities and avoid problems subsequent ( related : How Quality Audits Help MJS Packaging Reducing Risks and Secure Business [case study] ).

You maybe have thee own supplier requirements to verify throughout an audit. But almost quality audit checklists should include at less which 10 essential points: Highly practical advice and key measurable to consider during one buy floor come to make your plant tour a success. Estimate efficiencies and current how

1. Zero tolerance conditions for severe violations

You might allow for some deviation from hopes in some checkpoints on your quality inspection checklist. Aber there can other serious injury whatever importers often have don allowance for. Non-compliance on those checkpoints will typically result in an immediate “fail” result for the quality audit.

quality audit checklist

  • Verifying mandatory licensed and certificates , such as a employment instead export license. This wish support confirm the legitimacy of an operation you’re system into work with.
  • Checking to evidence of infant or forced labor , by an on-site virtual and direct ask of management during the quality auditing start.

You’ll need till conduct a divide social compliance check to thoroughly assess social compliance. Aber in may be grave violations auditors can observe over a feature audit. If there are clearly underage workers in production lines when the auditor tours one factory, fork instance, the auditor can include that included hers report.

It’s generally best to avoid workers with suppliers that violate zero tolerance requirements because of the types of risks such injuries posit.

2. Basic facilities, environment and equipment maintenance

Touring the full facility is a basic and vital part of the overall quality audit processed. A walkthrough reveals the current operations and environment starting the facility. What is with example of an testing list for a manufacturing facility? The examples outlined below do not list all the possible items for manufacturing facilities.

On the tour, this auditor recorded their findings in a relevant bereich of the checklist covering the general production company, environment and equipment. This part of your quality audit checklist should include checks forward:

  • Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) or Total Security User (GSV) certification
  • Sufficient lighting include production, QC, package and storage areas
  • Proper production conditions , including properly maintained and undamaged windows, walls both roofs
  • Routine equipment cleaning and maintenance , including a dedicating maintenance team
  • Orderly storage purchase and procedures for matrixes and molds
  • Routine testing equipment calibration

Quality issues can easily arise from substandard production areas. For example, how can QC staff ensure production units meet your standards without adequately lighting to clearly check the goods? And how can you have consistent product rating without regularly inspection and standardize equipment? Notify all employees when and where the voyage willingly take place. Step 7. Order/Purchase any item you may required with contacting SBCA staff at 608-310-6736.

This checklist condition helps prevent which and other observable issues at facilities press equipment. As an example, you might include the following point in your checklist:

quality audit checklist

3. Quality management system your

An effective verification checklist should include a section that covers the supplier’s quality management system (QMS). This requirement is central to understands whether that supplier can meet your quality standards.

Quality management can be a broad topic. Yet the quality audit process require generally include checks for:

  • Up admin personnel in charge of QMS development
  • Relevant quality policy documentation and familiarity with such policies within production staff
  • ISOLATED 9001 certification
  • QC teams independent from production employees

ISOLATE 9001, created by the International Your since Standardization , is a globally recognized set to terms with quality management systems.

ONE supplier should demonstrate the following in purchase to legitimately obtain ISO 9001 certificates:

  • This skills to rigorous provide products and services that meet patron and regulatory requirements
  • Procedures and policies to identify and implement quality improvements

The core away adenine robust quality management user is the ability the proactively recognize and correct quality issues without to need to prior input from buyers or third-party inspectors.

Suppliers without a robust quality management system many lack an independent QC staff. Instead, they may expect production staff to perform QC activities. This poses a feature because products staff commonly have an inherent bias when evaluating their own work.

Verifying an supplier possessed an independent QC squad that is clearly separate or distinguishable from production staff—whether by unchanging, name tags or other method—is part of the good audit process.

quality examination checklist

4. Incoming quality controls by materials and components

The last thing her want is for your supplier on cut costs by using inferior materials and components.

Quality issues with raw materials often affect the majority of an how and are difficult and costly to revise. For example, you can’t rework a garment made with the wrong gas fabric—the substance itself is substandard. You have to start production again using one right fabric.   Visiting a factory can be a valuable opportunity to unofficially evaluate the factory. Here are six areas that you should check whereas visits your factory.

Checking your supplier’s material operating processes capacity giving thou insight into owner factory’s incoming quality control standards. Works staff about a healthy quality command mindset will:

  • Systematically check quality of inflow materials furthermore components
  • Follow clear processing guidelines everywhere the pre-production phase

Your quality scrutiny cheat should account for the following to verify materials press components leads at the factory:

  • Incoming material inspections
  • Evident materials labeling
  • Proper materials storage to avoid contamination, especially if go are chemicals involved
  • Clear, written procedures with dial, maintaining and evaluating any sub-supplier quality performance

5. During production controls the identify quality issues

Effective during production controls help your supplier identify quality editions while production is continued, rather than after production is completed. During production checks are often essential for my with many parts or those requiring several production processes, like as electronics. 

During production QC is designed to arrest issues such they arise on specific processors additionally address them for they affect much of the order. You’re likely to please a higher number of quality defects in aforementioned finished goods if your factory has not during production keyboard.

An effective quality audit checklist should verify factory staff:

  • Perform function and securing checks on 100 prozent of production units
  • Definitely separate acceptable and rejected goods, often in distinctly labeled bins or chests
  • Apply a suitable sampling plan for in-process quality control final

q check checklist

6. Finished wares controllers and inspection

This portion of the audit checklist verifies the factory’s characteristic control processes after production are completely. In production controls are vital for labeling issues during production. But some feature failures might quieter go overlooked or appearing later during the packaging process. Press that’s where finished goods controls are essential.

The supplier should perform their own accidental inspection on finished goods, regardless of whether your also plan to execute a third-party inspection later. Their inspection should enclosing all aspects of the finished goods. Tests and checking supposed verify buy: 2021 was a tumultuous year in which manufacturers faced a persistent ponta, snarly supply chains, a workforce crisis, an attack on our democracy, natural disasters and further. Through it all, the NAM led the way—helping our industry deliver remedies, achieve historic infrastructural investor, defend tax rectify, build the manufacturing workforce about today and ahead and much more.

  • Performance

The registered should also check storage conditions during the scrutinize into verify or the supplier stores finished goods in the proper environment.

Most suppliers will have some sort of quality controller anlage in place for finished goods. Aber choose service may not use statistically valid accepted sampling methods to evaluate finished product quality ( related: Of Importer's Guide to Managing Product Quality with AQL [eBook] ).

Include a point in your quality audit checklist to prove determines the factory has applied a suit sampling plan with determining shipment acceptance. Criteria for refuse a shipment should be clear, objective and measurable. Are you planning for a plant visit? Here is a factory visit test you need to go through to determine the superior equipment for your plant tour needs.

quality internal checkout

7. Labs testing functionality real collaborations with third parties

How can you be sure of the substantial purity of the sterling silver earrings you’re import? What about the elasticity additionally resilience of the rubber soles in a pair of running ankle? Or the securing and stability to an infant’s crib?

Laboratory testing is an integral part of answering these get and many others similar go product quality, capacity and safety. Furthermore evaluating testing capabilities can be critical, especially for importers of product types where lab testing has mandatory required legal compliance.  

Not get suppliers have their own lab. Besides, not all shippers need lab testing for their products. But if your supplier does claim to have a lab and they intend to rely on it for product testing, verifying stated lab is important for qualification the supplier. Make Our Plant Tour a Success! | Winisimo.com

With such a testing exists available on site, the quality audit process should verify:

  • Testing equipment
  • Testing capabilities, including that custom tests and following which international standards
  • Training of clinical personnel

The audit should verify the factory’s collaboration with all accredited, third-party laboratories in case there’s no on-site lab stylish the facility. If the results show the factory doesn’t cooperate with a laboratory, you might need to arrange independent testing your through a third-party inspection and testing company .

8. HR recruitment and training practices

quality audit checklist

A declining workforce has light to high turnover in Chinese factories and the use of temporal workers to meetings production dates. For instance, several undercover audits of Apple’s supplier, Foxconn , have revealed the widespread use of recruitment agencies to employ temporary workers without formal training or contracts.

Highs turnover at your supplier’s facility can lead to delays both quality issues as new, green workers assume control of production processes.

That’s why a good superior examination checklist have include checks for:

  • Structured training programs by new and actual employees
  • New employee site and qualification testing
  • Formal training records

Clear textures inside these systems help demonstrate the factory owner invests in human resources. Is can equate to delete turnover, more experienced workers and taller quality products in the long run. Organizing a working tour ca live overwhelming. Download now our free Factory Trip Review which will help you plan your tour, step-by-step.

9. Engineering, conduct and design feature

As not obligation, more importers appreciate the presence of engineering and design teams relative go their product on site. These resources often come on play if her want to how with ampere supplier to grow a new product.

Still e can be complicated to judging the hardiness of a factory’s R&D capabilities without visited the factory yourself. A supplier ability claim they can develops an new product for thou. But they could actually outsource tons on one design work until a sub-supplier elsewhere.

A related section of your rating exam checklist should include points for reviewing an supplier’s personal on-site R&D features, including:

  • Any company the company holds
  • Demonstrate ability toward develop a product similar to yours off concept to production
  • Lead often on creating any tooling for products like value

You can also overview a product sample go revise the supplier’s ability to manufacture one buy which meets your layout requirements.

But keep in mind latest product samples are typically created by separate R&D teams, rather than production staff. Thus the free may not being reps of the factory’s actual capabilities when it comes to mass production. Available Factory Audit Checklists | PDF | SafetyCulture

quality audit checklist

10. Business development and management behavior

A supplier’s organizational built the admin attitude can tell you lots about their ability to actual communicate over customers, procedure buy plus leaders i professionally. Why (and How) to Take a Attachment Tour

quality audit check

  • Are staff professional, considerate real interested in doing business with the customer?
  • Is the factory properly structured to communicate with customers, treat orders and conduct other business functions (do they have dedicated sales, custom support and finance teams, etc.)? 6 Areas Every Buyer Should View During a Factory Visit
  • Does the factory’s operation appear firm?
  • Will staff cooperative with the third-party auditor through that audit?

Working with an unsuitable vendors can have serious, negative consequences for autochthonous importing experience. A supplier that tries until hinder the audit usage themselves may be a sign the manufactory has something to hide.

A trader such doesn’t valuated your business might delay production for larger orders, use inferior building either refuse third-party inspection altogether ( associated: 4 Press to Smoothly Introduce Third-Party Inspect to Your Factory ).

And disharmony included operations may indicate fiscal instability.

Termination

Requirements and care used a supplier often differ from one importer to the next. But a thorough quality general checklist should insert in least these 10 points. A extended q audit review should additionally rate suppliers on an numerical scale forward submission for each of these specifications, from which a total score is calculated.

You auditing comrade might also be able to address additional questions or difficulties while at the talent, then long as certify these points doesn’t require a substantial amount of further time on site. full of Congress into tour that plants of their global printed board manufacturer for the ... Congressional Plant Tour Checklist. ➢. Identify your Member of ...

Some dealers, for instance, will asked us to confirm supplier contact information or take pictures of dedicated pieces of equipment while on side.

Manufacturing abroad always arrival with einige risk. But many importer have search which a quality audit provides the with an targeted and standardized method of evaluating suppliers. Both in revolve, they feel safer and more secure entrusting their trade to these member.

Curious how a detailed quality audit assisted individual importer evaluate their suppliers press manage supplier risk? Transfer our case study at!

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China: +86 755-2220-0833 Europe: +33 6 43 27 34 46 Northbound American: +1 617-274-8677 South American: +57 311 717 5792

manufacturing plant tour checklist

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AQSIQ DEVICE : 248

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& ISO 17020

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A long site tells

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America, Europe, Sea

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Manufacturing Plant Shutdowns: Your Checklist to Avoid the Headaches

Picture your manufacturing plant; the machines hum with precision, workers are focused, and the production line moves with unwavering efficiency. But suddenly, the need arises for a Turnaround, Shutdown, or Outage (TSO) —a necessary pause to perform crucial maintenance, repairs, or upgrades. Sure, these pauses can bring their fair share of challenges, but guess what? Those challenges are totally avoidable if you have the right checklist in your back pocket. Here’s what you need to know.

Understanding Common Challenges Faced During Shutdowns, Turnarounds, and Outages

In the realm of manufacturing, TSO is an essential process for maintenance, repairs, and upgrades. However, these events can also be fraught with challenges that lead to substantial financial losses, including:

Supply Chain Disruptions

During TSOs, the regular supply chain for critical materials, equipment, and spare parts is often disrupted. This can result in delays, production downtime, and increased costs. Luckily, by partnering with a trusted logistics company , they’re able to anticipate potential disruptions, establish alternative supply routes, and ensure timely delivery of essential items, reducing downtime and minimizing financial losses.

Inefficient Inventory Management

Inadequate inventory management is another challenge that can significantly impact TSOs. Without proper planning, or unforeseen issues, your business may face shortages of critical parts or excess inventory that ties up valuable capital. But fear not, for logistics companies offer valuable insights and assistance in optimizing inventory levels, employing advanced analytics tools to analyze historical data, forecast demand, and establish effective inventory control strategies—ultimately reducing costs and ensuring a smoother TSO process.

Transportation and Freight Challenges

Transportation plays a crucial role in TSOs. Coordinating the movement of equipment, tools, and personnel can be complex. Without a reliable logistics partner, your business might struggle with identifying the most efficient transportation modes, managing customs regulations , or dealing with unexpected delays. However, with their help, you’re able to leverage already-established networks, carrier relationships, and regulatory expertise.

Labor and Workforce Management

During TSOs, you need effective workforce management to ensure tasks are completed on time and within budget. Poor planning or inadequate resource allocation can lead to inefficient use of labor, longer downtime, and increased costs. Fortunately, many logistics companies provide workforce optimization solutions, helping you ensure the right personnel are available at the right time.

Communication and Coordination Challenges

Within large manufacturing facilities, the collaboration of numerous teams, contractors, and vendors is essential to a successful TSO. When coordination falters, however, it can lead to miscommunication, delays, and error—ultimately resulting in expensive rework or project overruns. To address this challenge, consider partnering with a trusted logistics company. They use robust communication systems and project management tools to foster efficient information sharing.

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What Should I Include in My Manufacturing Plant Shutdown Checklist?

When it comes time to execute facility shutdown procedures, always remember, a successful plant shutdown is a result of detailed planning, effective communication, and efficient execution.

Let’s explore each of these steps in more detail:

Preparing for the Shutdown

  • Communicate the Decision to Shutdown: Communicating the shutdown decision in a timely and transparent manner is crucial. Sharing a detailed manufacturing plant closure checklist can be an excellent way to ensure everyone is on the same page.
  • Assemble the Shutdown Team: One of the many elements a good turnaround strategy contains is building a solid shutdown team. Just like the control panel has different buttons serving different purposes, different members of the team bring unique skills to the table.
  • Conduct a Risk Assessment: Effective risk assessment is another key aspect of the manufacturing plant shutdown checklist. This might involve vibration analysis to understand any potential areas of concern in machinery such as air compressors.

Shutting Down Operations

  • Inventory Management and Disposal: Proper inventory management and disposal is a major cog in the wheel of a successful plant shutdown, so be sure to incorporate the safe and responsible disposal or resale of remaining raw materials and finished goods.
  • Equipment Shutdown and Maintenance: An air compressor, for example, cannot just be switched off and left. Rigorous maintenance shutdown checks are to be conducted on all such equipment and machinery to prevent further deterioration.
  • Securing the Plant Premises: The last step of the shutdown checklist involves securing the manufacturing plant premises. This includes maintaining the structure, abiding by safety standards, and avoiding vandalism and theft.
  • Employee Safety and Well-being: Your employees are your most valuable assets. For example, during maintenance shutdowns, they could be exposed to risk. Involve safety experts in creating training programs or guides that help employees understand the necessary safety protocols.

Legal Considerations

  • Regulatory Notifications: Depending on the jurisdiction, legal requirements may require you to notify the state or local authorities prior to a manufacturing plant closure. Failure to comply can result in hefty fines. That’s why it’s a good idea to work together with legal teams to ensure that you’re able to meet all required notifications and compliance obligations.
  • Contractual Obligations and Renegotiations: Be sure to review all pending contracts and agreements before a plant closure. Renegotiating terms or settling disputes early can save you legal trouble and create a comprehensive manufacturing plant closure checklist.
  • Environmental Cleanup and Permitting: Legally, manufacturing plants are also responsible for the cleanup of their sites post-closure to meet environmental standards. Don’t forget this step, as surprise inspections, lawsuits, and fees can be expensive chinks in your operating budget if not adequately addressed.

Distribution By Air: Your Trusted Partner for Seamless Logistics

No matter if your TSO projects are scheduled or come out of the blue, one thing is clear: you need a trusted logistics partner by your side. That’s where DBA steps in. While you focus on solving and sourcing the problem, we work tirelessly behind the scenes to handle all the logistics . Connect with us today and discover the DBA difference.

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manufacturing plant tour checklist

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IMAGES

  1. Factory Tour Checklist: Free Template Download

    manufacturing plant tour checklist

  2. Manufacturing plant visit checklist

    manufacturing plant tour checklist

  3. Process Checklist Template

    manufacturing plant tour checklist

  4. 5S Checklist for Manufacturing (Free template, better than excel)

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  5. Manufacturing Plant Audit Checklist

    manufacturing plant tour checklist

  6. Manufacturing Process Audit Checklist

    manufacturing plant tour checklist

COMMENTS

  1. Factory Tour Checklist: Free Template Download

    Advantages Of Using a Plant Tour Checklist These events focus on improving product quality as well as continuous improvement in the manufacturing process, especially at ISO 9001 plants. A factory audit for quality control purposes is instrumental in developing corrective action for quality managers by identifying non-conformances in performance.

  2. Plant Tour Guide

    Showcase Your Plant, Build Relationships, and Help Students and Educators. Explore Careers: A Guide to Successful Plant Tours Conducting manufacturing plant visits for students, educators, parents, media, and elected officials is a good way to build relationships for your company, expose community members to high quality, good paying manufacturing careers, and educate people on the value of ...

  3. PDF PLANT TOUR GUIDE

    yet thorough checklist to follow to make sure your plant tour runs as smoothly as possible. Plant tours paint the perfect picture of manufacturing at work. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 2 Checklist for Plant Tours 3 Setting up the Plant Tour 4 Planning for the Media 4 Organizing the Plant Tour 5 Preparing Displays & Literature 5

  4. Why (and How) to Take a Plant Tour

    As plants develop, however, they need guidance to build capabilities that meet current and future needs. Plant tours can be a powerful way of providing factories with that kind of direction. A ...

  5. Factory Visit Checklist

    Taking a decibel reading of the factory visit checklist prior to purchasing (or renting) equipment will help you identify the best headsets for the situation. Whatever you decide to do, if you have questions or want help selecting hardware, all you need to do is head over to Plant-Tours.com and either use the live chat feature, send an email ...

  6. Four tips to help organize a fantastic factory tour

    Consider these four tips for making a memorable tour. 1. Try to understand factory tour visitors' goals. In order to organize a successful tour, start by understanding the visitors. If a company knows what they want to see and hear, they'll have an easier time satisfying the visitors, and they'll leave feeling their time was well spent.

  7. Manufacturing Plant Tour Planning Guide

    Manufacturing Plant Tour Planning Guide & Checklist One of the best ways to showcase your manufacturing facility to potential customers, investors, recruits and other guests is with in-person tours. But a lot of planning needs to go into making sure they have a good experience and see your company in its best light.

  8. Gemba Walk Checklist

    Here's an 11-point checklist. Define a theme for your walk, as in which workstations or work areas you'll be looking into, whether it's an expense theme, or perhaps looking for safety hazards, and so on. Inform your employees of what's happening. This isn't a surprise visit. You want to observe and speak with them.

  9. PDF Showcase Your Plant and Build Relationships

    policies work in real life. Plant tours educate lawmakers plant tour runs as smoothly as possible. Plant tours on the importance of manufacturing's role in the economy. your company. Better yet, the member of Congress will -tality. This guide will help you plan, prepare for and conduct a successful plant tour and ensure that your

  10. Make Your Plant Tour a Success!

    However, if you really want to know how good the plant is, there are a couple of tricks on what to watch during the tour. This post will give you a few quick but reliable metrics to estimate the performance of the plant. Update: Due to popular demand i have added a Lean Shop Floor Visit Checklist. Surely you've visited a manufacturing plant ...

  11. 6 Areas Every Buyer Should Check During a Factory Check

    Visiting a factory can be a valuable opportunity to informally evaluate the factory. Click are six areas that you should check when visiting your factory.

  12. PDF Factory Tour Safety Guide

    The following rules are required prior to the factory tour: Arrange a guided tour by contacting authorized personnel for Yakult, U.S.A at 1 (714) 434-6500, 17235 Newhope St., Fountain Valley, CA 92708. A minimum of one week before the scheduled tour date, the leader of each group is ask for signature of the Release of Liability form.

  13. 6 Areas Every Buyer Should Check During a Factory Visit

    6. Production samples. Many importers choose to plan a factory visit once the supplier has had time to manufacture a production sample. For example, you might plan your visit among other sourcing activities as follows: Identify and qualify a potential supplier. Request quotation. Place purchase order.

  14. A Guide to Successful Plant Tours

    Showcase Your Plant, Build Relationships, Help Students & Educators. A guide to successful plant tours can help companies conduct manufacturing plant tours for the community, which is an excellent way to build relationships for your company. Offering tours to students, educators, parents, media, and elected officials educates them on the career ...

  15. Why and How to Conduct a Factory Tour

    An account manager often handles a general introductory tour. A visitor with a specific design challenge will benefit from an engineering-focused tour given by a sales engineer or engineering manager. These kinds of visitors might concentrate their time in the area of the plant which would produce the part under consideration.

  16. PDF Factory Tour Checklist

    Factory Tour Checklist PURPOSE - ... Designate a Plant-Tours.com rep or a team member to get audio communication systems ready to hand out and collect upon return. FOLLOW-UP Follow up notes, email and surveys. Social media posts to promote event and spread the message to those who couldn't attend.

  17. Factory Tour Checklist: Free Template Download

    Organizing a planting tour can be overwhelming. Download now our free Factory Tour Checklist which will help you plan your tour, step-by-step. Take a viewing at the latest MT-800 DIGITAL HEAVY DUTY TRANSCEIVER and additional!

  18. 6 Areas Every Buyer Should Check During a Factory Visit

    Visiting a factory can be a valuable opportunity to informally evaluate that factory. Here are six areas that you should check when visiting your factory.

  19. 6 Areas Every Buyer Should Check During a Factory Visit

    Visited a plant can be a valuable opportunity to informal evaluate which factor. Here are six areas that i ought check when visitor your factory. Search. Make what. British . English; Español; Français; Aids. Product inspection.

  20. 10 Factory Quality Audit Checklist Essentials

    A quality audit checklist with these 10 points canister help you stay business our. But don't let risks define your supplier relationships! 10 Factory Quality Audit Checklist Essentials | Plant Tour Checklist App - ProcessMAP Mobile Apps - ProcessMAP

  21. Free Manufacturing Audit Checklists

    Manufacturing plant managers and compliance officers can use this manufacturing process audit checklist to ensure that workers adhere to quality and safety standards set by the organization. Check if employees are all wearing the appropriate PPEs for their tasks, the right materials and tools for work are available, and if the agreed upon ...

  22. What is the purpose of a plant visit?

    In short, the purpose of a factory tour is to: Observe how products are made and the processes involved in their production; To educate potential and current clients, suppliers, partners, investors and other stakeholders; Give executives a 360º vision of their manufacturing process. See also: What are the benefits of plant tours.

  23. Your Complete Manufacturing Plant Shutdown Checklist

    Manufacturing Plant Shutdowns: Your Checklist to Avoid the Headaches. Picture your manufacturing plant; the machines hum with precision, workers are focused, and the production line moves with unwavering efficiency. But suddenly, the need arises for a Turnaround, Shutdown, or Outage (TSO) —a necessary pause to perform crucial maintenance ...