A Product’s Journey: From Production Line To Storage
We can all agree that the production line is the most exciting part of the manufacturing business. You’re watching products come to life and what you have seen in your mind is finally tangible in your hands.
But what happens when it comes off the production line? This is somewhat of a grey area for entrepreneurs. It’s not as easy as stacking the products on top of each other and using a lift truck to transport them to a storage space that’s ready and waiting.
So many things come before that, which will ensure all the hard work that your manufacturing workers have done, won’t be ruined. Proper management of your inventory is so important, as you don’t want orders to exceed your stock and thus, push your manufacturing workers over the limit to try and catch up.
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Given the all-clear
As products are finished and set on the path to being given the green light for storage, the only thing that stands between you and the customer is a quality control employee. If you have an open conveyor belt, it makes it easier for employees to spot defects.
Quality control employees can then take a product that is damaged or fails to meet the standard you expect, out of circulation. They can be set apart from the rest, so a customer is not greeted with a product that may not be fully functional.
Giving quality control employees a tick chart for all the different defects will give you a clearer picture of what could be causing the damage. It could be a particular section of the production line or it could be equipment that is not handling the products correctly.
A chronological system
Products are continually improved and although this will have a small effect on your production line, it will have a larger impact on your storage system.
If customers have ordered the updated version of one of your products, delivering an older obsolete version is going to be damaging their trust. Therefore, as products come off the conveyor, they must be tracked and stacked on one palate.
When the palate has reached capacity, the line manager should label the batch correctly so the warehouse storage team picks up the right version.
Dating the batch will adhere to the chronologically of the overall product life of the product. Storing each palate according to date and version will mitigate loading mistakes.
Inventory management
The seasonal rush will put pressure on your warehouse. Increased production will cause a wave of activity in your warehouse which means inventory management will be key to maintaining order. A proper count of how many products you have left in storage at the end of each day is a necessity for your warehouse manager.
Informing him or her of how many products are left, they will request an increase as and when overwhelm the supply. Hence why the production managers and warehouse managers need to stay in constant contact.
You’re not in the all-clear once your products have come off the production line. Chronologically labeling each palate batch is necessary to give customers the correct versions.
