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Companies often set aggressive business goals at the beginning of each year, only to find those targets unachievable or untraceable by Q4. The initial excitement slowly fades as the day-to-day business needs take priority. This is especially true for manufacturers.

With Q2 only a few days away, are you on track to meet your 2018 goals? Manufacturers need a way to make goals achievable and sustainable. That’s what a Production Control System (PCS) provides. Real-time production data, analytics, tracking systems and process control all work to make the goal not only possible, but easily achievable.

  • Production Visibility:

The key to setting realistic goals is understanding your production capacity, velocity and bottlenecks. ERP data points alone can only imply slowdowns on your shop and it may take weeks for them to come to light. Production control systems however deliver the operator monitoring and WIP dashboards to pinpoint obstacles and opportunities. Having confidence in your data is the best way to begin and the only way to achieve KPIs.

  • Select KPIs to track and measure progress:

Now that you have numbers you can trust you need to introduce a bit of creativity. Projecting opportunities and then strategizing an optimal path to success is all about your metrics. Establish a baseline by reviewing existing trends and immediately put in place the means for tracking success. Failure to do so leads to moving targets and a lack of urgency for meeting deadlines.

  • Make the goal visible to the company:

Visualizing and tracking progress builds collaboration and a sense of accomplishment for your business. Presenting the challenge to your team lets them know your company is forward thinking and trusts in their abilities to succeed. Set and celebrate milestones along the way and take pride in your team’s accomplishments.

  • Sustainability:

Don’t let success or failure be the end of the journey. Carry forward the momentum into the next project, quarter, year, etc. Now that you have set a culture of excellence in your organization it’s up to you to define how far you can go. Sustainable production control systems stay on your shop for years assuring your data collection is consistent and accurate. Granular insight into production lets you see what works and what doesn’t. Turn success into a standard, repeatable process.

Next Steps

There’s still time to get the right systems in place to achieve your 2018 goals. April is the final month of the CIMx Software 18 Free in 2018 promotion so now is your last chance to connect with the CIMx team about free installation. Contact CIMx to let a specialist review your needs and see how a Production Control System can make those goals achievable.

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