How you setup your production flow can determine the success or failure of the business.  A good production flow can eliminate wasted time and cost and enable you to produce a more quality product efficiently.  

Quite often, because of the lack of resources, small businesses find themselves utilizing one person to perform all tasks required to assemble a product.  This is understandable.  But even if you can afford to hire a staff,  you should examine how you handle your production flow.

Whether you’re running a Bar, Bakery or Flower shop the flow of assembling the final product and delivering it to the customer is important to the growth of your business.  Taking some time to think about it and do it right can reduce waste, increase efficiency, improve employee morale and allow you to sell more.

There are two types of production method you can employ the “Batch” method or the “Continuous Flow” method.

The Batch process means that a certain amount of a product’s component has to be worked on at a particular station before the entire batch an be moved to the next station for the next set of work to be completed.  This is a slow and time consuming method because a slow down with one item in the batch could hold up the entire batch.  The larger the batch the longer each unit has to wait before it can be moved forward.

The Continuous Flow method involves the movement of a job from one station to another for a specific task to be perform at each station that leads to the full assembly of the product.  This method is most efficient when you have a complex product to assemble that involves many steps. 

Consider the type  of product you have to assemble.  For example, it could be a cup cake or it could be a toy with many parts.  If there are different components that have to be assembled to make the item then you should have different stations utilizing the Batch or Continuous Flow method of assembly.  Whichever method you chose consider these items.

Assembly Steps:

Define each assembly task that has to be performed.  Ask the following questions:  What are the number of steps involved in the process?.  How complex are the steps?.  Can more than one steps be performed at the same station that would make the process go faster?.   In addition to assembling the individual compotents assembly steps should also labeling and packaging.  As you layout your assembly area be sure to include labeling and packaging stations.

Raw Materials:

How are the raw materials for the product being managed?.  Are they being kept in a consolided location and moved to the respective assembly station when needed or are they being kept at the respective assembly stations?.  Having them kept at the respective assembly stations enables you to know right away what the inventory levels are so that you can buy more in time to prevent the production line from halting.

Layout:

The layout of your area is critical to the production flow.  You have to design the limited space that you have to achieve the best production flow.  These are some of the things you should consider when designing your layout.

1.   Material Handling:  The layout should make it easy to move materials around in an orderly and effieient manner.

2.  Shipping & Receiving:  An area should be designated for shipping and receiving large and small packages.  If you’re shipping items to customers you should have an area designated where those shipments can be processed and held until they’re picked up.

3.  Ease of Communication:  The layout should make it easy for employees to communicate with each other.  This means that all of the work areas should be connected so that movement from one area to another should be easy and efficient.

4.  Safety:  Safety is a key factor in everything we do.  It is even more important in the workplace.  As a small business owner you don’t want to be saddled with the legal headaches that comes with workplace injury.  Follow the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines to implement safety in the workplace.

5.  Employee Morale:  Consider the impact the layout would have in employees.  Items such as cafeteria, meeting rooms, game room, etc. could boost employee morale.  The better employees feel about the environment they work in the more productive they’re likely to be.

6.  Visuall Appeal:  The layout should be visually appealing to the people who work there as well as to customers and clients.  This means that the choice of colors, cleanliness, and artistic design should be given careful consideration.

7.  Pedestrian Traffic:  Consider how would pedestrian traffic flow in an out of your store location.  Will people enter and leave at the same door?.  Customers should be able to enter the store find what they want and leave easily without having to walk thru the whole place.

8.  Maintenance:  If you have machines in your business that have to undergo maintenance from time to time consider designing your layout to accommodate the maintenance on those machines.  Don’t place machines too closely or in tight spaces where it becomes difficult for someone to work on them.

9.  Encourage Sales:  The layout should encourage sales by the way that you arrange products.  Place complimentary products near each other.  For example, pizza and beer goes well together.  The customer shouldn’t have to walk far to find the two of them.  Customers should be able to find the product they’re looking for easily and make the purchase.  Don’t make the isles too narrow in order to squeeze more products into the store.  Don’t make the isles too long.  Don’t make display products on shelves that are too high for the customer to reach.