How to control manufacturing process for bulk purchase?
The manufacturing process is one of the most important aspects of every business. You need to ensure your products meet the necessary quality standards while keeping the costs low (so as to earn enough profit margin).
That’s not it. You also need to procure the raw materials in the right amount so as to prevent wastage or disruption of services. This makes it important to leverage a manufacturing control service to ensure your business stays profitable, especially when you’re making a bulk purchase.
What is Manufacturing Control Process?
The manufacturing control process refers to the procedure of managing the entire manufacturing process and ensuring that everything is done as per the plan. It also includes managing the inputs, controllable & uncontrollable variables, and process outputs.
- Inputs: It includes things that are necessary for manufacturing, such as raw materials, electricity, water, energy, labor, etc.
- Controllable Variables: It includes aspects that are under the control of the factory. These things would ideally include hydraulic pressure, injection pressure, rotation time, etc.
- Uncontrollable Variables: It includes things that are not under the direct control of you or the factory. Examples are labor performance, machine breakdown, etc.
- Outputs: Apart from the final product, there are other outputs, such as yield, production rate, capacity, and downtime. Yield refers to the percentage of non-defective items manufactured in the factory.
Controlling the Entire Manufacturing Process
Now that you know the key components of the manufacturing process, it’s time to understand how you can have reasonable control over it.
Begin with ensuring there are enough raw materials. When you’re bulk-purchasing manufactured items, you need to first provide the manufacturer with bulk raw materials.
Since you know the entire process of manufacturing, i.e., the materials required, the time required to create the product, machines required, and the exact procedure.
You need to share the blueprint with the manufacturer and help them understand the entire procedure. You can even consider overlooking the entire process to ensure everything happens as per your requirements.
However, there are a few things that you need to ensure before outsourcing the manufacturing work to any factory, including:
- The right machines.
- A mechanism to control production inputs.
- Quality and production capability to meet your sourcing needs
- Process evaluation plan in place to minimize downtime and performance discrepancies.
What If I’m New to Business?
If you have just started a business and want to outsource the manufacturing process, you will need to hire the right manufacturing control company.
Look for someone with years of experience in work and has experts to handle the entire process. For instance, you can look for a company that helps you with:
Prototyping
The first step an ideal manufacturing company will take is to create product prototypes. You can either provide the concept or sit together to create it. However, providing as many details as possible is essential to ensure the products are created perfectly. It would also include providing details of different models, colors, or sizes if required.
If you have, provide the manufacturing company with the physical product or photos & videos to help them better understand the requirement.
Sample Product
Now that the manufacturer has understood the requirement, it’s time to create sample products. Consider creating one batch of products (10-20 items) and analyze different things, such as:
- Quality of the product.
- Time to make them.
- Things that could be improved.
Compliance Checks
The next step is to check if they’re compliant with the quality and industry standards. You should also determine if they can produce that very quality with a low defect rate in mass. Finally, talk to the factory manager to understand the possibility of giving long-term bulk orders.
Follow Up
The last step is to follow up on your order. Check if the production is going as planned. It is worth mentioning that uncontrollable variables can significantly impact your product quality, so you will want to minimize them as much as possible.
Conclusion
Manufacturing your own products gives you a significant advantage in the market. Plus, it enhances your profit margin. However, you need to hire the right manufacturing process manager to ensure you have a low defect rate.
