It doesn’t matter what industry you look at, improving throughput is a common and desirable goal. It’s almost a no-brainer really. Better throughput brings with it lower costs and higher profits. You’d be pressed to find someone who would object to that. And it doesn’t always take drastic measures to accomplish this. Sometimes improving throughput requires small changes.
If there’s one thing that dissuades people from improving throughput in their plant, it’s the idea that substantially increasing throughput requires substantially upgrading machinery.
However, that’s not necessarily the case.
Not long ago, we worked with a company which was set on upping their throughput. Initially their automatic packaging system was producing just under 600 pieces per minutes. By simply upgrading their controls, we were able to get them to 1400 ppm.
Just by changing the software and using motion optimization techniques, we were able to get their system up to over double the original productivity.
Optimizing your current machinery may produce better results than you would expect. There’s a good chance that your machinery already has the potential to operate at a higher efficiency, and you won’t have to sink money into any bright and shiny new machinery.
Contact us if you have Indramat or Indradrive servo motors, drives, or controls. We’ll be happy to discuss your options with you.