Today’s Production in a Packaged World

By Gan Chun Chet (August 2016)

Quite remarkable that today production figures are governed by customers’ appetite. As

world population increases year after year, this demand has to be meet to serve the required

figures. In a period of economic recovery (also stability required) comes an era of rapid increase in

demand, prediction that one would figure out involving stock-up of finish goods to satisfy the market

as demand are required. Increase in production hours seems promising to earn the extra bonus, with

multiplier effect that could bring profit gains back into the business, thus able to pay investors their

returns.

This is a typical scenario of business atmosphere in today’s production environment which

affected investors. The risk involved is too much in the sense where in some cases investors are not

getting back the promised returns. On the other hand, it is a loss of investment that businessman are

not able to get back its initial investment value due to the sluggish market in ailing economy and the

increased structural cost. Business closure and debt occurs amongst investors which dampen the

future.

Therefore is it too risky to built-up stocks, in view that customers’ might change their

appetite again for other market segment. In order terms, organisation profit is sales dependent

based on real sales demand. And if the real demand for a certain products or services are on a

maturity course, one will know that the focus should be on growth products instead. Therefore, the

notion of stock-up your saleable products based on market research and forecast is of great

importance.

Imagine the image and reputation of the particular organisation of interest at sight, are of

similar views on either side – whether you are a customer or a buyer. In fact, at point of sales, your

perception of your customer is the same as their perception on your products/services and there is

where a product is purchased.

World economic indicators shows that the market sentiment has recovered with stock

market trending upwards and industrial output at its peak level worldwide, after the great global

recession in 2007-2008. The situation seems to look good. Some Interesting part of the process

technology that is implemented involves fully automated technology. However, some are semi-

automatic. It really does not matter as long as the bottleneck in critical processes are identified and

rectified, not affecting those in the waiting list (or throughput), i.e. too long wait hours or

development lead time for instance.

It was found that the bottleneck of the process mainly due to the packaging machine is in

each setup activity. Therefore, one of the new technology developed to meet this change

requirement is as follows:-

In a packaging machine, the glue sealer injection time is fully automated depending on the

pack size. Based on an electronic camp programmer, it is able to inject the glue on a timely

programme, precisely when it is required. This eliminates manually adjustment tasks. In addition the

compression section is fully eliminated due to the new glue characteristic that seals strongly by

stationary flaps only. This further reduces the critical setup time.

This move requires highly skill workforce to implement higher end process technology and it

is in fact in demand which requires highly skilled engineers to perform the tasks. In packaging

machine only for example, a retrofit project on certain existing section of the production machine

will increase the speed of every setup task, thus increases production competitiveness.

Is it A Changed World or Still A Changing World?

The drive for automation, whether fully or semi built-in has occurred. In the automated

production environment, fully automating repetitive tasks and semi-automate others, will reduce

the cost of ownership eventually. However, it is unlikely to eliminate all the manual task due to cost

matters. Therefore, perform in-house studies appropriately before embarking on the type of

technology and its involvement, cost impact in the long term.

The paradox of products/service driven by manufacturing capability is no longer making

sense and has changed to a customer active paradigm. What customers need is a fact that cannot be

change but just to meet the demand in order to stay competitive.

Innovative Product Designs, Engineering

Innovative products design that allows frequent setup time are the way forward. Systematic

designs approach developed by Phal and Beitz set-off strategy that increases the probability of

technical and economic success of the design.

Some company move forward to meet the cost requirements. Some decision might be

conservative thus no further investment in this nature, i.e. the decision is not necessarily to

implement a particular technology. Whatever the decision is, the innovative technology or

idea/philosophy that are implemented must meet the company’s policy as it forms a coherent part

of the business solution.

Conclusion

With the available production technology, whether it is fully or semi-automated depends on

market timing and acceptance. Solutions that are not necessarily to be implemented yet have to be

defer to later development stage. Implement the necessary solution(s) that will benefit your current

condition. Strategize your future endeavour.