A Guide to Production Performance and Resource Optimization

Given the increasingly competitive nature of most modern industries, efforts to optimize key resources are often viewed as a priority by business leaders. Today, over 55% of enterprise-level businesses use one or more tools to monitor resource management, with at least 50% prioritizing tools that enable staff to communicate availability.

If a business can accurately and effectively communicate where and when key physical and organizational resources will be made available, teams across all departments will be better equipped to optimize essential processes. The more streamlined this becomes, the greater the cost savings, waste reduction and operational efficiency benefits will be.

This is the basic idea behind resource optimization, though to ensure the right resources are available at the right times, some existing operations will need to be adapted to suit unique business requirements. To help business leaders and management teams best navigate this process, below is a comprehensive guide to production performance and resource optimization.

What is resource optimization?

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Resource optimization is an organizational strategy to aid businesses make the most efficient use of resources. Typically, strategies will be applied to a wide variety of different commercial resources, including raw materials, production tools, machinery and labor, focused on maximizing productivity and overall profitability.

The specifics of resource optimization processes often vary depending on the strategic goals of the organization, with management teams required to collect and analyze data across common processes in order to determine areas for improvement. For example, an organization may discover core processes result in large amounts of unused raw material waste, and then resource optimization efforts can  focus on efficient ways to address this issue.

Resource optimization and production performance

Resource optimization is closely related to production performance, as maximizing the efficiency of resource utilization will ultimately result in optimized production processes. Business leaders and management teams must have trusted systems in place to accurately plan, forecast and adjust these processes.

With this in mind, modern resource optimization procedures are often heavily reliant on data collection and analysis. If leaders can combine high-quality data on resource use, production efficiency, staff availability and machine utilization within a single unified platform, data analytics can provide teams with actionable insights to improve productivity.

Key performance metrics should be  visualized in one centralized system, with features like an OEE software, scheduling systems and inventory management solutions all formatted to share relevant data with one another. This provides live insights into operations to help inform continuous production performance improvements.

The benefits of resource optimization

While there are numerous smaller benefits associated with efforts to improve resource and production efficiency, including both time management and health and safety improvements, the major benefits can be broken down into three core areas.
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Cost-efficiency 

Almost 60% of CFOs believe cost-optimization to be their primary business concern. Across all industries, efforts to optimize the utilization of key resources can result in significant cost savings, in turn reducing waste, improving productivity and ultimately benefiting profitability.

Sustainability 

For some businesses, achieving sustainability targets may be a regulatory requirement, for others exploring sustainable practices can help to secure a larger audience. Either way, resource optimization initiatives aid businesses in reducing avoidable waste, lowering carbon emissions and optimizing processes with sustainability and energy-efficiency in mind.

Business performance  

Given the highly competitive nature of most modern industries, consumers are spoilt for choice when choosing businesses based on their performance. Companies that offer faster order cycle times, higher quality products and more variation in saleable items will gain a significant competitive advantage, with resource optimization working to support this.

Common resource optimization principles

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By now the benefits of resource optimization should be clear. But for businesses to successfully implement such strategies, stakeholders must understand the guiding principles behind effective resource optimization policies alongside a few key optimization techniques.

Time-constrained scheduling 

For businesses to successfully optimize the use of key resources, stakeholders must view production processes with time and budget constraints in mind. Time-constrained scheduling factors production timelines and available budgets into all resource allocation decisions. This helps to reduce resource waste during production.

Management teams will consider the production time frame, the availability of raw materials and human resources and the available budget for specific projects. Viewing this information as a whole enables teams to make purchasing and production decisions with wider operations in mind, prioritizing or delaying tasks accordingly. 

Resource leveling 

Resource leveling is an optimization technique designed to help organizations better balance resource availability and market demand. Under this process, project start and end dates will be regularly assessed and adjusted in direct relation to the availability of relevant resources.

This means supply chain, inventory and workforce management will all be considered before any production processes are engaged. The idea behind resource leveling is to only perform tasks when necessary resources are available, switching between projects when appropriate.

Just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing 

JIT manufacturing helps organizations minimize inventory requirements while maximizing efficiency by only utilizing the exact amount of resources needed to perform certain tasks. In essence, JIT production describes a made-to-order approach to resource allocation practices, meaning resources will only be acquired in response to received orders.

Implementing this technique ensures that resource waste is kept to a minimum, though JIT operations  risk unforeseen supply chain issues. To perform this process effectively teams must be able to operate efficient real-time scheduling systems.

Resource forecasting

Real-time data analytics systems can be used to help organizations accurately forecast resource requirements, enabling teams to plan production processes much more efficiently. By comparing historic data to current demands, leaders can ensure appropriate resources are available when needed, helping to inform wider scheduling and production decisions. 

Resource allocation optimization

Resource allocation optimization techniques can be applied to all aspects of business operations. This process simply describes efforts to prioritize tasks based on importance, with teams allocating available resources to specific projects in order of relative urgency.

Scheduling systems and resource management software can be used to automate much of this process, with data analytics software helping to link available resources to appropriate projects in order of importance. This helps to limit resource waste and improve productivity.

Resource optimization best practices

When choosing to implement any type of resource optimization technique, business leaders must consider a number of important organizational factors. Effective best practices include:

• Measuring resource capacity: Stakeholders must have up-to-date information regarding the types and amounts of resources available to specific teams, while records must be kept of all ordered, stored and active resources for continuous reference
• Use resource management tools: Accurate real-time inventory and production data will help leaders to optimize resource utilization and production performance. Data analytics tools must be easily accessible at all times 
• Utilize scheduling systems: Labor availability and machine maintenance needs will impact the efficacy of resource optimization practices. Well-prepared and updated scheduling systems help to effectively plan around these requirements
• Commit to continuous improvement: Business needs and market demands are almost always subject to change. For resource optimization efforts to be successful over time, business leaders must be prepared to adapt key processes continuously

Summary

No matter the industry in question, efforts to improve the efficiency of core operations will almost always result in productivity and profitability benefits. Organizations that choose to implement resource optimization techniques can better position themselves to improve production performance and reduce waste, benefitting workers, clients and leaders alike.