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Planning A Factory Move

Planning A Factory Move Image

Planning A Factory Move

Your chosen provider for your relocation must be responsible for auditing your current site alongside your new location. Your provider needs to help create an adequate assessment report that perfectly outlines the most suitable and efficient method of relocating the company's equipment.

When planning a factory move, it is paramount that you draft method statements and detailed risk assessments, including floor load weight calculations and lifting, to ensure all workers follow the latest health and safety regulations.

Planning assures you detect significant obstacles and risks and curate ways to effectively manage and mitigate them as much as possible before they crop up during the move.

Like most plans people make, they allow you to precisely meet deadlines and be much more organised throughout the process.

Strategic plans help preempt issues with the structure of your move. Suppose you have multiple large machines that cannot fit through the average door.

You may have to curate a route to another more extensive doorway or perhaps even make minor structural adaptations to your build, for example, removing doors.

Taking the time to consider these more minor movements will ultimately make the process run smoothly. 

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Steps to a Successful Plant Relocation

When moving factory locations, inside or outside the country, you will need a strong understanding of every current and future factory requirement well before the process is executed and before you even begin the planning process.

Many factories often forget to plan their plant relocation, and we highly recommend that you never fail to do so; it allows you to be so much more prepared. Instead of moving them to your new location, you want to address all issues. A severe forethought can lead to incredible lists of cancellations and delays; it could also incur additional company costs.

The primary aim of your initial plan is to help determine each element of your relocation action plan and to distinguish any onset issues and unforeseen circumstances. Doing your best to prepare for these problems will allow you to deal with them much faster. 

The project plans are essential to keeping every aspect of your operation in order; you must understand what comes first, second, third, etc., alongside all the activities that professionals can complete collectively.

An example of this may be, whilst you gather all the correct, high-quality machinery to complete the relocation, you may wish to begin training your employees. Doing it this way can save plenty of time, freeing up the process to monitor and set up instead of waiting for the entire delivery. 

Once you have completed the initial planning process, each team member should have a solid perception of the production level required from members of your company. You must all understand the setup and essential staffing requirements.

Next, you and your service providers must collectively agree on each target in the process. All complex processes require everyone on each end to have thorough discussions and come to clear agreements in various areas, including:

The scope: The responsibilities of each team member.
The timeline: You must agree on the ramp-up and overall production launch.
The cost: Any recurring cost commitments and investment amounts.

When your plant relocation plan has been fully established, including its scope, target cost and timeline, you must account for all unforeseen risks or issues by creating and utilising a contingency plan.

Much like other complex operations, you are almost guaranteed to run into potential risks when building a brand-new manufacturing facility, such as cost overruns or significant delays.

Some aspects can be dealt with more efficiently, whereas others may require significant changes to move forward. The overall chances of achieving your targets become more apparent if you begin identifying the issues early to plan accordingly.

Leaving enough time for each process and schedule will allow you to remain flexible in case of problems that may make you deviate from the overall targets.

Ensure you also account for issues that could directly affect your business, whether with HR or environmental regulation issues.

Once you begin reaching the final planning stages, you must fine-tune each minute project detail. An elaborate plan that helps outline any goals, alongside clear, realistic timelines, will assist your architects, engineers, and team members understand what must be completed.

You should typically provide 10-20% of extra time for your schedules and project plans, as doing so helps you prevent all mishaps or unforeseen delays. 

Your next goal is to draw up the blueprint of the manufacturing plant's overall layout with all necessary details and annotations. You must distribute the final drawing to your team's engineers and architects; your blueprint must include exits, windows, ceiling heights and electrical jacks.

Ensure other operators have access to complete final assessments and lessen the gravity of any potential risks. The following steps are to generate a moving budget and secure a successful supplier selection depending on your factories existing requirements.

You'll want to strive to work with brand-new suppliers, it may cause more disruption, so it's better to ensure your plans are solid and monitored on numerous occasions for efficiency.

After the plant commissioning process, you can begin to soft launch each product process; the factory does not need to be complete at this stage; you can use the soft launch to test the waters before launching into total production. 

Once the factory has finally moved, your products are running, and your customers begin obtaining purchases, you may wonder what's left of the relocation process when it is running so successfully.

Well, the next step is known as the AAR (After-Action Review) or the 'Post-Mortem,' essentially, this is a post-project review.

The AAR is an incredible tool that allows you to review every aspect of your relocation precisely. You can use this time to validate any targets you and your team have made for the specific project, recording any significant manufacturing improvements you have made or will make in the future. You can note any of the lessons you may have learned during the process. 

Suppose your factory operations are running smoothly, and your production is going ahead swimmingly; this isn't the end of the process at all. The final step is to work hard to maintain productivity and improve all processes involved in the move. 

Factories are much like any other business; they must consistently adapt and improve to keep productivity and efficiency high. Correct and thorough maintenance and improvements to the inefficiencies and costs can ultimately negate the advantages of your move.

Fortunately, professionals can engage in a wide range of activities to keep the factory effective and improve each operation for multiple years to come. 

Mistakes to Avoid When Planning a Plant Relocation

When relocating manufacturing plants and installing brand-new industrial machinery and equipment, you mustn't take the job lightly. It will help if you put together a solid plan before executing the task because many issues can crop up that you should aim to avoid. The following are mistakes that you must ensure you never repeat during this process:

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The first mistake would be failing to thoroughly review your plant's current inventory, therefore, a lack of accurate predictions for the production requirements. 

You want to make sure that you assess all physical requirements accurately, as this helps support each operation within the new location.

You mustn't forget to address any significant issues or make operational changes to quicken the relocation process.

Never overlook your companies relocation budget, contingency or schedule significantly when your plan is severely underestimated. You don't want to find out that you are low on supplies or enough money.

Ensure you don't fail to assess your old equipment or machines' potential effect during the transition between locations. Never fail to coordinate your operation or move schedule with sales force members. It would be best to plan for any financial mishaps or implications before your relocation. 

Another big mistake would be not briefing your leadership team on your entire relocation process. During the briefing, you must mention each team member's cost and schedule responsibilities. It's best to search and separate the good from the bad; this will help you save time and money. 

    
    

Are you planning industrial lifting in the UK? If you need to lift heavy objects or machinery, we offer industrial lifting equipment and lifting services for the construction and industrial industries.

    

Follow the links below to find out more about our specialist lifting services throughout the UK.