Modern companies in search of competitiveness are obliged to permanently control their costs and maintain, improve and increase their value-generating factors, thereby increasing their attractiveness to customers and profitability. Work in process control (WIP) is an activity that, in conjunction with others, contributes positively in achieving this ideal.
Work in process is a fundamental part of the inventory, which consists of the units that, having entered and started the production process, do not yet constitute a finished product. Otherwise, the WIP consists of those raw materials that have entered the production process but are not yet ready for sale since they are not yet a finished product.
Therefore, the WIP assumes raw material inventory and processing costs, which cannot be recovered immediately since the condition of finished product, which is the one sold to the customer, is not yet achieved for these.
The control of the WIP, which always focuses on the decrease and depending on the type of company, its needs and possibilities, can be given in units, standard minutes produced or money, among other options, is a fundamental activity in the search for optimization of the operation, and in general, of the key factors of the company.
The reduction of the WIP is not only a manufacturing task, it requires organizing the production process of the company from the most basic needs and requires constant interaction between processes through interdisciplinary teams, focused on results, in order to generate planning and programming appropriate, and timely have the resources required to make them real.
In addition to proper interaction between processes, WIP reduction is achieved with the implementation of balanced production systems, such as JIT systems and modular production systems, in which the main focus is the generation of finished units, and not the accumulation of units in process; rather, systems that only enter units that can be finalized, and therefore, delivered to customers and, of course, invoiced.
Controlling the WIP improves financial, customer and operational indicators, which undoubtedly increases the organization's competitiveness.
Some of the indicators impacted when controlling the WIP are: sales, working capital, cash flow, time of return on invested capital, customer satisfaction, production cycle, quality, risks and storage costs.
Control of work in process is a necessity for world-class companies that must be attended by senior management in order to increase competitiveness.
