Labour optimisation: making the most of the talent available
In days gone by, manufacturing labour was typically considered an infinite resource. Whatever the job, there was always a long queue of people ready to do it. But times have markedly changed in recent years. Today in fact, there is an estimated 9,000 vacant jobs in UK manufacturing. Labour, it seems, has become a far more finite resource.
That said, placing the emphasis on attracting the best available talent in a competitive market is slightly missing the point. Instead, the focus of firms should arguably be placed on making the most of the people they already have:
- Boosting their productivity by cutting back on the time wasted by inaccurate scheduling, delayed orders, and the unavailability of core components etc.
- Improving labour utilisation by maintaining a more dynamic production plan that’s able to adapt to real-world conditions
- Responding faster to any delays or constraints, while addressing consistent bottlenecks to optimise the skills available
These are just some of the outcomes enabled by the MESTEC Manufacturing Execution System (MES). Yet equally, our story extends to helping create a shop floor environment that brings out the best in every operator – while boosting training, efficiency, and inspiring a culture of continuous improvement along the way.
Pragmatic information
First and foremost, labour optimisation demands a real-time view of conditions on the shop floor. Rather than relying on traditional paper-based record keeping, or announcements pinned to the wall of the canteen, both managers and operators need up-to-date visibility of what’s happening, where and why.
To this end, real-time insight is needed by managers to:
- Track the progress of each job
- Monitor resource allocation and labour processes
- Identify the underlying causes behind any delays
What we’re talking about here is putting the right information into the right hands at the right time. It’s also about enabling the proactive resolution of issues impacting labour utilisation as they occur, rather than simply responding to them after the event. Get this right, and you can remove some of the biggest frustrations experienced on the shop floor, and go a long way to improving the profitability of the entire workforce.
But that’s only the first step
Culture also plays a well-recognised role in labour optimisation, and it’s here that a MES system – and real-time monitoring in particular – can play a highly effective role on simulating a more productive working environment.
Rather than being seen as a tool for management to keep watch of operators ‘Big Brother style’, such monitoring can help identify the best performing teams and individuals. A firm can then display a data-driven benchmark of productivity to the entire workforce, which experience proves will actually inspire a sense of healthy competitiveness in the achievement of shared targets and goals.
Better still, this level of real-time monitoring also provides the detail needed to accurately assess the performance of individual operators:
- The data can be used to underpin promotions – or for setting targets to achieve them
- Similarly, such insight can also be used to justify pay raises
- At the same time, poor performance can be quickly identified – with the contributing reasons assessed and addressed
Fine-tuning performance
Sticking with the topic of poor performance (or operators taking longer than expected to complete a task, or causing regular quality control issues etc.), active monitoring is also practical when it comes to finding the solution:
- For example, aligning performance data to a skills matrix will help to quickly identify if a lack of specialist training is required – and who needs it
- At an individual level, it could also show how one operator excels at specific tasks and is failing at another – raw data that supports more informed (and ultimately more profitable) task allocations
- The MES system could also be used to identify where particular problems are occurring, and (embedded into the workflow as it is) provide a rich source of best practice guidance – including easily accessible tips from experienced operators – and even ‘how to’ video attachments
This use of technology to replace paper and support such activities as upskilling, training, and onboarding also helps with attracting the next generation of ‘digital natives’ entering the workplace. Employees that are instantly comfortable working with technology, and who bring with them differing expectations for how (and where) information and instructions should be presented.
Summing it all up
With MESTEC, manufacturers have a range of powerful and intuitive tools at their disposal for optimising labour resources – helping identify all the small changes that together can have a big impact on both culture and profitability.
To find out more about the MESTEC solution, get in touch.
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