In the fast-paced world of manufacturing, labor-related challenges can be a constant headache for business owners and managers. Whether it's the struggle to hire and train new employees or the quest to make existing workers more productive, these issues can lead to missed sales and wasted time.
So, how can manufacturers address these problems and enhance their operations without the burden of additional hiring resources? Let's explore some common manufacturing labor issues and potential solutions.
At Amper, we talk to dozens of manufacturers every week. There are three things we hear very often when it comes to labor. Do any of these resonate?
"I don’t have enough people and I’m struggling to find experienced people to hire. I also don’t have a lot of resources to spare for hiring or training.”
One of the most common labor issues that manufacturers deal with is the challenge of hiring and training a skilled workforce. Many manufacturers find themselves in a constant struggle to recruit individuals with the necessary experience and expertise.
In addition to a lack of skilled workers, it’s also hard to justify using the limited resources available for hiring and training. So at the end of the day, manufacturers are left wondering how they’re going to ever increase throughput without having to deal with the hiring struggle.
"I don’t have a good way to measure if my employees are spending their time at machines effectively. I also don’t have a good way to motivate them to perform higher.”
Wish you had some sort of metric or insight to gauge how productive your workers are? We know that manufacturers who don’t have this knowledge don’t have the understanding they need to maximize their workforce potential.
Additionally, motivating employees to perform at their best can be a challenge. How do you keep tabs on everyone’s times? How do you offer support when you can’t be sure where your operators are struggling? Without clearly defined criteria or metrics, it’s hard to incentivize your workforce to go above and beyond.
“Inefficiency in my labor contributes to missed sales opportunities and wasted production time, leading to financial losses.”
Inefficiencies in labor management or in your processes can have a huge cultural and financial impact. And if you don’t know what’s causing these inefficiencies, fixing them may seem kind of hopeless.
Manufacturers need practical solutions to optimize their workforce and make the most of their existing resources. Let’s consider some possible strategies.
Manufacturers should focus on the concept of a "labor multiplier." In other words, instead of paying employees just to be at work, manufacturers can track the actual value they generate in return for their hours. When you’re tracking your labor multiplier, you’re looking at how much uptime you get per hour of paid labor.
Understanding how much time employees spend at their machines is crucial. Analyzing this data over a 30-day period can help pinpoint areas where resources may be misallocated or reveal areas of inefficiency, such as inconvenient tool areas or poor communication processes.
Your shop and your production throughput are a combination of every element: your machines, your people, and your jobs. Even if your main challenge is around labor, there are several avenues to increasing throughput without hiring more people. For instance, identify things you can do to make operations more efficient (i.e. continuous improvement projects to increase capacity or utilization).
This is where Amper comes in. Amper FactoryOS helps manufacturers build a high-performance culture. Our features give you the insights you need to:
Let’s explore the features that drive these outcomes!
Operators can use tablets equipped with Amper’s Operator Copilot to call a specific team, like Maintenance or Quality, to get help when issues arise—without ever leaving their workstation.
Operators can track the status of their call once they submit it. Managers can easily see the call progress, if anyone has claimed it, and how long it takes for issues to be resolved.
You can also measure how long it takes each team to respond to a call in the first place. This will help you understand which teams or individuals are meeting their target response times and who is missing the mark, so everyone is held accountable.
Understand your labor efficiency to gain insights into operator productivity and optimize workforce management. With the Labor Metrics feature, manufacturers can track key metrics such as labor multiplier, total engaged hours, direct time, and more.
With such detailed real-time data and visualizations, you can make better-informed decisions about resource allocation, compensation, hiring, and training to increase productivity and drive operational excellence. It’s also easy to recognize your top performance and see who would benefit from a bit of extra training.
Reward and recognize operators who consistently perform well. Customers who publish production data often end up sparking a bit of friendly competition on the shop floor. When they introduce performance-based bonuses, suddenly everyone is ready to build a culture of improvement and productivity!
Mitotec Precision is a nationally recognized manufacturer of precision-turned components. The company serves a number of industries and OEM markets, including medical devices, defense and military, firearm and sighting systems, hydraulics, industrial equipment, and more.
Thanks to Amper’s insights, they were able to:
Best of all, Mitotec now leverages data to make and justify business decisions. This entails investing in training, offering new hires a signing bonus, or purchasing a new machine.
AD Hawk, a premium precision machine parts manufacturer, found a creative way to improve operator productivity. Their strategy? Using Amper data to reward high-level performance.
The idea was simple: to compensate operators when they attained specific performance goals, measured through Amper’s paperless reporting tool. The bonus is calculated on the following basis:
Utilization rate Bonus (per machine)
70% to 74.9% = $5
75% to 79.9% = $7
80% to 84.9% = $9
85% to 89.9% = $11
90%+ = $13
According to AD Hawk’s president, the bonus pay system has been extremely well received. Operators are highly motivated to increase efficiency and consistently beat their established utilization rates in order to increase their bonuses.
The additional payroll costs are more than offset by the increased productivity, resulting in quicker turnaround times, happier customers, and improved factory ROI.
Lyn Tron also uses Amper to run a performance-based incentive program, allowing operators to earn points based on factors such as setup times, changeovers, or utilization. They do so by using downtime labeling and reviewing Amper reports filtered by operators to see metrics around uptime, maintenance, line change, and setups.
In essence, this incentive program bestowed points for being productive. The data-driven approach ensured productive use of every hour.
Manufacturers, you no longer have to lie awake at night fretting over labor issues. With Amper FactoryOS, you’ll quickly be able to optimize your workforce, improve productivity, and maximize your company's potential. Ready to talk about turning your operators into your biggest asset?
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