Manufacturing Industry Archives - USC Consulting Group

Manufacturing can be a competitive industry. You not only need to produce innovative products that capture the market. It’s also essential to run efficient operations to keep your margins healthy. One of the elements that helps you achieve both of these is a high-quality workforce.

When your employees have the resources and skills to maintain high performance levels, you have a powerful tool to meet your company’s goals. Indeed, with continual development and nurturing, the group of professionals you cultivate can contribute to your successful growth. It’s well worth looking closer at some strategies that help you hone your workers into cohesive and productive teams.

Prioritize Communication

Any manufacturing enterprise features a range of professionals. One of the elements that helps this disparate workforce to function as a unit is solid communication. If there are hurdles to interactions, your workers are likely to be less efficient and less able to overcome challenges. Therefore, focusing on designing and implementing communication protocols is a key to better-performing teams.

The most straightforward protocols you can adopt are those that make communication easy and convenient for all staff members. This begins with establishing channels that offer multiple methods on a single platform. For instance, tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams enable staff members to direct message (DM) each other, have audio calls, and hold video conferencing all on an app they can store on their phones or computers. As a result, they can keep in regular contact with all colleagues present on the platform.

Another good step is creating an accessible organizational chart. This outlines the personnel in each department, their place in the hierarchy, the skills they have, and the best ways to connect with them. Having images of each also supports recognition when moving throughout the production floor and break spaces. Placing these org charts in each department and storing them on cloud platforms empowers workers to know who to contact whenever they need help or have questions.

You must also make it easy for workers to communicate their opinions to company leaders. Employee feedback can enhance performance by highlighting areas for practical improvement. When workers see their insights are appreciated and actioned, there can also be greater engagement and trust, which feeds into positive outcomes. Manufacturing managers need to actively reach out to staff of all levels to gain feedback, both in conversations and using surveys. Your company can also make open feedback channels available on the intranet or aforementioned communication apps.

Optimize Operations

It’s difficult to cultivate high-performing manufacturing teams if there are elements of their working processes that present hurdles. Investing in methods to optimize different aspects of your operations is essential. These enable you to develop an environment that empowers your workforce to function at its peak.

Technology plays an important role here in various ways. Some of the tools that enhance optimization include:

Data analytics

Having a thorough understanding of how efficiently each element of your business is running is central to making informed operational adjustments. There are cloud data analytics platforms on the market that track the metrics of all aspects of your manufacturing operations, from staff behavior to the waste your production processes generate. You can further optimize this by placing devices in the Internet of Things (IoT) throughout your facility, so that embedded sensors can collect accurate data to share with your analytics tools.

Automation

The manufacturing industry has long embraced automation. However, it’s important not to simply limit it to dangerous or precision production processes. You can also consider automating certain administrative and management tasks. Many repetitive parts of jobs, like data entry, invoicing, and inventory management can be performed by artificial intelligence (AI) driven software. This optimizes your human staff’s available time, enabling them to concentrate on more complex parts of the business.

Remember, too, that investing in your staff’s development is also a vital optimization practice. Training levels up your workers’ skill sets, allowing them to operate more efficiently and innovatively. Your investment also makes workers feel valued, which may boost their connections with your business, which can drive their productivity.

Encourage Collaboration

While each employee is an individual professional, developing cohesive teams is key to high performance in manufacturing. When you establish protocols and tools that encourage positive collaborations, there’s the chance to generate results from the collective that you wouldn’t get from individuals alone.

For instance, during the ideation phase of projects, using mood boards can offer opportunities for teams to work together on a shared creative document. These materials involve the team contributing images, colors, and even text to evoke the emotions around the project and spark concepts that lead to the final product. When you make digital mood boards stored on a cloud platform, you can empower different members of the team to provide contributions, no matter what department they work in or even if they’re operating remotely. It helps everyone to feel a meaningful part of the business and maintains team cohesion.

Wherever possible, arrange for members of each team to engage in collaborations with diverse populations of professionals. Cross-departmental projects and even fun team-building activities give your staff chances to work with people outside of their usual circle. This exposure to different perspectives and experiences with people of different abilities, seniority, and cultures can be a vital source of development that boosts future collaborations and innovations.

Conclusion

Building high-performing manufacturing teams influences your success. Your efforts should include a range of measures, from protocols that bolster communication to adopting tools that optimize working practices, among others. Don’t forget to seek your workers’ feedback on this matter, too. They are likely to have keen insights into what hurdles to performance are in their jobs and how to overcome them.

*This article is written by Ainsley Lawrence. View more of Ainsley’s articles here.

The COVID-era supply chain disruptions are slowly but surely easing up for manufacturers around the globe. While the worldwide market is not yet fully recovered, signs point to a strong resurgence in 2023, with a return to normalcy by 2024. Even though good news is on the horizon for manufacturers, there are still a number of challenges to be aware of that will impact day-to-day operations. Here’s an overview of a few of the top manufacturing challenges for 2023, and how to handle them.

Challenge: Legacy technologies

Many manufacturers operate with legacy technologies — outdated hardware or software systems. These outdated systems can cause disruption for an organization in a few key areas.

The first problem: Legacy technologies can cause efficiency issues. Since these systems can be years (and sometimes decades) old, they simply don’t have the same features and capabilities of newer software on the market. Additionally, these legacy systems can pose a security risk. Older technology doesn’t have the same safeguards as newer systems, and cybercriminals have a much easier time infiltrating outdated software than one that is up-to-date.

Despite these problems, manufacturers can be hesitant to change systems due to familiarity, not wanting to enact a full system overhaul, or a mix of the two.

Strategy: Invest in new technologies and smart warehouses

Investing in emerging technologies should be a priority for manufacturers heading into the new year.

It’s a wise strategy, not only to become more efficient and protect systems from infiltration, but newer technologies can increase safety in the workplace and free up employees to handle more productive tasks. A recent survey from Deloitte found that 85% of manufacturing executives think that some form of robotics on the production line could increase employee safety, and 78% agree that updated technology can minimize repetitive work, empowering employees to focus on more productive and impactful tasks.

Challenge: Inflation

Starting in mid-2022, inflation across all essential goods prompted public backlash, not to mention squeezing the wallets of consumers and businesses alike. Bearing the brunt of the blame was the global supply chain, and the bottlenecks and scarcity it caused in markets across the world. Although those pressures are easing headed into the new year, inflation will still be a factor in 2023.

Strategy: Re-evaluate costs during design

For manufacturers, inflation means more careful planning to ensure operations remain lean, mean and profitable.

One way of doing this is by implementing Design to Cost — a method in which a manufacturer combines cost management with decision-making during the design stage of a product. Rather than the normal method of thinking about costs after a rough design of a product is made, the unit and material costs are fully integrated during planning to ensure products are profitable.

This type of thinking seems to be the reality for manufacturers in 2023, as a recent Forbes survey found that 87% of manufacturing CEOs plan to increase prices in the new year. Therefore, it’s important for all manufactures to think ahead, and integrate material costs into their design process as soon as possible.

Challenge: Inventory uncertainty

Inventory uncertainty remains one of the manufacturing challenges in 2023. Despite the healing global supply chain, manufacturers still need to strike a proper balance between stockpiling inventory and buying just-in-time. Striking that balance can be tricky. Not getting it right can cause businesses to become over- or under-leveraged at a moment’s notice — affecting the bottom line in the process.

Strategy: SIOP

Sales, Inventory & Operations Planning, SIOP, takes the normal sales and operations planning process and makes inventory just as important of a variable and a strategic tool. Following this methodology helps manufacturers eliminate waste, increase efficiencies and achieve an optimal level between not enough and too much.

We recommend that the SIOP horizon be a minimum rolling 14-month period that gets updated monthly. The aim is to look ahead multiple quarters to make sure inventory is available exactly when you need it. Involving a wide range of departments such as sales, marketing, engineering and finance, SIOP is a system that involves the entire organization to ensure yearly goals and objectives are met.

If you would like to learn more about SIOP, download our (free) eBook, “Sales, Inventory & Operations Planning: It’s About Time.”

Keep moving forward

There will be manufacturing challenges in 2023 and beyond. By addressing your legacy technologies, adjusting to inflation fluxes, and taking the uncertainty out of your inventory management, you will be able to fine-tune your operations for optimal performance.

If your business could use some horsepower to power up your team on improvement initiatives, contact USC Consulting Group and we will put our over 50 years of experience to work for you.

One of the most significant threats facing the manufacturing industry is the ongoing labor shortage and how it’s impacting organizations across the nation.

Identifying viable solutions to overcome a labor shortage in any industry is challenging. However, the past few years have made it especially difficult for manufacturers to find skilled employees. The COVID-19 pandemic and The Great Resignation are two major factors that have negatively impacted the manufacturing industry.

How can manufacturers overcome The Great Resignation and attract young talent? Below, learn more about the labor shortage in manufacturing and how organizations can overcome this unprecedented workforce situation.

Understanding the Manufacturing Workforce

The manufacturing labor shortage is not new. In fact, manufacturers have dealt with the shortage for quite some time. Hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs have gone unfilled for years now, with several factors in recent years exacerbating the issue.

Alongside the pandemic, millions of Americans have quit their jobs recently, coining a new term: “The Great Resignation.” Employees are quitting their jobs for various reasons. Pew Research cites three, including low wages, feeling disrespected, and a lack of opportunities to advance.

On top of the pandemic and The Great Resignation, data shows that the labor shortage in manufacturing will likely persist. According to research from Deloitte, manufacturers in the U.S. are expected to have over 2 million unfilled jobs by 2030.

Millennials and Gen Z tend to have misconceptions about working in modern manufacturing. There’s a false impression that working in manufacturing means getting your hands dirty and performing rigorous manual labor for hours on end.

Those misconceptions, however, are far from reality. Employees in these roles often require specialized skills, knowledge, or training and work with cutting-edge technologies daily. Younger generations are digital natives, meaning they can learn how to use new technologies with ease. How can manufacturers make roles seem more attractive to young candidates?

How Manufacturers Should Target Younger Generations

Below are ways manufacturers can make manufacturing roles more attractive to garner newer, younger workers.

1. Leverage Social Media Marketing

Young people dominate social media platforms, whether Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, or Twitter. While older adults also use social media, Millennials and Gen Z grew up with it, so it’s a major part of their daily lives.

Manufacturers should leverage their presence on social media platforms to reach younger audiences and improve their recruiting. Sites like LinkedIn or other digital job boards can also be useful for manufacturers looking to garner young talent.

Additionally, it’s reported that 70% of manufacturing job seekers prefer receiving text messages over emails or phone calls for recruiting purposes. Consider reaching out to candidates through social media or texting.

2. Emphasize New Technologies During Recruitment

Manufacturers that adopt the latest technologies should highlight their tech-savviness to potential candidates. Organizations should try to use their tech adoption as a unique selling point (USP) when recruiting – companies at the forefront of innovation will often be more attractive to candidates than those falling behind.

As mentioned earlier, Zoomers (another moniker for Gen Z) are digital natives. They can easily learn how to work with new tech. Zoomers will be likely to pick up new skills needed in the manufacturing industry.

3. Identify Potential Hybrid Roles

The significant shift to remote work has prompted many companies to adopt remote-first or hybrid-work models. By next year, it’s expected that 40% of organizations will transition to “Anywhere Operations” – a term that describes a digital, distributed workforce.

While many manufacturing companies have unfilled jobs that must be performed on site, they should consider identifying which roles could become hybrid. Other processes within manufacturing can be automated and allow employees to work remotely. If companies find a way to implement a hybrid model, they could appear more flexible and attractive to potential candidates.

4. Connect With Local Schools and Colleges

Professionals in manufacturing understand that young talent may not realize what a manufacturing role entails. By connecting with local educational institutions, these companies can work with students and educate them about manufacturing.

Miller Fabrication Solutions, a manufacturer in Pennsylvania, began visiting schools, adding representatives to industry-related advisory councils, and sponsoring robotics competitions in the community to appeal to young talent. Other manufacturers should follow suit and be more aggressive in their recruiting strategies.

5. Meet (or Exceed) Young Employee Expectations

According to Gallup, Millennials and Zoomers expect three important things from an employer:

The employer cares about their well-being.
They want employers to be ethical.
They value diversity and inclusion.

For example, striking a work-life balance, feeling recognized and respected for their individuality, and working for an ethical leader are all important factors employers should know. Meeting these expectations will help with employee engagement and retention, especially regarding young employees.

Building a Workforce for the Future

The pandemic, The Great Resignation, and the persistent labor shortages in manufacturing require organizations to find innovative ways to improve their recruiting, hiring, and retention efforts – especially when finding young talent in the field. Companies need to overcome these challenges and find young talent to replace employees retiring from the workforce for the manufacturing industry to thrive.

*This article is written by Devin Partida. Devin is a tech writer with an interest in IIoT and manufacturing. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of ReHack.com.

Tag Archives: Manufacturing Industry