The Manufacturing Boom. Are you ready?
Posted December 19th, 2013
Recent months have seen a revival in manufacturing activity. In November, the Institute for Supply Management index jumped to 57.3- up from 50.9 in June.
According to many surveyed manufacturers, the seasonal demand has not decreased at the typical pace and incoming order rates remain strong.
Is your facility ready for this revival? Here are five ways that you can tell if your facility just not ready for any opportunities that come your way:
1. Floor leadership. Make sure you have a strong lieutenant overseeing the production line. However, it is not simply about overseeing daily demand. A good floor leader will spend 70-80% on daily activities 20-30% looking ahead. They need to focus on today but also focus on what is coming up. Do they have the workers they need? Are temps required? Are there any tests that will need to be run that require special attention? What is required of the team lead to support the operator in making the line more stable and efficient?
2. Establish best practices. An efficient workforce is always going to be more likely to adjust to changing conditions. However, to get that efficient workforce, you need established process and best practices. Work to develop a repeatable, sustainable process that ensures productivity while leaving room for fine tuning.
3. Technology. You cannot use old technology to produce cutting-edge goods…at least not profitably. You need to update equipment and train your workers to support the new technologies. It is not a “nice-to-have”; it is a “must-have”.
4. Walk the floor. Every executive try to figure out how much time they actually spend on the floor. Too many executives avoid getting their hands dirty. Production as central to the business; it is where daily customer demand is met. Visit the floor – aim for an hour a day. Find out what’s working and what isn’t working in order to design incentives that encourage better processes, and thereby, outcomes.
5. Recognition. Incentives are not synomous with compensation. Workers want to do something interesting, they want to add value, and they want to be recognized. Know what your workers do, and acknowledge their successes. Create a system around this, so that every meaningful contribution is acknowledged by someone at the company.
To run an efficient manufacturing facility, you need skilled, proficient and hard-working employees. To locate these workers in the Bay Area, work with Bayside Solutions. No matter your sector or focus, we can help you find the workers you need. Contact us today! If you are looking for manufacturing jobs in California, contact us today.
