Scheduling Your Manufacturing Workforce

Advantages of digital technologies in improving business outcomes

The manufacturing industry has faced immense change in the past century, and the changes amid

Industry 4.0 are no less significant. Digitization of plant floors — from artificial intelligence to mobility

and machine connectivity — brings technology to the forefront of operational strategies. Smart factories

are no longer a competitive distinction but are a must for any manufacturer.

One constant throughout these technological advances has been the role of employees,

who remain the most critical resource in manufacturing, performing 72% of the tasks

and creating 71% of the value.1 Yet, effective labor scheduling —

aligning staffing to meet the demands of a business — is often overlooked.

Even if the right balance of labor to production schedules is initially achieved, changes in available

materials, unplanned absences, or increased/decreased orders can misalign labor, making it difficult

to ensure the right people are in the right jobs. Without that balance, there can be major implications

and costs, such as unnecessary overtime expenditures, possible slowing or shutdown of production

lines, and missed production goals or customer deadlines.

To align labor to business requirements

in a cost-effective way, manufacturers need

to implement effective and modern labor

scheduling practices utilizing new technologies.

Connecting scheduling to manufacturing goalsDespite multiple technological revolutions, manufacturers’ goals have remained constant: run efficient production lines, maximize productivity, reduce costs, improve quality, maintain compliance, and run a safe operation. To meet these goals, manufacturers have invested in multiple technologies, such as manufacturing execution systems and production planning tools. Workforce scheduling practices, however, often have been left to analog methodologies and processes, from pen and paper to Excel spreadsheets.

Today’s changing technology landscape enables manufacturers to see how scheduling can positively impact operational goals. With this added visibility comes an extension of the goals of effective labor scheduling for the workforce: getting the right people with the right skills in the right jobs at the right time. Achieving this impacts all areas of the business and can minimize production time and costs, maximize efficiency of the operation, and build a more engaged workforce.

Challenges and complexities of labor schedulingScheduling the manufacturing workforce has unique challenges, such as correctly aligning best-fit employees to meet production requirements, maintaining regulatory and union compliance, and balancing employee preferences with business needs.

With today’s complex demands, manufacturers need to consider many factors when developing their scheduling practices. Existing labor scheduling processes are often inadequate — and can have negative impacts on productivity, safety, compliance, and employee engagement.

Factor 1: An evolving workforce The manufacturing workforce is evolving as much as the technologies used on the plant floor, creating new layers of complication. Creating effective schedules is a major challenge given this landscape.

Manufacturing workforce snapshot

• A substantial hourly workforce: With more than 78% of the manufacturing workforce being hourly employees, efficient scheduling practices are of paramount importance.2 Managing this large percentage of employees through antiquated methods and technologies increases the likelihood of errors.

• Multigenerational workforce: From the Silent Generation to Generation Z, multiple generations and tenures can create complicated scheduling situations, where more senior employees get priority for preferred shifts, vacation time, and/or holidays.

• Silver tsunami: The retirements of 2.7 million baby boomers looming over the industry is causing a worker shortage.4

• Growing skills gap: More than 3.4 million manufacturing jobs are expected to be generated over the next decade. The Manufacturing Institute recently estimated that nearly 2.4 million jobs could go unfilled by 2028.5

• Industry perception issues: Younger generations are not considering manufacturing as a career path, as they perceive the industry as antiquated and without opportunity for innovation.

• Technology gap: Manufacturers are not using newer technologies, including scheduling technologies, that younger generations expect in the workplace. Posting schedules in break rooms or submitting forms to request time off is common, but allowing employees to access their schedules easily and from anywhere is one of the expectations that needs to be met in order to attract and retain new talent as younger generations make up more and more of the workforce demographic.

By 2030, millennials and Generation Z will comprise two-thirds of the U.S. workforce.3

Impact of outdated workforce technology on job performance

20%

34%

38%

40% 39%

Boomers Gen Xers OlderMillennials

YoungerMillennials

Gen Z

Younger employees in the U.S. are less tolerant of poor workplace technology than

are older employees. While just a fifth (20%) of baby boomers think outdated processes

and technology make their job harder than it should be, that figure steadily increases

for Generation X (34%), older millennials (38%), younger millennials (40%), and

Generation Z (39%).6

Factor 2: Potential compliance concerns Manual or semi-manual systems for employee time and pay policies can expose manufacturers to wage and hour claims and union grievances. In a manual environment, supervisors can overwrite employee reporting to prevent overtime, regardless of whether an error was intentional.

Scheduling rules can vary in complexity around around shift lengths, flextime, and night/day shifts, for example, and need to be accounted for when creating schedules in order to remain compliant.

With workers belonging to unions at more than 50% of the 50 Best U.S. Manufacturers, according to IndustryWeek magazine,7 scheduling practices that adhere to collective bargaining agreement rules are also critical for compliance.

Factor 3: Countering worker fatigueManaging employee fatigue is essential to creating a safe working environment and therefore of paramount importance in scheduling. Scheduling practices play a huge role in worker safety by creating visibility into rest time and hours worked. These practices need to take fatigue into consideration to ensure employees are well rested on the job.

Factor 4: Aligning skills with assignmentsModern scheduling systems also track training compliance, skills, and certifications, helping ensure the employee scheduled for a job has the right skills and qualifications.

Factor 5: Employee assignment preferences and overtime Given the size of the manufacturing hourly workforce, managing preferences, shift bidding, and overtime sign-ups can be a complex and time-consuming endeavor.

Preferences and shift bidding

Schedulers need to manage employee job assignment preferences and schedule accurately for possibly hundreds of employees. Preferences become more complicated when they differ from location to location. When jobs become available and employees bid or sign up for jobs, assignments are made based on employee seniority and the alignment of skills or certifications. Bidding is also applied for employee vacation time, and schedulers must apply time according to seniority and sign-ups.

Overtime sign-ups

As part of their business practices, some manufacturers use traditional Monday to Friday and weekend scheduling plans and also gather and organize overtime sign-ups and schedule accordingly. This manual process has huge room for error and inequitable overtime assignments.

Factor 6: Meeting production requirements Optimizing your workforce to meet production requirements is the primary goal of scheduling, but one that is often a moving target as those requirements fluctuate given available materials, changes in customer demand, and unexpected machine downtime. Crew-leveling is determined by rules and production demands and which employees have the right skills to be scheduled to which jobs and when.

Opportunities for scheduling amid Industry 4.0Digital transformation for manufacturers within Industry 4.0 often focuses on connectivity on the plant floor, smart factory initiatives, or artificial intelligence. These same technological advances can be applied to scheduling to better manage its complexities and deliver increased operational efficiencies.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology If a manufacturer is using modern technologies, AI can be applied through automated scheduling. Machine≈learning algorithms can predict business volumes with great accuracy, learn scheduling best practices over time, and automatically schedule employees based on production schedules and known employee preferences. Utilizing this technology can free up managerial time and generate more accurate schedules more quickly.

Industrial internet of things (IIoT) IIoT refers to the connectivity and interoperability across machines and systems. When data is shared and analyzed, better insights can be achieved to increase production and efficiencies. Real-time access to data also provides the agility to realign labor when needed, such as when a machine goes down or an employee calls out and a replacement is needed.

Mobile capabilitiesIncreased mobile capabilities enable employees to access their schedules from anywhere, at any time. They also allow employees to clock in and clock out while in the field, and enable manufacturers to communicate with employees more quickly and effectively.

In addition, union or company policies may dictate that a manufacturer must call employees to notify them that a shift is canceled, or else the employees must be paid for the shift even if they are not needed. Telephony technology enables manufacturers to quickly communicate this information to hundreds of employees at a time, if necessary.

Benefits of effective labor schedulingEffective labor scheduling affects more than just employees — it plays an important role in the overall efficiency and, therefore, profitability of any manufacturer. Industry 4.0 has paved the way for modern scheduling technologies, but manufacturers need to implement them to fully realize those benefits.

Create a differentiated employee experience and improve engagementBy automating complex, time-consuming scheduling processes as well as shift, vacation, and overtime bidding for fairer and more equitable schedules, you free up supervisor time. This enables supervisors to spend more time with their employees on the floor, coaching and offering performance improvement suggestions. And with easy mobile access, your employees have more control over their schedules, leading to increased employee engagement and improved productivity.

The positive impact that flexible and transparent scheduling has on employee engagement is often underestimated. Scheduling and workforce management should strike a balance between what is good for the organization and what is good for employees. Engaged employees often have a direct impact on the success of the organization.

Creating a differentiated employee experience is also key to attracting and retaining new talent, a crucial step in battling the skills gap. Younger millennials and the incoming Generation Z have high expectations for technology on the job. Approximately 61 million young people in Generation Z are gearing up to enter the workforce, more than enough to fill the skills gap.8 To attract and retain this talent and keep existing employees engaged and productive, manufacturers need to create a culture where people want to be.

To build this culture and create a more engaged and productive workforce, manufacturers need to consider the motivations and expectations of employees, including:

• Work/life balance: Employees want the opportunity to explore their passions outside of work, the ability to easily request PTO, and the encouragement to use that vacation time. Mobile scheduling capabilities support maintaining work/life balance.

• Empowerment: Manufacturers are working with a highly skilled group of people who are seeking a strong sense of purpose, managerial recognition, and continuous feedback on performance. Employees want to make a difference on the job, so managers need to empower them to do so.

• Visibility/insight: Employees work long hours and want to see the results of that work. Visibility into labor data can help identify where employees are most productive and get them scheduled for those jobs where they can have the greatest impact.

• Career growth: Identifying in which jobs employees are most productive can help set their career trajectory and identify opportunities for additional training, a key motivator for incoming generations.

• Technology: A recent survey by The Workforce Institute at UKG (formerly Kronos) found that “nearly half of employees (48%) wish their workplace technology performed just like their personal technology, and more than a third of employees surveyed (35%) feel their job is harder than it should be because of outdated processes and legacy technology.”9

Improve compliance and safety risk managementAutomated scheduling technology also can support regulatory and company-defined compliance rules and automatically apply those rules, making it easy to schedule only the most qualified person for the job; create schedules that adhere to union, HR, and other organizational policies; and help minimize employee fatigue.

Meet production goals and control labor costs while delivering high-quality productsModern scheduling technology aligns your labor schedule with production schedules while controlling labor costs by assigning the most qualified employees and maintaining accurate staffing levels through the reduction of understaffing and overstaffing as well as unscheduled overtime. This enables:

• Optimization: Some employees may be more productive on certain jobs. Aligning those skills where they are most useful increases efficiency.

• Increased visibility: Utilizing strategic labor and overtime scheduling based on known increases or decreases in production schedules can optimize efficiencies.

Increase profitabilityIrrespective of the size of your organization, you need clear and actionable information about your workforce to make the right decisions. Having that information available in real time is more than just nice to have: It’s the difference between firefighting and having the ability to adapt on short notice. If you don’t have access to that data in real time, and the right workers with the right skills are not in place at the right time, your organization will not be able to deliver a profitable, safe, engaging, and satisfying experience for employees, customers, and partners.

Using modern scheduling technologies can increase profitability by optimizing your scheduling practices and leveraging labor data insights to create more efficient production lines. Automated scheduling enables managers to better utilize their time and delivers a better employee experience, creating a more engaged, productive, and, therefore, profitable workforce. Applying labor data derived from scheduling to other areas of the business can provide valuable insights and possibly higher productivity. Capacity planning, for example, can be managed more effectively with the right labor forecasting technologies in place.

Automated scheduling drives better business outcomes

Research from Aptitude Research Partners suggests that companies that automate scheduling are 1.6 times more likely to cite engagement levels above the industry average.10

In addition, research from Gallup shows that organizations in the top 25% of employee engagement are 17% more productive and 21% more profitable than those in the bottom 25%11

Modern, automated scheduling technologies are key to any manufacturer’s digital transformation strategy. Such practices put the right people in the right job, they match skill supply with work demand, and they provide manufacturers with the ability to be responsive to changing business needs — driving higher productivity and better business outcomes.

To learn more about what automated scheduling can do for your manufacturing organization,

please visit ukg.com/manufacturing, contact your UKG™ (Ultimate Kronos Group) representative,

or call +1 800 225 1561.

© 2020 UKG Inc. All rights reserved.For a full list of UKG trademarks, please visit ukg.com/trademarks. All other trademarks, if any, are property of their respective owners.

All specifications are subject to change. MF0300-USv2

References:

1. Michael Hu, Drishti Sheds Light on the Person-Shaped Blind Spot in Factory Analytics (November 19, 2018), found at https://drishti.com/blog/drishti-sheds-light-on-the-person-shaped-blind-spot-in-factory-analytics/.

2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, calculated from data obtained at https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/employment-levels-by-industry.htm and https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat45.pdf (accessed November 3, 2020).

3. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, calculated from data obtained at https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/employment-levels-by-industry.htm and https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat45.pdf (accessed November 3, 2020).

4. Deloitte Insights and Manufacturing Institute, 2018 Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute Skills Gap and Future of Work Study (accessed April 19, 2018), at 3, found at https://www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/MI-Deloitte-skills-gap-Future-of-Workforce-study-2018.pdf.

5. Ibid.

6. Workforce Institute at Kronos, Workers Globally Wish for Better Technology (accessed April 19, 2019), found at https://workforceinstitute.org/workers-globally-wish-for-better-technology/.

7. IndustryWeek, IndustryWeek 50 Best Manufacturers (accessed April 19, 2019), found at https://www.industryweek.com/industryweek-50-best-us-manufacturers/2018-industryweek-50-best-us-manufacturers.

8. Janice Gassam, How Generation Z Will Impact Your Workplace, Forbes (accessed April 19, 2019), found at https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2018/12/26/how-the-newest-generation-generation-z-will-impact-your-workplace/#6f2fe5f32af6.

9. Workforce Institute at Kronos, Workers Globally Wish for Better Technology (accessed April 19, 2019), found at https://workforceinstitute.org/workers-globally-wish-for-better-technology/.

10. Aptitude Research Partners, Moving Beyond Burnout: Strategies to Sustain Engagement and Retain Workers (accessed April 19, 2019), at 5, found at https://www.kronos.com/resources/moving-beyond-burnout-strategies-sustain-engagement-and-retain-workers.

11. Gallup, State of the Global Workplace (2017), at 5, found at https://www.slideshare.net/adrianboucek/state-of-the-global-workplace-gallup-report-2017.