Introducing a Workforce Management Blog for Manufacturers

by | Sep 2, 2011

Manufacturing. Workforce. Management.

Historically these three words are not associated together in manufacturing. However, with the focus on workplace efficiencies and labor costs, these words will become more meaningful in determining a holistic strategy for managing a manufacturing workforce.

 

“Faster, Better, Smarter” is another phrase originally reserved for the few, but now used in many sectors, including manufacturing. These three words challenge an organization to take advantage of various types of resources, including time, human and machine.  It requires a full commitment to manufacturing workfforce management strategies.

 

The goal of this blog is to initiate conversations and give a forum for addressing the latest thoughts on manufacturing workforce management (WFM). Topic examples include the current outlook for staffing in the manufacturing environment, tracking machine time, reconciliation between labor and payroll time, and other thought provoking subjects that come up in discussions or in the news.

 

So, what is WFM and why is it important to current manufacturing processes? At its most basic level, WFM is any activity that involves workers time or what manufacturers are asking about their workforce on a daily basis including:

 

  • How long do they work?
     
  • What did they work on and for how long?
     
  • What task are they working on now?
     
  • Should they be paid a premium for various tasks?
     
  • When are they scheduled for paid time off and how much time do they have left?
     
  • What is their daily or weekly schedule?
     
  • Are there enough workers to cover the tasks that must be completed?

 

These questions all lead us to how the organization can operate the shop floor efficiently while managing budgets, labor costs and lean manufacturing principles.

 

WFM applications like Infor WFM Workbrain, Oracle Time and Labor and SAP Workforce Management focus on providing tools that manage these activities and the manufacturing world is beginning to take advantage of more than just tried-and-true time and attendance tracking. This makes for some interesting opportunities, and I plan to discuss these opportunities in upcoming blog posts.

 

As for me, I am Jenine Bogrand. I have worked in manufacturing in various capacities, including WFM, HR Systems and HR Operations. Today, I am the Director responsible for Axsium’s Manufacturing Practice.

 

I would love to hear comments and suggestions for topics from those of you interested in WFM in general and specifically in the area of manufacturing. Please feel free to contact me at jbogrand@axsiumgroup.com, subscribe to our RSS feed, and bookmark this link for future blogs!

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