Manpower Crisis in Production and HR Departments
I'm working as an HR Generalist for a mid-scale fabrication industry that offers processed steel products to customers like BGR, BHEL, Volvo, etc. At the moment, we are experiencing a huge manpower crisis between the production department and the HR department. We have been providing the needed manpower for production, yet their demand continues to increase daily. We have not been able to fulfill all the requirements for the production department.
It has now become a common practice for the production department to blame us whenever there is a shortfall in production.
Calculating Production Rate for Skilled Workers
My question is: Is there a way we can calculate the production rate of a skilled person? For example, how much output can they provide in a day? If we could determine this figure, we would be better able to manage the manpower needs in the production department.
Type of Work and Material Specifications
Type of work: Welding, Grinding, Fit-up
Steel plates are on average 70-80 mm each.
Regards
From India, Mumbai
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1I'm working as an HR Generalist for a mid-scale fabrication industry that offers processed steel products to customers like BGR, BHEL, Volvo, etc. At the moment, we are experiencing a huge manpower crisis between the production department and the HR department. We have been providing the needed manpower for production, yet their demand continues to increase daily. We have not been able to fulfill all the requirements for the production department.
It has now become a common practice for the production department to blame us whenever there is a shortfall in production.
Calculating Production Rate for Skilled Workers
My question is: Is there a way we can calculate the production rate of a skilled person? For example, how much output can they provide in a day? If we could determine this figure, we would be better able to manage the manpower needs in the production department.
Type of Work and Material Specifications
Type of work: Welding, Grinding, Fit-up
Steel plates are on average 70-80 mm each.
Regards
From India, Mumbai
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Calculating the Production Rate of Skilled Workers
Yes, the answer is in your question, but it needs to be tailored. Execute rationalization of manpower/workforce exercises immediately to ascertain:
i) The number of persons actually needed for each job/task, process, sequence of activities, etc.
ii) Qualifications, relevant work experience, and other suitability factors (energy, stamina, strength).
iii) Quantity (volume) and quality (product specifications) for each section/unit of output.
iv) Conditions & hours of work, and, inter alia,
v) Remuneration (rate of pay and scale of pay).
Once you arrive at the standard force number and working force number, you will be in a position to finalize the production incentive schemes for various groups. This exercise may reveal restrictive work practices and unhelpful work habits in the systems.
Kritarth Consulting Team is available for further consultations if required.
Regards, Kritarth Team
From India, Delhi
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Yes, the answer is in your question, but it needs to be tailored. Execute rationalization of manpower/workforce exercises immediately to ascertain:
i) The number of persons actually needed for each job/task, process, sequence of activities, etc.
ii) Qualifications, relevant work experience, and other suitability factors (energy, stamina, strength).
iii) Quantity (volume) and quality (product specifications) for each section/unit of output.
iv) Conditions & hours of work, and, inter alia,
v) Remuneration (rate of pay and scale of pay).
Once you arrive at the standard force number and working force number, you will be in a position to finalize the production incentive schemes for various groups. This exercise may reveal restrictive work practices and unhelpful work habits in the systems.
Kritarth Consulting Team is available for further consultations if required.
Regards, Kritarth Team
From India, Delhi
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Addressing Manpower Challenges in Production
The problem of this kind arises when workload analysis and demand analysis are not done. Therefore, you need to perform these analyses first. Manpower requirements are correlated with production demand. Have you established this correlation for each section within the production department?
Secondly, your PPC department must be sending the production demand to the Production department. In that case, sit with production and PPC, identify the ratio of manpower to demand, and then try fulfilling the manpower requirement.
Moving forward, you need to identify whether there is optimum utilization of the manpower. Identify the scope to improve this optimization.
To handle problems of this kind, you also need to take assistance from external consultants. External consultants are beneficial for two reasons. The first is that they see you as a third party. The second is that production will never listen to you even if you give the best suggestions. They will be more receptive in front of external consultants. For further assistance, feel free to contact me.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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The problem of this kind arises when workload analysis and demand analysis are not done. Therefore, you need to perform these analyses first. Manpower requirements are correlated with production demand. Have you established this correlation for each section within the production department?
Secondly, your PPC department must be sending the production demand to the Production department. In that case, sit with production and PPC, identify the ratio of manpower to demand, and then try fulfilling the manpower requirement.
Moving forward, you need to identify whether there is optimum utilization of the manpower. Identify the scope to improve this optimization.
To handle problems of this kind, you also need to take assistance from external consultants. External consultants are beneficial for two reasons. The first is that they see you as a third party. The second is that production will never listen to you even if you give the best suggestions. They will be more receptive in front of external consultants. For further assistance, feel free to contact me.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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Addressing Manpower Challenges in Manufacturing
This is a typical problem faced in a manufacturing unit. You need to work with your production department to determine the average productivity per person. This can be done by calculating the number of units produced in a day/shift, divided by the number of operators required to produce them in a day/shift. This will give you an average productivity.
Take into account the number of units you need to produce in a day/shift based on the orders, the existing number of operators, average absenteeism, and work out a manpower plan. You also need to consider regular attrition and plan accordingly.
Regards,
Vineeta.
From India, Mumbai
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This is a typical problem faced in a manufacturing unit. You need to work with your production department to determine the average productivity per person. This can be done by calculating the number of units produced in a day/shift, divided by the number of operators required to produce them in a day/shift. This will give you an average productivity.
Take into account the number of units you need to produce in a day/shift based on the orders, the existing number of operators, average absenteeism, and work out a manpower plan. You also need to consider regular attrition and plan accordingly.
Regards,
Vineeta.
From India, Mumbai
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Like Dinesh Divekar and Vineeta mentioned, this situation is quite common in most manufacturing units. However, before implementing Dinesh Divekar's suggestion of involving external consultants (which often provides a different perspective than internal ones), I suggest first doing some comparison with similar units in your location. I am sure Mumbai would have many such units like yours doing similar, if not the same, activities. You would need to interact with the HR of those units to get an accurate picture.
That will give you a benchmark on which to base your argument to convince your management to hire outside consultants to do a systematic work study. Quite often, management hesitates to hire outsiders for such activities as they fail to correlate the advantages vis-a-vis the expenses.
If you find there are companies in a similar line that are producing the same or better output for lower/same staff strengths, the line you can take is clear: "When their production is the same for x staff strength, why can't our company do the same?"
Once you have the data for other such manufacturing units, you will firstly be clear yourself where your company stands in the industry you are in, with regard to this aspect. For all you know, the truth may be somewhere in-between—what your Production Department is saying and what HR/Management feels it ought to be.
All the best.
Regards, TS
From India, Hyderabad
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That will give you a benchmark on which to base your argument to convince your management to hire outside consultants to do a systematic work study. Quite often, management hesitates to hire outsiders for such activities as they fail to correlate the advantages vis-a-vis the expenses.
If you find there are companies in a similar line that are producing the same or better output for lower/same staff strengths, the line you can take is clear: "When their production is the same for x staff strength, why can't our company do the same?"
Once you have the data for other such manufacturing units, you will firstly be clear yourself where your company stands in the industry you are in, with regard to this aspect. For all you know, the truth may be somewhere in-between—what your Production Department is saying and what HR/Management feels it ought to be.
All the best.
Regards, TS
From India, Hyderabad
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Budgetary Control and Manpower Management
The manpower is one of the costliest resources, needing proper planning and budgetary control. Some companies have peculiar methods to deal with the budget. The BK Birla group has daily budgetary monitoring and control over manpower costs, overtime, power, steam, water, chemicals, and many other things, including daily production. It's not only required for a few things; a budget is needed for all those things required to achieve production, profit before tax (PBT), and sales as well.
Therefore, please practice budgeting, review, and exercise alternatives. You can hire casuals, contract laborers as buffer stock, apprentices, daily wagers, and badlis as replacements when there is a breakdown or project work, and reduce costs due to an increase in absenteeism and overtime. The whole exercise is to flawlessly align and achieve production targets, PBT, quality, and sales volume in alignment with HR as a strategic partner in routine action planning.
Regards, RDS Yadav
From India, Delhi
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The manpower is one of the costliest resources, needing proper planning and budgetary control. Some companies have peculiar methods to deal with the budget. The BK Birla group has daily budgetary monitoring and control over manpower costs, overtime, power, steam, water, chemicals, and many other things, including daily production. It's not only required for a few things; a budget is needed for all those things required to achieve production, profit before tax (PBT), and sales as well.
Therefore, please practice budgeting, review, and exercise alternatives. You can hire casuals, contract laborers as buffer stock, apprentices, daily wagers, and badlis as replacements when there is a breakdown or project work, and reduce costs due to an increase in absenteeism and overtime. The whole exercise is to flawlessly align and achieve production targets, PBT, quality, and sales volume in alignment with HR as a strategic partner in routine action planning.
Regards, RDS Yadav
From India, Delhi
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