Man power Management - Is there any way we can calculate a production rate of a skilled person?

Good Day,

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.

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: Welding, Grinding, Fit-up

Steel plates are on average 70-80 mm each.

Dear HR Manager,

Your question is: Is there any way we can calculate the production rate of a skilled person? Like how much output can he give in a day. If we could arrive at a figure, we would be able to manage the manpower needs in the production department.

Answer: Yes, the answer is in your question, but it needs to be tailored. Execute rationalization of manpower/workforce exercises, ex cathedra, 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 shall 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.

Kritarth Team
21 Feb 2016

Dear Lordson Newton,

The problem of this kind arises when workload analysis and demand analysis are not done. Therefore, you need to do this analysis first. Manpower requirement is correlated with the production demand. Have you found out 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 and 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 better for two reasons. The first one 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

Dear Lordson Newton,

This is a typical problem faced in a manufacturing unit. You need to work with your production department and arrive at 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, existing number of operators, average absenteeism, and work out a manpower plan.

You need to also take into account your regular attrition and plan accordingly.

Regards,
Vineeta.

Hello Lordson Newton,

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 [quite often this gives a different perspective than from those internal], 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, activity. 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, managements hesitate 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--to what your Production Department is saying and to what HR/Management feels it ought to be.

All the best.

Regards,

TS

Hello!

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 the manpower cost, 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, badlis as replacements when there is a breakdown, 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.

RDS Yadav, Director, Future Instt Of Engg and Management Technology, Labour Law Adviser
Email: navtaranghrs@gmail.com