Seeking HR Insights: How Do You Manage Manpower for Daily Fluctuating Production?

Dear Fraternity, I am currently working as a Management Trainee for a pharmaceutical company at its factory location. I would like to request experienced HR professionals to share their process for determining the required manpower for Primary & Secondary Packing areas, especially when production fluctuates daily.

Overview of the Current Manpower Planning Process

The Manpower Plan for each day is prepared in advance by the Packing Section Head based on factors such as the product, batch size, packing style, leaflets, taping, etc., utilizing historical data. Occasionally, due to machine breakdowns or technical challenges during the night shift on a specific packing line, production halts. Consequently, the following morning, the Section Head informs HR to reduce the manpower by half. This adjustment can frustrate the Contractor as some employees may end up empty-handed. In such cases, we may need to allocate the remaining workers to other tasks to maintain a win-win situation.

Suggestions for Effective Manpower Calculation and Allocation

a) I would appreciate any suggestions you have for calculating required manpower more effectively and optimizing manpower allocation.

Establishing a Robust Workforce Determination Process

b) How can we establish a robust process to determine the necessary workforce for each shift while adhering to Lean Management principles?

Many thanks in advance!

Dear Kebb, Prima facie, the problem appears to have been caused by the planning for the next day. I recommend you start planning for the week at least, if not a fortnight.

Production Planning and Scheduling

I prefer to look at your issue from the "Production Planning and Scheduling" point of view. This raises the following questions:

1. Have the various packing processes been standardized?

2. What tools of production planning and scheduling are being used by the packing personnel? What needs improvement?

3. How do you measure the skill level of the employees? Have you done any standardization?

Replies to Your Questions

The replies to both questions could be learning tools of scheduling like Gantt Charting, theory sequencing, etc.

Additional Comments

You have written that "Sometimes, due to machine breakdown or technical challenges during the night shift on a particular packing line, production comes to a halt. Next day, in the morning, Section-Head intimates HR to reduce the manpower to half."

Machine breakdown or other technical challenges are common. However, your major challenge arises from this breakdown. Therefore, have you measured the machine downtime? What is the percentage and what efforts are being made to reduce the downtime?

To avoid the layoff of the workers, you may identify the scope of the automation of the manual processes. It may appear costly, but if you can calculate the breakeven point and convince management how they can recover their investment.

One more solution is to multi-skill the employees.

Lastly, can you reduce the pace of packing? Keep a fewer number of workers. This will prolong the cycle time of the packing process, but if it is okay with your management, then it is worth doing so. If at all the inventory of the finished goods is going to remain idle (at the warehouse of the finished goods), then a 1-2 days delay should not matter.

By the way, just to apprise you that I conduct the training program on "Production Scheduling." Hence my above suggestions and observations.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy-Reasons]

Production Planning and Control

Production Planning and Control occupies a primary place in the factory production department. The department will need to streamline its planning process and schedule materials and labor properly. Past data and secured orders can be the tools to plan how many machines, labor, tools, etc., are needed. Preventive maintenance will play a crucial role in preventing the stoppage of work and idle manpower.

Contract Terms and Labor Management

The terms of the contract with the manpower supplier will need to be tweaked, but sending labor back will be wrong and indicative of defective planning. It is a loss of income for the worker. Root cause analysis is necessary to determine how many days sudden demand to reduce contract labor has taken place and what was the reason for such a change. Was the machine under maintenance? Or was the order not there?

Planning and Scheduling

Once planning and scheduling machines, materials, etc., are outlined, labor hour wastage can be curbed.

Ensuring Production Targets Are Met

Management and department heads need to ensure that the planned production target is achieved. For this:

1. Prior planning ensures 100% serviceability of the assembly line.
2. Necessary skilled staff with optimum resources should be made available 24x7 to minimize breakdowns.
3. Availability and supply of stores should be ensured as per the planned target production.
4. Follow a weekly or fortnightly review and rescheduling in the production process.
5. Generate MIS reports and accordingly decide on the type and amount of manpower required on a daily basis. Usually, contractors are hired with conditions to accept an increase or decrease in manpower within a certain percentage to manage according to the company's needs.

Many thanks to Dinesh Sir, Nath Sir, and Bijay Sir for sharing your insights. It has given me enough food for thought to approach this challenge. I will understand the Production Planning and Scheduling processes, maintain and update MIS for future reference, take preventive measures by regular maintenance, and deploy skilled operators in all shifts. I will consider the possibility of automation wherever possible, conduct weekly/fortnightly reviews for rescheduling the processes, and ensure the availability of raw materials. Additionally, I will identify ways to eliminate wastage, reduce the speed of the packing process, and multi-skill manpower.

Great thoughts.

In my earlier reply, I had proposed the reduction of manpower from the packing section. Nevertheless, I further recommend shifting the night-duty employees to the packing section if there is a production breakdown. After all, packing is not a highly skilled activity, and the production workers should be able to do it. However, the challenge may arise if the production workers consider the packers' job as inferior, leading to potential resentment. They need to be convinced that instead of remaining idle, it is in the company's interest to utilize their services. This improvement will enhance the company's overall productivity.

Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar