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With a constant focus on driving efficiency, the manufacturing industry is always looking for the next best opportunity to operate leaner and avoid unnecessary costs. The average cost of machine downtime estimated at a staggering $260,000 per hour. On the other hand preventive maintenance promoting the ability to reduce downtime by 30% – 50%.  So it’s no wonder that the concept has caught the attention of nearly every manufacturer.

Preventive maintenance was designed to use statistical analysis to perform necessary maintenance on equipment before failures occur. This extends the life cycles of high-value machines and minimizes equipment downtime. The result has saved manufacturers millions of dollars a year in excess costs. There are also other benefits such as enhanced plant safety and improved product quality. The industry has been taking advantage of this concept for many years. But thanks to Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IOT), vast amounts of data being collected from modern machines make preventive maintenance even more beneficial and widely adopted.

Shifting focus from machines to people

As workers continue to leave their organizations at an alarming rate, currently being dubbed the Great Resignation, a slight wrench is thrown into the goal of preventive maintenance. Since February of 2020, manufacturing quit rates are up 78% making it one of the hardest-hit sectors of employee separations. Just as broken machines cause downtime, not having enough employees available can have the same effect. Without a full workforce, organizations could have no one to maintain or even operate their machines, rendering the whole plan useless.

The great news is that you can apply the same philosophy of preventive maintenance that you do on equipment to your workforce! Think about it, people perform preventive maintenance on themselves all the time. You might exercise to avoid health concerns down the road. Or you stretch before going on a run to minimize the chance of injury. The concept is quite simple, but for so long manufacturers have prioritized maintenance on their material assets over their people assets. Human actions create 71% of the value in a typical manufacturing environment. A tidal wave of workers leaving their companies means that priorities need to shift to ensure future success.

Just as preventive maintenance programs analyze data collected by manufacturing equipment to determine when action needs to be taken, modern human capital management solutions offer advanced analytics about your people. These analytics can detect the possibility of an employee being a flight risk. This allows managers to have proactive conversations with their employees and determine the best approach to improve their work experience before it’s too late.

Understanding what your hourly workers value

The Myth

Having insight into when an employee is becoming unhappy and potentially a flight risk is a valuable tool in helping manufacturing organizations be proactive with retention issues. However, without knowing what factors make manufacturing employees stay with a company, the problem will persist. Many assume hourly employees just want higher pay. They’ll leave a company if presented the opportunity to make more money somewhere else. But, it’s extremely difficult for manufacturers to continually raise their wages without increasing their prices concurrently.

The Reality

Fortunately for manufacturers, multiple studies have shown that pay is not the only reason employees choose to stay. In fact, according to EmployBridge’s annual Voice of the Blue-Collar Worker study, the most cited reason why hourly workers chose to stay with their company for more than 5 years was liking their work schedule. A modest pay increase would not be enough to motivate them to change jobs. Other highly ranked criteria by the hourly workforce were growth and development opportunities and feeling like their company truly values them.

By leveraging advanced workforce management solutions, manufacturers can offer their employees the ability to select their schedule preferences. They can also swap shifts with coworkers giving them more schedule flexibility. All of this is possible as the system ensures proper coverage is always maintained. Not to mention, employees are able to accomplish all of this from their preferred smartphone or tablet for a seamless work-life experience.

In addition to a great work schedule, hourly workers want to be treated as valued team members. They want to know that their voices are heard. Manufacturers can anonymously gather feedback from their frontline workforce by using technology with natural language processing and machine learning capabilities. Those quickly sort through responses and identify themes and sentiments to gain perspective. The key here is to use this actionable information to make swift changes that benefit employees. The reward is a workforce that feels management truly cares about them and values their ideas.  In turn, employees become more productive and engaged.