Bridging the talent gap: One manufacturer's story

In manufacturing, finding the right talent can be challenging. Given high employee turnover rates and high costs of training new employees, companies often find themselves with a talent gap that can last weeks, months, or even longer, as they search for the right fit. 

When faced with this kind of talent gap, one plastics manufacturer used systems to bridge the gap. They had two factories in different locations 6-10 hours away. Neither was fully staffed with the talent to ensure smooth and efficient production, and the distance between the plants made it challenging to bridge the gap through travel. 

To solve this problem, the team experimented with clipping Guidewheel sensors on key machines such as extruders and molding machines. The sensors sent the data from each critical machine into the cloud to provide visibility in real-time. With the system’s automatic alerts and dashboards, teammates suddenly had the visibility they needed to see at a glance what to act on - whether they were onsite or hours away - and respond immediately to breakdowns or problems. The experiment was a tremendous success. Their Production Manager, based at one of the two sites, was able to not only effectively run two factories in different regions, but achieve the following dramatic improvements in less than 6 months: 

• 41% improvement in OEE

• 18% improvement in facility-wide run-time

• 37%-62% reductions in idle time on the most critical machines (extruders + roto-molders)

It’s hard to avoid having any talent gaps in manufacturing. However, using the right systems helped this manufacturer not just bridge the gap, but also turn the challenge into an opportunity to drive immediate results while laying the groundwork for systematized, dependable operational excellence.