Manufacturing shift scheduling
Optimise manufacturing shift schedules to unlock huge benefits
Technology-enabled services from manufacturing shift scheduling experts
Increase manufacturing efficiency
Improve manufacturing productivity
Increase manufacturing capacity
Our experience
Manufacturing shift scheduling is vital to success
Your operational performance is intrinsically linked to manufacturing shift scheduling.
Are your manufacturing shift schedules keeping up with changing demand, processes and shift worker expectations?
Legacy approaches to manufacturing shift scheduling can be the root cause of high overtime and agency costs, production capacity issues and recruitment or retention challenges.
We’ll help you overcome these challenges by optimising your manufacturing shift schedules to meet the needs of your business and its shift workers.
Looking to optimise manufacturing shift scheduling?
Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with a shift work expert who’ll give you valuable feedback and tips.
Manufacturing shift scheduling optimisation benefits
Optimising manufacturing shift scheduling can unlock a range of transformative benefits.
Increase manufacturing efficiency
Optimised manufacturing shift scheduling can release more value from your shift workers’ contracted hours…reducing the cost of overtime and enabling a more targeted use of agency labour.
This can reduce total labour costs by 10% or more.
Manufacturing efficiency improvement can also be delivered by ensuring shift scheduling aligns with other aspects of production planning to maximise utilisation of assets and wider supply chain considerations.
This can reduce waste by 45% in some cases.
Improve manufacturing productivity
Ensuring your manufacturing shift schedules align to demand is a fundamental consideration when looking to improve manufacturing productivity and avoid underutilisation.
This can help deliver a 60%+ improvement in key productivity metrics.
Effective manufacturing shift scheduling can also improve employee job satisfaction and reduce sickness absence which can make a significant contribution when you’re looking to improve manufacturing productivity.
Sickness absence can be reduced by up to 55%.
Increase manufacturing capacity
Creating manufacturing shift schedules that increase net availability, optimise team/crewing structures and minimise sickness absence will increase manufacturing capacity by giving you more flexibility and resource when you need it most.
A modern approach to manufacturing shift scheduling can also underpin recruitment and retention. Being an attractive employer will help you increase manufacturing capacity and avoid resourcing shortfalls.
Looking to increase manufacturing efficiency, productivity and capacity?
Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with a shift work expert who’ll give you valuable feedback and tips.
Manufacturing shift scheduling support
Our experts have been providing manufacturing shift scheduling support for over three decades.
They will help you analyse your current manufacturing shift schedules and identify opportunities to maximise the benefits of optimisation.
Analyse
Our experts will use sophisticated data analytics to assess your current approach to manufacturing shift scheduling and identify a clear pathway for improvement.
Create
We’ll help you create manufacturing shift schedules that deliver transformative benefits and ensure they are underpinned by robust policies and systems.
Engage
We’ll help engage your shift workers to ensure your approach to manufacturing shift scheduling reflect their preferences and health and wellbeing needs.
Manufacturing employee scheduling software
Manufacturing employee scheduling software is not capable of delivering fully optimised manufacturing shift schedules by itself.
Achieving this requires deep subject matter expertise, operational understanding and the ability to engage effectively with shift workers.
It’s why we developed a range of proprietary manufacturing employee scheduling software tools that our experts use on your behalf to deliver optimisation and improvement.
You’ll benefit from the increased visibility, efficiency and assurance provided by technology…but without the challenges posed by manufacturing employee scheduling software contracts, systems integration, configuration and user support.
View
This data analytics tool quickly surfaces key manufacturing shift scheduling insights and provides granular measurement, monitoring and reporting capabilities.
Plan
Supports rapid generation of bespoke options for manufacturing shift schedules whilst the visualisation capability supports interactive collaboration with your shift workers.
Hub
Enables efficient delivery of sentiment and preference gathering, health and wellbeing programmes and best practice training around manufacturing shift scheduling.
Looking for manufacturing employee shift scheduling software?
Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with a shift work expert to see how our manufacturing employee scheduling software could help you.
Manufacturing shift scheduling experts
We understand how complex, time consuming and sensitive manufacturing shift scheduling can be.
optashift is home to the largest collective of experts in the UK with a three-decade long track record of delivering optimised manufacturing shift schedules for a diverse range of businesses.
Our experience
Want to speak to an expert about manufacturing shift schedules?
Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with a shift work expert who’ll give you valuable feedback and tips.
FAQ
Q: What is the best work schedule for manufacturing?
A: There is no one right answer to this. The manufacturing shift scheduling process needs to consider a broad range of considerations.
These can be operational, legislative, cultural and workforce specific.
Ultimately the best work schedule for manufacturing will be one that is carefully designed to balance the operational and performance needs of the business with the preferences and sentiment of its shift workers.
Q: Should manufacturing shift scheduling be part of capacity and production planning?
A: This will vary according to the business, but manufacturing shift schedules should be considered as part of wider capacity and production planning activity.
In many cases business’ capacity and production planning ‘fits around’ legacy manufacturing shift schedules, as change can be complex and sensitive.
The ideal approach is to more closely align capacity and production planning with manufacturing shift scheduling to ensure they are both optimised.
Q: How does manufacturing demand planning relate to manufacturing shift schedules?
A: Manufacturing demand planning gives you an understanding of demand composition and variability which can be used to inform manufacturing shift schedules.
The output of manufacturing demand planning will tell you the type of labour resource required, how much you need, and when you need it…all key elements of optimised manufacturing shift scheduling.
Q: Is optashift capable of creating 24 7 manufacturing schedules?
A: Absolutely, supporting 24 7 manufacturing schedules is a significant part of our services.
Manufacturing shift schedules in 24 7 environments require careful consideration given the 24 7 coverage and additional operational and health and wellbeing considerations such as night shift production, shift rotations, cover, weekend working, facilities and a wide range of other factors.
Q: How are shifts relevant to lean manufacturing scheduling?
A: Optimising shifts should be a fundamental component in lean manufacturing scheduling programmes.
Aligning labour supply with demand can dramatically reduce waste in the form of unnecessary overtime, underutilisation and even production factors like maintenance and shutdowns and start ups.
Employee shifts should integrate with wider production considerations as part of a holistic approach to lean manufacturing scheduling.
Q: Can you provide any examples of manufacturing shift schedules you have created?
A: There are thousands of examples of manufacturing shift schedules we have created, but they are only relevant to the specific demand profile, operating environment and workforce they were designed for.
Well known generic examples of manufacturing shift schedules include 4 on 4 off, Continental and many, many more.
These generic manufacturing shift schedules will need tailoring to your business. You can find out more about them in the ‘Resources’ section of this website.
Book a manufacturing shift scheduling consultation
Sometimes it’s easier just to ask an expert.
We offer a free, confidential and informal 30-minute consultation call with an optashift consultant who has over 20 years’ experience creating manufacturing shift schedules.
During this call, the expert will use a structured checklist to provide a quick remote appraisal your approach to manufacturing shift scheduling.
They will then send a tailored and prioritised summary of recommendations to you within 24 hours of the call.
Use this form to secure a free manufacturing shift scheduling consultation