Employee Scheduling Software: Managing staff fluctuations in production

Ever been there? Your production line is at full throttle, delivery deadlines are looming, and suddenly key production staff are absent at the last minute. Such disruptions can throw planned production processes into chaos. Planners then face the daunting task of aligning actual personnel needs with available resources to meet deadlines or set realistic delivery dates. Integrated employee scheduling software alleviates this pressure! With just a click, you can access an up-to-date and realistic production plan, complete with optimized personnel scheduling.

Alongside rising production costs, delivery challenges, and sales fluctuations, personnel bottlenecks have become one of the biggest hurdles in production planning. These issues not only increase planning efforts but also pose significant economic risks, often affecting crucial metrics like delivery adherence and throughput times.

To address these challenges, employee scheduling software is tasked with assigning qualified employees to the right workplace at the right time and at optimal cost. Ultimately, within the framework of central production optimization, the goal is to align expected personnel needs with the existing workforce to create feasible production plans.

Challenges for workforce scheduling in production environments:

• Fluctuating Demand: Production requirements can vary greatly, necessitating flexible and adaptable planning.
• Skill Requirements: Different production processes require specific skills and qualifications, complicating staff allocation.
• Shift Work: Scheduling shifts, especially in a 24/7 operation, can be complex and must consider working time laws and employee health.
• Machine Breakdowns: Unforeseen machine breakdowns can disrupt production schedules, requiring rapid staffing adjustments.
• Staff Availability: Vacation, illness, and other absences must be factored into planning.
• Cost Control: Balancing sufficient staffing with cost efficiency is often challenging.

Why a tool for digital workforce scheduling in production planning is essential

In the world of production planning, software-optimized workforce scheduling is more than just a recommendation – it’s a necessity. Companies must decide whether to plan personnel before or after the production plan is created, whereas each approach having its pros and cons. In practice, personnel planning is often seen as an input factor for the detailed scheduling process. The bottleneck-focused approach used for resources like workstations, machines, and tools in production planning is thus seamlessly applied to personnel capacity planning. This means employees are assigned specific (rolling) shift models, downtimes, and qualifications, which are then integrated into the planning process.

Another key advantage of interlinking workforce scheduling with production planning is the direct link between employees and their workstations. While workstations can still be planned without personnel, it is no longer possible to plan personnel without an assigned workstation. This procedure ensures that the right personnel are scheduled for each activity, whether for set-up or production. The subdivision between operation and activity level also enables a precise assignment of responsibilities, which is often not possible at ERP level. In this way, for example, the “turning” operation can be subdivided into set-up and production. This is important as different people are often responsible for the individual processes.

Employee Scheduling Software: Seamlessly integrate qualifications and shift models

Current personnel availabilities, including shift models and rest periods, can be automatically transferred from existing ERP systems and/or personnel management software into the employee scheduling tool. Alternatively, these can be maintained directly within the tool. Modern employee scheduling tools, like those in GANTTPLAN APS, distinguish between shift models and calendars, allowing you to differentiate planned shifts, vacations, breaks, special times, and short-term factors such as sickness, absence, or downtime.

Employee qualifications are also factored into the planning. For instance, if special training is required to set up a 5-axis machining center, GANTTPLAN ensures that these specific qualifications are considered in all planning runs, guaranteeing that personnel with the appropriate skills are always available for the planned operations.

Distinction between workplace qualifications and process qualifications in workforce scheduling software

The distinction between workplace qualification and process qualification is important, as they cover different aspects of workforce scheduling and allocation.

• Workplace qualifications refer to the skills an employee needs to work at a specific workplace. These qualifications are universally applicable and influence the assignment of employees to the corresponding workstations.
• Process qualifications, on the other hand, are specialized skills assigned to a specific process. They encompass all “soft skills” required in addition to general qualifications for an operation, such as the physical strength to lift a set-up part. Operation qualifications can be assigned to a work center or an operation in the routing. When assigned to a work center, they function like workplace qualifications. When assigned to an operation, they apply only to that specific operation in the routing.

By differentiating between these two types of qualification, the software can effectively decide which employee is best suited to which task. This is done based on the employee’s individual skills and the specific requirements of the task or job.

Another advantage: Proactive management with GANTTPLAN APS

An APS system like GANTTPLAN not only alleviates the immediate burden on production planners but also helps identify potential personnel bottlenecks early on. This early detection allows for targeted countermeasures by adjusting order and personnel planning accordingly. By spotting overloads and bottlenecks in advance, the utilization of the existing employee pool can be optimized.

In the face of frequent sales fluctuations, GANTTPLAN can simulate various options for future shift planning (so-called scenarios). This enables planners to quickly and easily determine whether extra shifts or additional workers, such as those from temporary employment agencies, might be necessary to mitigate bottlenecks.

Moreover, GANTTPLAN can optimize personnel costs through a configurable weighting system, balancing them against other key criteria like set-up costs or capital commitment costs.

Automated Workforce Scheduling with software from DUALIS: Customer testimonials

“Before we introduced workforce scheduling in GANTTPLAN, planning using actual quoted hours was impossible. Our planning relied on personnel groups with a fixed number of people and hours. However, in practice, available hours change daily and sometimes at very short notice due to vacations, illness, machine breakdowns, etc. Prompt maintenance of these parameters was very time-consuming and often incomplete due to lack of information. Consequently, available personnel were calculated too optimistically, resulting in inaccurate planning,” reports Adele Brandeis, Data Analyst at asma gmbh.

“With the integration of workforce scheduling, we can now respond to staff changes more quickly and at short notice. This allows us to be realistic about the man-hours available. This in turn leads to much more accurate planning and consequently to more precise delivery dates,” explains Mrs Brandeis, confirming the positive impact of the GANTTPLAN Workforce Planning module on production processes.

Automated rescheduling in modern APS systems like GANTTPLAN significantly reduces the workload for scheduling staff. By always considering actual available capacities, it ensures that deadlines for critical orders are met, even when personnel capacities are reduced.

The workforce scheduling function is seamlessly integrated into GANTTPLAN and comes at no extra cost. “Most of our user companies leverage the workforce scheduling module and enjoy its flexible rescheduling options daily. With GANTTPLAN, creating a production plan tailored to current machine, material, and personnel availabilities is as easy as the touch of a button – and it happens in a minimum of time,” explains Thomas Plecher, Sales Manager Planning Solutions at DUALIS GmbH IT Solution.