Levering Up Your Specialists With On-Demand Labor: What It Looks Like In Practice

Every hour a welder, machinist, or technician spends on work another properly trained person could handle is an hour unavailable for the work that requires their expertise.

‍

That lost time can create an apparent need for more specialists. Material preparation, parts movement, and recurring checks all require labor. But when those assignments sit with the specialists, they consume hours the operation needs for specialized production. Hiring another specialist into the same arrangement leaves the underlying allocation problem intact.

‍

That was the argument in You Already Have the Specialists You Need. You're Just Burying Them in the Wrong Work. If you haven’t read it, start there.

‍

This follow-up looks at how companies are putting Veryable’s on-demand labor model into practice. Through the platform, businesses post work opportunities, called Ops, and select from the workers, called Operators, who bid on them. Operators take on defined support assignments, allowing existing specialists to spend more time on the work that requires their expertise. Businesses can adjust that support as workloads change and invite proven Operators back when the work returns. The aim is more output from the specialists already in the operation, supported by a labor model that can flex with the workload.

‍

‍

Separating Preparation From the Specialist’s Workload

At a small, project-based metal fabrication business in rural Missouri, welded products need grinding or sanding before they can move to powder coating. The company posts welding support Ops for Operators to handle that preparation with angle grinders or sanders, keeping its welders focused on welding.

‍

An Indiana operation performing transformer construction faced a similar decision over material preparation. Its full-time employees were stripping large-diameter wire alongside their construction responsibilities, so both activities depended on the same team’s available hours.

‍

To separate that work, the company brought in Operators to handle wire stripping through piecework Ops. That gave full-time employees more time for transformer construction and helped move the project along faster.

‍

‍

Keeping Machinists Focused on Machining

At Mack Tool & Engineering, the opportunity extended into the machining role itself. The precision machine shop serves aerospace and medical customers, and many positions require substantial technical expertise. The company had been looking at how people could contribute to specific portions of that work without first having to master the entire role.

‍

Recurring part checks offered one opportunity. Producing a part may require an experienced machinist who can interpret a complex print and determine how to make it. For someone performing a defined check, training can concentrate on the relevant measuring tools, the measurements to take, and the criteria the part must meet.

‍

“We just teach them to use a couple of tools and show them what they need to measure,” explains Business Manager Mickey Raynoha.

‍

With another trained person handling those checks, the experienced employee can spend more time producing parts instead of stopping to check each one. Mack Tool also identifies repetitive machine loading as work that can be separated from the more complex responsibilities within the role.

‍

As the company began using Veryable, it recognized more opportunities in the responsibilities its experienced employees were already carrying, including moving jobs between areas.

‍

“What we're finding now after using Veryable is there's a lot more of those areas than we thought,” Raynoha says.

‍

‍

Protecting Production From Additional Inspection Work

At Metal Flow Corporation, automotive program launches bring another demand on labor: additional customer inspections. The company produces precision metal stampings for airbag and fuel-system components. Depending on the launch requirements, those checks may cover a specified number of parts or continue for a period ranging from a week to a couple of months.

‍

That work comes on top of regular production, and assigning key production employees to the inspections would take their time away from producing parts for the duration of that work.

‍

Instead, Metal Flow uses Veryable Operators to perform the additional inspections for the required period. For VP of Manufacturing Michael Hawkins, the benefit is “not having to pull people off of the regular production of the parts.”

‍

And once the additional inspections are no longer required, Metal Flow can scale back the Operator support brought in to cover them.

‍

Alongside this inspection coverage, Metal Flow has defined an Engineering Team Support Op to help cover equipment and process demands. An Operator in this assignment can troubleshoot inspection and automated equipment, resolve root causes, lead equipment and process improvement efforts, and assist with developing and implementing new equipment. The role can also include production-floater support for presses and other equipment.

‍

With an Operator taking on those responsibilities, the core engineering team has help covering both equipment issues and planned improvements. Its engineers can share that workload with someone brought in for the assignment, reducing how much they have to absorb within the existing team.

‍

‍

Adjusting Support as the Workload Changes

At Mack Tool, the amount of support needed also changes as jobs move through the shop. Operators work in deburring, cleaning, and assembly, but work doesn’t reach those areas at a steady rate. Parts may spend days in machining before arriving in deburring as a batch.

‍

As those larger jobs reach the next process, the shop can bring in Operators from its Labor Pool who already know the assignments. That lets Mack Tool increase support where work is accumulating and reduce it where less is needed.

‍

Metal Flow likewise adjusts production and inspection support day by day and week by week. Bringing back Operators who have performed the assignments before gives the company people familiar with the facility, parts, and inspection work, even as the amount of support required changes.

‍

“They know where to go. They know what to do. They know what they're looking for,” Hawkins says.

‍

The same flexibility applies beyond the plant floor. A mattress retailer uses Veryable Operators to assist its delivery drivers during peak windows. With that assistance, its existing drivers can complete more deliveries while the business maintains a lean driver team.

‍

When delivery volume falls, the retailer can consolidate drivers into one truck where needed. As volume returns, it can bring in Operator assistance again, increasing delivery capacity from the drivers already in place.

‍

‍

Opening a Path to More Specialized Work

Returning Operators also build experience the business can develop further. A support assignment gets necessary work covered while giving supervisors a chance to see how someone performs, how they learn, and what they may be ready to take on next.

‍

That understanding develops through repeated work. Operators become more familiar with the equipment, processes, and quality requirements, while supervisors observe their reliability, learning ability, and process discipline firsthand. The business then has evidence to guide decisions about further training and broader responsibilities.

‍

Someone who begins by supporting a specialist may eventually be ready to learn more of that specialist’s work. Getting there takes repeat opportunities, deliberate training, and demonstrated readiness. The initial assignment creates a place to begin while meeting a current operating need.

‍

We explore that reasoning in You’re Not Facing a Labor Shortage. You’re Creating One, and share examples of manufacturers developing talent through productive work. For a practical framework, explore our Build Your Own Talent Pipeline page.

‍

‍

Turning Recovered Time Into More Output

To apply the approach, start with a role or work center where capacity is limiting output, and measure how the existing team’s time is divided. Identify the surrounding activities that interrupt or delay the specialized work. Eliminate avoidable work where possible, then determine which necessary tasks another properly trained person could perform.

‍

Once you identify that work, define the assignment: where it begins and ends, the standard it must meet, and the qualifications and training required. Specify which decisions remain with the specialist and when that person needs to be involved. The handoff needs to give someone enough responsibility to complete the assignment without repeatedly pulling the specialist back into it.

‍

With the assignment defined, you can post an Op through Veryable’s on-demand labor marketplace, review Operator bids, and select people based on the work’s requirements. As you identify effective Operators, add them to your Labor Pool, a group of proven Operators you can invite back for future work. Repeat assignments give returning Operators the opportunity to build familiarity with your operation.

‍

That handoff also needs to fit the specialist’s production sequence. Coordinate preparation, movement, and other support so the recovered time is usable. Completing a support task too late can leave the specialist waiting, while repeated interruptions can consume the time the assignment was supposed to recover.

‍

Then measure whether the change delivers the result you intended. Compare time spent on specialized work, output, quality, and total labor cost under comparable operating conditions. Include the added support labor and specialist time spent training or supervising. Evaluate that cost against the additional output, and confirm that the reassigned tasks continue to meet requirements. If specialized work increases but output stays flat, investigate what is still constraining the process.

‍

Use those results to refine the assignment and determine how much support the workload requires. The objective is more output from the specialists already in the operation, with the surrounding work covered to the required standard. Establish what that arrangement can deliver before deciding whether another specialist is needed.

‍

Learn more about levering up your specialists, or get started by creating your free business profile or submitting an inquiry.