Before leading Operations across Greater Cleveland at Veryable, I spent time as an Operations Manager for a major American manufacturer where I worked to balance site level manufacturing execution with the ever changing needs of our customers and the respective inventory to do so. I worked closely with key Plant Managers and several Distribution Center Managers to make sure our customers were properly supplied. Working closely with these Ops leaders on a daily basis as we navigated the extreme volatility on both the supply and demand side during COVID, I’ve seen the impact that volatility can have on operations from a variety of different perspectives.

When it comes to operations, the only constant is change (and your morning coffee, hopefully!). Hard work alone won't cut it anymore. To climb the corporate ladder, you need to keep sharpening your skills. And here at Veryable, we’re not just on board with this idea, we’re driving the train!

That's why we're oh-so-excited to pull the curtains back on our shiny, new on-demand learning curriculum - the Individual Business User Certification. It's like a career advancement catalyst, just without the lab coat.

The first formal program with the title “Engineering Management” originated at the University of Missouri-Rolla (now Missouri S&T) sometime in the 1960s.  The University of Missouri describes Engineering Management as the art and science of planning, organizing, allocating resources, and directing and controlling engineering activities.  Many other colleges have been focused on the same foundational concepts of Engineering Management for a long time.  The principles have been practiced in manufacturing and even military operations for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.    

Now that the holiday season has passed, many people are taking it upon themselves to get what they really wanted to be gifted this year. Along with year-end indulgence comes year-end returns, with many customers acting now before they forget. Hitting “order” and checking your tracking number every day may come with some anticipation, but how would you feel if you knew your item was safely wrapped under someone else’s Christmas tree before it ever made it to your door?

Is your business facing peak sales seasons, a revolving door of full time employees, or projects that seem to pop up out of nowhere?

Flexibility and agility are two words that are often used interchangeably, but there are important distinctions between them. Knowing the difference can guide how and when you focus your time and energy to strengthen your business.

There are many reasons you might be lacking labor capacity to meet the day’s demand. Workforce burnout, sick employees, religious accommodations, PTO, and a tight labor market are all common causes of labor capacity fluctuations.

Everyone faces turnover at some point. Knowing your turnover rate enables you to properly manage your labor capacity by taking action to address your labor needs.

If you say “we only want to hire full-time employees,” then you’ve probably been burned by temp staffing or aren’t aware of all the options for finding workers to get work done in your facility. Keeping your labor capacity at the right level is a big problem to solve, and if you expect better results, you’re going to need to change your methods.

Maintenance isn’t what most people think of when they think of getting work done. It’s right up there with washing dishes, at the top of the list of things people let slide until they can’t ignore it anymore. However, savvy operations leaders know how important it is to stay on top of equipment maintenance proactively.

It’s unfortunate, but sometimes a worker is going to leave you out to dry. When you found them through an on-demand labor platform like Veryable’s, there are a few things you can do in this case.

So you find yourself understaffed. It happens to everyone, especially when it’s hard to find workers and the labor market is competitive.

Imagine you are starting your morning on a Tuesday. You’ve got a cup of coffee and everyone is rolling up to work so you can push out a big order by the end of the week. Just as you’re leaving your office, you hear the phone ring. The call is for a big order that’s way above what you forecast for the week. 

It’s a huge ordeal to move into a new facility. Manufacturing leaders have spent many long nights worrying about the details of this kind of project, so we’ve provided a guide on what to do when you’re moving manufacturing facilities.

No matter how hard you try, it seems like the busy season throws more at your business than you’re prepared to handle. Every year, it’s a scramble to grab the extra cash that’s being thrown your way if you can meet your customers’ seemingly insatiable, seasonal demand for that precious period of time.

It’s that time of year when every business that engages in the holiday retail dash is ramping up operations. Everybody is competing to hire hundreds of thousands of seasonal workers to meet holiday demand.

But some parts of the seasonal hiring are way different in 2020. The coronavirus has expanded the timeline for the holiday dash beyond the traditional timeframe. Scaling up to capture your share of the increased demand during this season is a huge boost for many businesses. If you’re hoping to fill higher order volumes in Q4 this year, you likely find yourself asking, “How can I compete in the holiday hiring spree?”

When you’re in operations, you're always thinking of the future.  Whether it’s for the next shift, next week or next quarter, you’ll need to create a forecast that will help you prepare for the demand coming your way.  And for all businesses, there is a common practice of how those operations plans are created.  You look at historical demand, take the average, and build your forecasts off that.  

As a General Manager or Operations Manager of a manufacturing plant, warehouse, or logistics/supply chain company you understand the importance of human capital. You also understand that in a low unemployment economy that finding and retaining talented individuals is challenging. In addition to turnover, nonproductive time, absenteeism, overtime, etc. all make it very difficult to drive productivity improvements in a competitive environment that is evolving rapidly.

Operations leaders know what a great economy can mean for their business – expansion opportunities, bringing in more orders, engaging new projects, and building a lasting model for unexpected variations in future economic climates.

Forecasts, by definition, will always be wrong. The degree to which they are wrong varies widely – the magnitude of the gap is often a factor of demand planning techniques and tools, market factors, changing customer preferences, and operational strategy. In terms of strategy, many businesses seek to find the "sweet spot" between forecasting and operational flexibility; they ebb and flow across the forecasting-flexibility spectrum with changes in leadership preferences, business models, and enabling technology.

A Booming Economy and Seasonal Labor

The US economy continues to roar – unemployment, currently at 3.9%, is at a 15-year low. Strong performance from the retail sector indicates a surge in an industry that’s had a tough decade – with some commenting that retail is entering a “renaissance” era. As consumers continue to be optimistic (a 17-year high), logistics and distribution companies will face constraints that have not been present in the market for more than a decade.

The workforce has a once in a lifetime opportunity on its hands as the adoption of IoT and digital operations capabilities accelerates.  Digital is the driver that ultimately divorces most of the workforce from specialized and company-specific operational knowledge.  The result is an environment where any able-bodied worker should be able to step into most operational environments and be immediately productive.  Not only do we think this is nothing for the worker to fear, we believe this is a massive opportunity and the on-demand marketplace is the ideal vehicle by which to form the new labor paradigm.

As anyone in charge of hiring for a company knows, trying to accurately predict exactly when and how much labor your operation will need can be incredibly difficult. Demand will always be volatile, so demand planning can only get you so far, especially for newer businesses that don’t have substantial past data to reference. And even if your business does have the data and budget for extensive demand planning, why risk unexpected fluctuations in demand when there’s a cheaper, savvier way to address your labor needs that eliminates the guesswork?