ADAC

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Scaling Smart: How ADAC Leveraged Veryable’s On-Demand Labor Model for Growth and Continuity in a Dynamic Sector

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ADAC, a leading Tier 1 automotive parts supplier, serves major OEMs including Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, Honda, Nissan, Volkswagen, and BMW. Operating in one of the most demanding and unpredictable industries, ADAC has faced ongoing challenges with accurately forecasting and managing fluctuating labor demands. Weekly, monthly, and yearly staffing predictions were complicated by volatile order volumes and shifting customer requirements, often resulting in costly overstaffing or missed deadlines due to understaffing.

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To address these issues, ADAC turned to Veryable.

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The Challenge: Navigating Labor Uncertainty in a Dynamic Industry

The automotive manufacturing landscape is fast-paced and constantly evolving, demanding that suppliers adapt quickly to shifting forecasts and fluctuating order volumes. As Jake Rupert, ADAC’s Head of HR, explains:

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"It can be a challenge for us to understand what do we need to staff for this week and how is that different from what do we need in staff for two, three weeks or three months from now? If I know I need an operator Monday, I can't afford to not have that operator on Friday. Because there's gonna be four days of of manufacturing activity that we're either running overtime for or not managing appropriately."

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Traditional approaches offered no cost-effective way to adapt to this, leaving operations exposed to slowdowns, shipment delays, and customer dissatisfaction—risks ADAC was determined to eliminate

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The Solution: Building a Dynamic, Scalable Labor Pool with Veryable

In just two months, ADAC built flexible labor pools at three different manufacturing plants. This enabled the company to:

• Bring in extra help only when needed, significantly reducing reliance on overtime and overstaffing.

• Rapidly scale workforce capacity on short notice, sometimes with as little as three to four hours lead time, filling gaps during first, second, or third shifts.

• Build a flexible talent pool including retirees, gig workers, and experienced manufacturing professionals who bring valuable institutional knowledge and require minimal onboarding.

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As Jake Rupert notes:

"If we start the day at 7AM, and we realize that we don't have enough labor on first shift to to get parts out the door, that means we need to try to reinforce 2nd or 3rd shift - traditionally you don't have those opportunities to bring in talent on a same day basis, but we did it with Veryable the first time we tried it. And, generally, three to four hour lead times at times isn't ideal, but when that's the situation that you're in, it's very nice to have that parachute to pull the cord on."

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Additionally, the platform’s tagging and filtering capabilities allowed ADAC to quickly identify workers with specific skills or departmental experience, improving efficiency and ensuring that operators could hit the ground running with minimal training. As Jake Rupert explains,

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"What I really like about it is the ability to add tags and filters to our labor pool so that when my our team goes out and posts for an operator, they have a ready made list of individuals who have already done work in those departments."

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Team Lead Jared Farland also notes how many of the workers brought in through the platform arrive with a solid foundation in manufacturing, allowing the team to focus more on specific job tasks and safety protocols rather than basic fundamentals.

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"It's been pretty smooth on transition, and they've gotten along really well with the full time operators that we have on staff. There are a couple of them that have actually worked here before. It's just been really nice to have people coming in, wanting to do it, who in my experience, they've been self motivated."

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Weathering the UAW Strike: Mitigating Disruptions & Cost Avoidance

‍The value of Veryable’s flexible labor model was dramatically demonstrated during the 7-week United Auto Workers (UAW) strike. ADAC was able to sustain operations by leveraging a highly skilled, repeat operator base sourced through Veryable, mitigating the strike's impact on production.

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Once the strike ended and OEM demand resumed, ADAC scaled its workforce back up instantly — all at zero incremental cost. This agility helped ADAC avoid $400,000 in automation costs and achieve $1.6 million in total cost avoidance, as measured by the platform’s insightful performance metrics.

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At ADAC’s May 2024 Partner Day Event, Veryable received the Innovation Award for its critical role in helping the company navigate these unprecedented challenges. To read more about this, click here.

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Leveraging Data-Driven Insights for Continuous Improvement

‍Veryable’s platform not only provided operational flexibility but also delivered actionable data insights through the value calculator feature. ADAC has used these performance metrics to track labor pool effectiveness, cost savings, and productivity improvements — enabling informed business decisions and demonstrating clear ROI.

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Jake Rupert shared: "Having that baseline data can can tell me as a business professional, what's my impact, what's my savings, if any, and how else are we providing value and partnership."

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Growth and Diversification: ADAC’s Expanding Horizons

‍Beyond automotive, ADAC is actively diversifying through a new business unit focused on leveraging their manufacturing, engineering, and quality expertise across multiple industries, including defense, medical devices, industrial automation, powersports, and agriculture.

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Chris Teets, General Manager of the Diversified Business Unit, explains:
"ADAC’s unique capabilities allow us to be a full product lifecycle partner, providing design, engineering, and manufacturing services at a high level to new sectors."

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President & CEO Jon Husby expects this diversified unit to represent 20% of ADAC’s revenue by 2028, highlighting the company’s growth ambitions bolstered by operational agility and infinite flexible capacity. To read more about this, click here.

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Conclusion

‍ADAC’s partnership with Veryable has transformed how they manage labor and helped them turn volatility into a competitive advantage. By enabling just-in-time scalability, reducing overtime burnout, and maintaining production continuity through labor disruptions, ADAC continues to deliver world-class service to their automotive clients and beyond.

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Manufacturers facing similar challenges in automotive or other industries should look to ADAC’s experience as a compelling example of how on-demand labor can boost operational resilience and drive sustainable business growth.