Sachin Agrawal is the CEO of SchedulePro, a leading workforce management solution provider for the manufacturing, petroleum and corrections industries, whose customers include Procter & Gamble, a Big 3 auto manufacturer and Shell Oil. As an expert on workforce efficiency and labor cost reduction, Sachin has a track record of significantly increasing productivity and reducing costs for Fortune 500 companies. Prior to SchedulePro, Sachin was a product leader at Microsoft where he developed enterprise-scale products for Windows, MSN and Windows Server. Prior to the American Manufacturing Summit, we spoke with SchedulePro to discuss workforce management in the manufacturing industry. This is an excerpt from the interview with SchedulePro: “Why should manufacturers choose automated employee scheduling over manual scheduling? Increased productivity and the ability to quickly improve their bottom line are two of SchedulePro’s most significant benefits for manufacturers looking to reduce labor costs and improve employee working conditions. An automated solution will also produce staff schedules that are more compliant than manual scheduling solutions, helping manufacturers avoid issues with regulatory and union bodies.”
Read More →Q&A with InDepth Engineering Solutions
This is an excerpt from an interview Generis Group did with InDepth Engineering Solutions, following the American Automotive Summit 2018. “The automotive industry is looking at a global skills shortage in which not enough engineers are sufficiently qualified to support the advancements of emerging technologies or operate sophisticated automated machinery. How does InDepth Engineering Solutions address this talent gap?
Read More →An Executive’s Guide to Implementing Pragmatic Decision-Making with BI
Business intelligence (BI) has become a critical component of success in managing effective organizations. According to OQSIE, the data produced by BI allows us to look backwards at the performance in order to course-correct and make decisions that lead to improvements in the future. In short, BI clarifies where we have been and informs us about where we are going. This is a powerful motivator for companies in a competitive marketplace.
Read More →5 Rules of Engagement for Breakout Performance
Whether you work at a small tech startup or a large, established manufacturer, there is an implicit understanding that business success can be easily quantified. Whether you are a CEO or a sales representative, the common wisdom is that there are identifiable numbers that can objectively determine if you are a success or a failure. In a world full of endless layers of nuance and opinion, tangible metrics of business performance are irresistibly attractive. However, there are serious limitations to taking such a binary approach to measuring success. This black and white approach to measuring business success is actually counterproductive, particularly if the goal is to achieve transformative performance improvement.
Read More →US Medtech Industry Looking at Ireland as a Resource
While the American medtech industry is thriving, it still must deal with challenges that include higher production costs, finding skilled staff and the ongoing issues innate to a highly regulated sector. Then there are global concerns such as competition, funding and the high cost of research. With Europe and the United States being the key markets, many U.S. medtech firms have located some of their operations in Ireland in order to take advantage of an established, flourishing life sciences sector, strong governmental support and easy access to the lucrative European market. Among the more than 300 companies with Irish facilities are Boston Scientific, Abbott, Vistakon, Medtronic, Teleflex, Stryker, Cook Medical, Zimmer Biomet, DePuy Synthes, Hollister, and BD. The medtech field in Ireland employs more than 32,000 people, which is the highest per capita in Europe. One-quarter of the world’s diabetics — 30 million people — rely on an injectable device manufactured in Ireland, while half of all ventilators used by acute hospitals worldwide are also made there. Meanwhile, three-quarters of global orthopedic knee products were produced in Ireland. There are several important reasons why American medtech companies have been choosing Ireland as their European base of operations, benefiting from Ireland’s manufacturing expertise, R&D facilities, pool of trained workers, data analysis skills, collaboration between companies, financial advantages, and regulatory advantages.
Read More →Solutions to the Employee Engagement Dilemma
Employers everywhere seem to struggle with the concept of employee engagement. In a recent Gallup Poll, it was determined that only 25 percent of manufacturing employees can be described as engaged. Engagement means different things to different folks; however, in simplest terms, it can be summarized as an effort to provide an environment where everyone contributes toward the success of the organization and feels good about doing so. Only 25 percent of manufacturing employees can be described as “engaged” in the workplace. Through a discussion with Kerwin Everson, VP, Supply Chain Solutions at RMG Networks, this eBook will explore the employee engagement dilemma many companies are facing, how they are attempting to address this problem today and solutions proposed by RMG Networks to improve employee engagement, increase retention and foster a culture of performance.
Read More →Managing the Talent Pipeline: A New Approach to Closing the Skills Gap
America’s education and workforce systems are failing to keep pace with the economy and the new skill sets it requires. The ‘skills gap’ is the disconnect between what skills employers need and what prospective employees are prepared to do. We have people without jobs and jobs that can’t find the right people U.S. employers are increasingly reporting problems finding qualified workers. A poll of 500 American executives by staffing solutions company Adecco found that 92 percent of executives believe there is a serious gap in workforce skills, and nearly 50 percent are struggling to fill jobs. In manufacturing alone, more than 75 percent of manufacturers report a moderate-to-severe shortage of skilled workers, according to a recent study by Accenture and the Manufacturing Institute.
Read More →Women at Work: An Interview with Allison Grealis, President, Women in Manufacturing
Allison Grealis is founder and president of Women in Manufacturing (WiM), a national trade association focused on supporting, promoting and inspiring women in the manufacturing sector. She is also the vice president of membership and association services of the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA), a full-service trade association representing the metalforming industry. Since joining PMA in 2001, Grealis has held a variety of positions that included district, committee and division management; affinity partner relations; sponsorship sales; new product and service development; and member services. Grealis earned her Bachelor of Arts in English with a certificate in Women’s Studies from Ohio University and a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Akron. Presently, Grealis serves as the president of the Greater Cleveland Society of Association Executives and as a board member of Our Lady of the Elms High School. We are thrilled to have Allison join us at the American Manufacturing Summit. She will be Chair of our People & Workforce Management Stream, as well as hosting a Lunch and Learn on “Succession Planning: Support, Promote, and Inspire Women in Manufacturing”, and participating in a panel on avoiding the skills shortage in the next 10 years. We sat down with Allison in advance of the event to ask her some questions about where manufacturing is going and how to support women in the industry.
Read More →Saving Lives and Limbs With Big Data – A White Paper by Intelex Technologies
In almost all cases, workplace injuries and casualties are preventable. Intelex Technologies, the leading software provider of Environment, Health, Safety, and Quality Management, has been capturing data on the events leading up to workplace incidents, the circumstances surrounding them, and the after-effects for over a decade, to provide data that can prevent workplace incidents from occurring. “In the white paper “Saving Lives and Limbs With Big Data,” Intelex Data Science Advisor Dr. Gary Edwards, challenges the traditional Safety Triangle as the ultimate guide to safety and explains their Data Science findings that have the potential for eliminating the most catastrophic incidents.” Learn about their findings and access their white paper here, http://bit.ly/2rkSMgU.
Read More →Managing an Inter-generational Workforce
At the American Manufacturing Summit, Dirk Hilgenberg, VP, Assembly at BMW, shared this chart showing changes in the composition of the civilian labor force from 2004 to 2024. As you can see, the population of workers age 25-34 will remain relatively stable, there will be a decline in those aged 45-54, but as some people live and work longer, there will actually be an increase of those aged 65 and older in the workforce. The result, Hilgenberg says, is that by 2024, we will have three generations of workers on the shop floor with completely different value sets, interests, and abilities. This represents a huge challenge for leadership, team dynamics, and incentives.
Read More →